They woke him in the dark with no torchlight no words, just iron boots on stone and the sound of keys grinding like bones.Kai blinked against the cold. He hadn’t slept, not really. The cell had no clocks, but he could feel it—time slipping like water between his fingers. He was sweating, even though the air was freezing. The mark still pulsed faintly under his skin, like a second heartbeat.The door opened with a deep groan.Two guards stepped in. One held a metal collar and the other, a blindfold.He didn’t fight,didn’t even flinch when the cold iron locked around his neck.They didn’t speak.Just shoved him forward, and he walked, legs sore, breath shallow. He couldn’t see, but he could hear the halls breathing—stones creaking with age, torches flickering as they passed. Somewhere far above, he thought he heard the wind scream.Then silence.Then voices.Then… light.They pulled the blindfold off.He stood in a small stone chamber. Bare and circular.One flickering lantern hung from t

The Academy courtyard was alive that morning—laughter ringing in the crisp air, robes flashing in shades of blue, silver, and red. Students from Class A moved like they owned the sky. They did, in a way. They floated through power-imbued halls, spoke spells with ease, and lived in dorms kissed by sunlight.Kai stood far back, just beyond the arched bridge that connected the main campus to the lesser towers. His robe—still dirt-smudged from the training pit—hung too loosely on his shoulders. He watched the crowd from the shadows like a ghost watching the living.Then the carriage arrived.Sleek. Blackwood. Drawn by a mechanical griffin, its wings glinting with silver threads. The courtyard quieted.The door swung open, and a boy stepped out.Tall. Golden-haired. Blue eyes like summer storms. His presence hit like sunlight—everyone looked, everyone smiled. He waved like he didn’t notice the attention, which only made it worse.Cyprus….top-ranked prodigy. Crown jewel of Class A. Arcadia’

The next night, Kai returned to the library.He waited until curfew bells echoed over the academy spires, until the halls thinned and the students vanished into their dorms. He didn’t run. He didn’t sneak. He walked—head down, feet silent, breath low—as if the shadows themselves allowed him passage.No one stopped him. Maybe they didn’t see him. Maybe they didn’t want to.The library was colder than he remembered.The sealed section even more so.He didn’t go to the front desk. He didn’t light a lamp.He didn’t need to.The book called him like…. it had a voice.A heartbeat…..like…. it knew.It was still there, open now, as if someone—or something—had turned the page in his absence.Gold ink shimmered in curving lines across black parchment.The sigils curled like living things.And for the first time, the symbols didn’t look foreign.They looked like language.He reached for the page.It pulsed.Not with magic—but with memory.His fingers trembled as he touched the corner.The sigil burn

Kai woke to soft light and a pounding headache.At first, he thought he was dead. The pale surface above him was smooth white stone, the smell of mint magic in the air. The faint hum came from glowing crystals tucked into infirmary corners, casting everything in pale warmth.His whole body aching from shoulder to spine. His sides felt bruised all over; something sticky stuck to his ribs-salve, or blood, or both.He shifted, wincing. A soft gasp came from his side.Lina.She had been asleep in the stool, curled in beside the bed, with arms folded on the sheets. Her brown hair had fallen across her arm and onto the sheet. One of her hands was still gently wrapped around his.He blinked once….twice….He tried to move.Her head lifted with a start. “Kai!”She stood, flustered, brushing hair from her face.“I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I was just—just making sure you were okay.”He stared at her, trying to place the right emotion.Not confusion or not fear, just something sof

Rain fell on Arcadia that night.A soft, cold drizzle that soaked the stone paths and smeared the stars above. It trickled along windowpanes, whispering like secrets too old to remember.Kai sat alone at the edge of the training grounds, the grimoire hidden in his coat, heart thudding beneath soaked fabric.“I was Rafe,” he murmured again, the words tasting strange in his mouth.He didn’t feel like a Tyrant. He didn’t want to feel like one.But the pieces were falling into place.He remembered the spell now…..Not all of it—but enough.Rafe had been betrayed. Not just by enemies. By friend…by someone he trusted, someone close.In his final moments, he hadn’t fought back. He hadn’t screamed. He had smiled.Because he had already planned his return.A reincarnation spell buried deep within his bones.His mark—the Tyrant’s sigil—wasn’t a curse. It was a beacon. A promise.He would return, and when he did, he would finish what he started.Kai clenched his fists, raindrops slipping through h