Chapter 1
Seven minutes before the beast-mark registration system closed, I received a video message.
The sender was me.
Only she looked fifteen years older.
"Talia, Kellan secretly changed your training academy application to Ironfang Camp. He and Briar have been together for a long time. He only did it because she didn't want you hanging around him anymore."
My future self looked straight into the camera, her eyes filled with regret.
"Later, no matter how hard you trained or how well you performed, you never got the chance to become an Alpha. You even made it all the way through advanced training, but you still couldn't get into the position you'd dreamed of."
She paused, her voice breaking slightly.
"But you could have made it. You were meant to stand at Dawnspire."
The video ended.
I sat frozen on the couch, gripping my phone so tightly my fingers hurt.
For a few seconds, I couldn't even breathe.
Then I jumped up and ran back to my bedroom.
My hands were shaking as I opened the beast-mark registration portal.
My first-choice academy had indeed been changed.
Ironfang Camp. A Gamma training camp.
I stared at the words, feeling a chill spread through my body.
Ironfang was where young Gammas were sent for frontline combat training. The conditions were brutal, the assignments dangerous, and casualties were common.
In Graythorn Settlement, everyone knew what it meant to end up there.
It was where you went when you had no better choice.
And someone had deliberately sent me there.
I closed my eyes, forcing myself to calm down.
Then I placed my palm against the registration stone and activated my wolf mark.
With one minute left, I changed my application.
First Choice: Dawnspire Academy.
The moment I confirmed the submission, a line of glowing text appeared across the stone.
[Modification Successful.]
I stared at those words, my eyes burning.
There was only one minute left before the registration period closed.
Just then, my phone buzzed on the desk.
It was Kellan.
I answered. His cheerful voice immediately came through.
"Talia, you've finished your application, right? I can't wait for us to train at the same academy."
I didn't answer right away.
After a moment, I asked, "Are you really that excited?"
"Of course!" he replied casually, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We've been planning this since we were kids."
I couldn't stand listening to him anymore.
I hung up.
My mother and Kellan's mother had been best friends since childhood, and with our families living right next door to each other, Kellan and I had been inseparable from the day we were born.
We grew up side by side.
When we were little, he used to promise that we'd always be together.
We attended the same village school, trained at the same youth facility, and eventually entered the same high school.
During our first year, he grabbed my hand and said, "Talia, let's apply to Concord Academy together. We can train to become Betas and support the Alphas side by side."
I agreed.
The truth was, I'd always dreamed of attending Dawnspire Academy.
It was the most prestigious training institute for future Alphas.
Only candidates with exceptional talent, strength, and mental discipline could get in.
I knew the competition would be fierce.
But I'd wanted to become an Alpha for as long as I could remember.
Still, I thought it wouldn't matter if I gave up that dream.
As long as Kellan was beside me.
That was what I believed until our second year, when the school reshuffled our training groups and Briar Vane joined our class.
Briar came from one of the most influential families in Graythorn.
She was beautiful, charming, and had a pair of deep dimples that appeared whenever she smiled.
Everyone liked her.
Before long, Kellan started having lunch with her, walking her home, and training alongside her.
At first, I noticed something strange between them.
So I quietly began keeping my distance.
But Kellan wouldn't let me.
"Talia, why are you avoiding me? Aren't we friends?"
Briar would always smile and take my arm.
"Talia, don't misunderstand. I'm not here to steal your friend away. I'm just hoping we can all get along."
I believed her.
The three of us gradually became inseparable.
Soon, everyone in our class started calling us the Three Musketeers.
So when I heard that Kellan and Briar both planned to apply to Concord Academy, I gave up my dream of attending Dawnspire without making a fuss.
I thought choosing the same path was proof of how much I valued our friendship.
I never imagined that the two people I trusted most had already decided to sabotage my future.
If my future self hadn't sent me that video, I might never have discovered that they'd secretly used my wolf mark to access my registration account and change my application.
My phone lit up again.
Kellan had sent me two messages through our bone-message chat.
[Why'd you hang up so suddenly? Bad signal?]
[Briar and I will come see you tomorrow. We'll bring some of those smoked venison strips you like from the market.]
I stared at the messages and let out a cold laugh.
Then I turned on my computer.
Before changing my application to Dawnspire, I'd done two things.
First, I took a screenshot of the registration record showing that someone had changed my first choice to Ironfang Camp.
Second, I checked the most recent login record and saved a screenshot of the location where my wolf mark had been used.
The location pointed to a beast-mark relay station in Graythorn.
I quickly checked its location.
It was right downstairs from Kellan's apartment.
I combined both screenshots, encrypted the file, and uploaded it to a private storage account.
If they wanted to play games with my future, I'd make sure I had everything I needed to expose them.
The next day at noon, the doorbell rang right on time.
When I opened the door, Kellan was standing outside with a bag of smoked venison strips from the market.
He was smiling as brightly as ever.
