Zero's first step into the Academy's inner halls felt like walking into a dream half-remembered.
Students in varying uniforms bustled around him. Some wore robes heavy with embroidered sigils, others simple tunics with thin metallic bands around their arms—rank insignias. Most ignored him. A few gave his cloak and mismatched boots disdainful looks. Outsider.
He walked past bulletin screens projecting upcoming duel trials, mana resonance workshops, and lectures on divine law theory. A loud crowd gathered around a raised platform where two students were mid-combat—spells lashing out like flares, shattering illusion barriers around them.
He had no time for games.
THREAD OF FATE: REACTIVE
New Convergence Detected: Marina Velorin
Status: Marked
Zero blinked.
That wasn't a name he recognized.
"Are you the new candidate from the Shadow Trials?" a voice called.
He turned.
A girl in black and silver stood nearby, her navy eyes appraising, calculating. Her hair was braided tightly over one shoulder, and a long coat marked with a sword-sigil fluttered behind her. She carried herself like nobility—perhaps even royalty—but her tone was devoid of arrogance.
"I'm not part of the Trials," he said.
"Then how did you bypass the Gate's lock-seal?"
"I asked it to open."
She studied him. "That's not how magic works."
"It is for me."
She didn't laugh. Instead, she held out a hand.
"Marina Velorin. Head Candidate of House Velorin, Department of Arcane Conduction."
He shook it. "Zero."
"No surname?"
"Not anymore."
Marina tilted her head. "You don't belong here. But you've piqued the Headmaster's interest."
As if summoned by fate, a deep chime echoed across the hall.
The Headmaster's chamber was vast and circular, dominated by a floating ring of runes that rotated slowly at its center. Books lined every wall, levitating off shelves at intervals as mechanical arms sorted and replaced tomes with eerie precision.
Headmaster Ravaryn stood beneath the rune-ring, hands clasped behind his back. His hair was pure silver, his robes layered in twilight blue and deep violet. A single monocle with shifting lenses covered his left eye.
"You're the one who broke the Gate," he said without turning.
"I didn't break it," Zero replied. "It recognized me."
Ravaryn chuckled softly. "Old constructs do have a memory of sorts. Tell me—do you know what you are?"
"A relic."
"No," the Headmaster said. "You're the reason we still fear relics."
He turned, eye gleaming. "You will stay in the Academy, under my personal watch. For now."
"And if I refuse?"
"You'll be hunted."
Zero gave a faint smile. "So nothing changes."
That night, Zero stood at the Academy balcony, looking out over the mist-laced peaks beyond. Behind him, his assigned dormitory remained untouched.
Someone joined him.
"I didn't thank you," Lysaria said, stepping out of shadow. "For the Null Beast."
"You tried to kill me after."
"Force of habit."
They stood in silence. For a moment, the tension between them eased—not gone, but resting.
"I saw something," she whispered. "Back then. In the crash."
He said nothing.
"A throne. Red glass. You were standing on it. But your face—wasn't yours."
"I remember it too."
"What does it mean?"
He looked to the stars. "That we were never meant to be pawns."
SYSTEM NOTICE: DEEP MEMORY LOCK BREACHED
Thread of Fate Level Increased
NEW POWER NODE AVAILABLE
From far below the Academy, in the sealed catacombs beneath the ruins of the first city, something stirred.
A sigil long lost ignited on an ancient door.
And the ghosts of the forgotten kings began to wake.