The knock came like a hammer against my skull.Knock. Knock. Knock.I slammed my book shut, the worn paperback smacking against my palm. The illustration on the cover stared back at me—a Shadow Wyrm, scales shimmering with inky darkness, its rider a hero named Valen who'd just completed the impossible bond.I'd been waiting for this chapter for weeks."Can't a guy get five minutes of peace in this house?" I muttered, tossing the book onto my pillow. The pages fluttered open, revealing the exact scene I'd been reading—Valen, standing before the Wyrm, earning its loyalty through sheer will. The moment where everything changes.I wanted that. I ached for it. A world where strength came from courage, where even the weakest could rise, where bonds meant something.Instead, I got this.My room was a shoebox. Barely enough space for a bed, a desk, and the shelves that groaned under the weight of my collection. Every inch of wall was covered in illustrations I'd drawn myself—dragons, griffins

The torn page haunted me all night.The Taming of Void Beasts. I kept turning the words over in my mind as I scrubbed the library floor. A Void Beast. The greatest beast. If I could tame it tomorrow, everything would change. I wouldn't be a victim anymore. I wouldn't be trapped.I'd have power. I'd have a way home.Through the window, I watched the sun sink below the spires of the Academy. The sky turned orange, then red, then purple. Then darkness.And still, I cleaned.The teacher had left me a list of destroyed books. Thirty-seven titles. All expensive. All beyond my means. Darian's memories told me that House Vex would never pay for them. They'd make me work off the debt—if they didn't just use it as an excuse to expel me."Classic," I muttered, scrubbing at a particularly stubborn ink stain. "Walk into a room, get framed for vandalism. This world's just like my old one—except here, people have magic to make my life worse."The door creaked open.I looked up, expecting the teacher

---The water swallowed me whole.Cold. Dark. Silent. I sank, my clothes dragging me down, my lungs already burning. The moon above shrank to a pinprick of light.This is it, I thought. This is how I go back.Then something moved.A glow cut through the darkness. Small at first, then growing. Expanding. A shape emerged from the depths.I blinked, certain my oxygen-starved mind was playing tricks.It was the rabbit.What the heck? A rabbit swimming?She glowed like moonlight on water. Her cloudy eyes burned silver. And beneath her glow—something enormous shifted in the darkness. A shape that didn't match her tiny body. A shadow that seemed to stretch beyond her, filling the depths.I couldn't tell if it was her, or a reflection, or something else entirely.She opened her mouth—And everything went dark.---I woke to a ceiling I recognized.The dark wood beams. The chandelier. Darian's room.No.I squeezed my eyes shut. Opened them again. Still the same ceiling.No, no, no.A face hove

Nine hours later, we arrived.The carriage rolled to a stop. I peered through the cracked window, and my breath caught in my throat.The Academy rose from the plains like a mountain carved from stone and glass. Towers stretched toward the sky, their peaks lost in clouds. Windows sparkled with dying sunlight, a thousand tiny flames. The walls were so high I had to crane my neck to see the top.Even in my novels, I'd never imagined it this big.I stepped out of the carriage, my legs stiff from the long ride. The rabbit hopped down beside me.We stood at the gates, staring."Look at that," I breathed. "It's enormous."The rabbit's ears perked.Students milled around the courtyard. Some were my age, some older. All of them had beasts beside them—wolves, serpents, birds of prey. Powerful creatures that moved with purpose.And then there was me. A boy with a scrawny rabbit. Bruises still fading on h

The old man stopped in front of a heavy wooden door at the end of a narrow corridor. He pushed it open and stepped aside. "This is it," he said. "D-rank dormitory." I peered inside. The room was small, cramped, even with rows of narrow beds lining the walls. A few figures huddled in the shadows, their faces turned away. No one looked up as I entered. I stepped inside. The door creaked shut behind me. When I turned around, the old man was already walking away, his footsteps echoing down the corridor. "Wait—" I called out. "I didn't get your name." He paused. Looked back at me over his shoulder. "Name's not important," he said. "Get some rest, boy. You'll need it." Then he disappeared around the corner. --- Elsewhere in Aurelian Spire... The old man walked through the empty corridors, his lantern casting dancing shadows on the stone walls. He stopped in front of a door at the end of the third floor and knocked twice. "Enter." He pushed open the door. The ro