At Blackridge Academy, students were split into factions—trained to compete, not cooperate. Kade was the top fighter in Ember House: confident, reckless, and always smirking like he’d already won. Lila, from Frost House, was calculated and quiet, brave, the kind of person who never lost control—and never trusted anyone like Kai. They’d been rivals for years. Every match, every challenge, every moment was a battle. So when the school announced the Survival Trials, no one expected them to be pa