Cole Grayson arrives at Horizon Theta with the worst label you can carry in a Trace academy: Null. Commander Rourke flags his file—interference on every scan, parents killed on a classified op—and quietly starts watching.

On the shuttle, Cole meets Devin Hayes, a first-year whose sister survived Theta and whose own Trace sits low on the meter. The campus is blunt: rules, curfews, no off-range Trace, prove it on the mat. In the dorms, Cole keeps his right hand covered; in the mess hall, Ryker Hense clocks the blank skin and makes it clear a “Null” isn’t welcome. No theatrics, just a line drawn.

Live assessments set the tone. Devin vs. Ty Merren (Kinetic, D-rank): Devin’s close-range perceptual biasing bends Ty’s aim by inches; Ty’s strikes are perfect on a target that isn’t exactly there. Ryker vs. Max Juno (Construct): Ryker’s burst power chews through Max’s first panel; Max answers with angles and seams, forcing a stalemate the sensors don’t like. James Trass (Bioform) vs. Cole: Trass pushes pace and speed while Cole—no emblem, no rank—stays balanced, trims risk, and refuses to break. The instructor logs it: Devin’s control noted, Ty’s targeting needs faster adjustment, Ryker’s power outpaces his pacing, Max is steady, and Cole’s manual skill is well above baseline.

Med Annex adds another thread: Cole’s day-one scan captures a baseline… and more interference. The file doesn’t change. Null sticks. Back at dinner, fault lines harden—Ryker cold and watching, Ty focused on standards, Max practical—and Devin keeps Cole out of the spotlight.

The episode closes on a quiet, sharper note. As Cole drifts, he dreams a life where the emblem finally lights: Kinetic momentum that answers his heels, a blue Construct panel that eats force by changing angles, a red Elemental heat that persuades air instead of burning it—and then a fourth beat that isn’t any of those, where people miss him by inches for reasons they can’t name. The dream collapses into a white lab, a scanner crown, and an override that doesn’t belong to any tech in the room. The white room folds into a corridor with no doors. The corridor folds into black.