One second, I was standing on the street, drunk out of my mind, the world tilting and buzzing with traffic, horns, and distant sirens. The night air tasted like exhaust fumes and cheap alcohol as I stumbled forward, wondering again, how I managed to mess up my life this badly. The world felt heavy on my shoulders, like everything I tried just found a new way to collapse on me.Suddenly a strange situation happened.Everything froze, not slowed, everything literally froze.The cars on the road stopped mid-motion, a raindrop hanging in the air like a piece of glass. Light warped, bending inward as if folding into a single point, dragging sound with it. The whole world got swallowed, and then so did I.All I met was darkness, but not empty darkness, more like a void with weight.Out of nowhere an ancient deep voice, vibrated through the void,“Your fate is not finished.”Before I could even scream or ask what the hell that meant, the darkness ruptured. The light shattered outward like br

The road into Eldoria widened as the forest thinned, revealing stone paths worn smooth by centuries of passage. Lucas slowed his pace, his gaze lifting as the city emerged before him. Pale stone towers rose high into the silver-tinted sky, their surfaces etched with runes that glowed faintly, steady and deliberate, as though bound to the city itself.The streets were alive with movement. Men and women in robes marked with sigils passed by with quiet purpose, while others carried staffs or tomes that hovered at their sides. Carriages moved through the avenues, guided by enchantments rather than beasts, and vendors lined the roads, their stalls filled with objects that shimmered with restrained magic.Lucas took in every detail, committing the sights to memory. Nothing about Eldoria resembled the world he had known. The air felt different here, heavy with power and intent, as if magic were not merely practiced but woven into daily life.As they progressed deeper into the city, the struc

The Magic Research Club room was tucked away in the older wing of the academy, far from the polished lecture halls and crowded corridors where students gathered between classes. Few ventured this deep into the building unless they had a reason. The stone walls here were older, etched with faded runes that had long since lost their sharp edges. Some were cracked with age, others patched together in mismatched styles by students who had tried to repair them without fully understanding their original purpose.Shelves lined every available space, stretching from floor to ceiling. Grimoires of varying thickness were crammed together with loose parchment, crystal fragments, vials of unidentified liquid, and half dismantled magical devices whose functions were anyone’s guess. The air carried a faint metallic tang, mixed with the dry, dusty scent of old parchment and burnt mana residue.Lucas stepped inside and immediately felt it.Aether lingered in the room, heavier than anything he had fel

Lucas came back to the world still only hearing faint sounds, his head aching and vision blurred.Sound returned first a dull ringing, like metal struck underwater. Then weight. His limbs felt wrong, heavy and distant, as though they belonged to someone else. The hum of the academy’s wards bled into his skull, uneven, distorted.He sucked in a breath and nearly choked on it.Aether flooded his senses all at once, not rushing through him like it should, but pressing against him testing, probing. His Core reacted instinctively, tightening, reshaping itself around the pressure without his consent.“Easy.” Elara’s voice cut through the noise, sharp with restraint. Her hand hovered near his chest, not touching, but close enough for her to use her Aether to calm him down. “Do not draw it in.”Lucas forced himself to still. The pressure resisted, then slowly stopped, like a tide withdrawing after finding no shore.He finally felt alright, he looked around and saw that head was on Elara’s la

The place they gathered was nowhere that could be mapped.Aether folded in on itself, forming a hollow space where sound did not echo and time felt thin. The air shimmered faintly, dense with compressed energy that obeyed only those present.“She has settled in well,” one of them said.A tall figure leaned against a pillar of drifting light, arms crossed. “As expected. Fear was never going to hold her. Curiosity did.”Another voice scoffed. “The academy believes she was taken by force. Desperate fools.”“Belief is a tool,” the tall figure replied. “And they swallowed it whole.”A pause.“And the boy?” a woman asked. Her tone was sharp, calculating. “The one wearing Lucas’s face.”The tall figure’s lips curved slightly. “He is not Lucas. That much is certain.”“That soul does not belong to this world,” another said. “We felt it the moment the Paragon interfered. A foreign echo bound into a dead Core.”“So the transfer succeeded,” the woman said. “Even after her death.”“Yes,” he replie