BORN WITHOUT MAGIC; In A World That Eats The Weak.

THE MAN WHO SHOULD NOT EXIST

The old figure led us deeper into the tunnels until we reached a massive cavern. At its center sat a throne made of twisted metal and broken stone.

They sat down slowly, joints cracking like old wood. "My name is Vaelor Kyn. Though I suspect that means nothing to you."

"Should it?" I asked.

"Once, perhaps. Before the Council erased me from every history book. Before they declared me dead and threw my name into the void."

The words in my vision pulsed.

[ENTITY CONFIRMED: VAELOR KYN] [RANK: APEX (6TH RANK) - SEALED] [ORIGINAL VIRE CAPACITY: 89,000] [CURRENT VIRE CAPACITY: 340] [SPELLS AVAILABLE: 3 (RESTRICTED)] [STATUS: SELF-IMPOSED CULTIVATION LOCK]

Eighty-nine thousand capacity. The numbers made my head spin. The Blaze rank enforcers who'd hunted me had fifteen thousand. This man, even sealed, was something beyond anything I'd imagined.

"You were Apex rank," I breathed.

"I was more than that." Vaelor's glowing eyes fixed on me. "I was one of the twelve arch-mages who performed the Rewrite. Who forced magic into bloodlines. Who created the Hollowborns."

Lirae gasped. "You're a monster."

"Yes." He didn't deny it. "But a monster with regrets. And three hundred years to think about what we did."

"Why?" The word came out harsh. "Why did you do it?"

Vaelor was quiet for a long moment. "Magic was chaos before the Rewrite. Wild. Unpredictable. Anyone could touch it, but no one could truly master it. Wars raged constantly. Cities burned. Millions died because power was too evenly distributed."

"So you decided some people deserved it and others didn't?"

"We decided we needed control." He looked at his ancient hands. "We convinced ourselves we were saving humanity. That channeling magic through bloodlines would create stability. Peace. Order."

"And instead you created slavery," I said.

"Yes." His voice was hollow. "We realized our mistake too late. By the time we understood what we'd done, the other eleven arch-mages had already built a new world on top of our crime. The floating cities. The mage families. The Council. They made themselves gods."

"What happened to you?" Lirae asked quietly.

"I tried to undo it." Vaelor stood, walking toward us. "I spent fifty years studying the Rewrite, looking for a way to reverse it. When the Council learned what I was doing, they declared me a traitor. Hunted me. Eventually, I fled here and sealed my own power." He gestured at his body. "A prison of my own making. Penance for the crime I can never fix."

"Until now," I said.

"Until you." He pointed at my arms, at the blue veins. "You're a Reverter. Someone born with the ability to undo what we did. You're proof that our Rewrite wasn't perfect. That humanity's true nature still exists."

"So I'm what? Your redemption?"

"You're hope." Vaelor's voice grew stronger. "You're the possibility that our crime can be undone. That magic can be freed again."

"No pressure then," I muttered.

"You don't understand." Vaelor stepped closer. "Your existence threatens everything. If people learn that Hollowborns aren't broken, that they're actually unedited humans, the entire system collapses. The mage families lose their power. The Council loses control. Everything falls apart."

"Good," Lirae said. "Let it fall."

"Millions would die in the chaos," Vaelor said. "The mages would burn the world before giving up their power. That's why I'm offering to help you."

"Help me how?"

"Train you. Teach you to control your abilities without destroying yourself." He gestured, and the air shimmered. Images appeared, floating like the system notifications. "The Reverter Path has five stages. You're at Stage One now."

The images showed text I could read.

[REVERTER PATH PROGRESSION]

STAGE 1: SINGLE COPY (CURRENT)

Copy one spell at a time

Cost: 10% Self Integrity per spell

Spell Slots: 3

Recovery: 5% per day

STAGE 2: DOUBLE COPY

Copy two spells simultaneously

Cost: 8% Self Integrity per spell

Spell Slots: 5

Recovery: 7% per day

STAGE 3: MASS COPY

Copy multiple spells at once

Cost: 6% Self Integrity per spell

Spell Slots: 10

Recovery: 10% per day

STAGE 4: PERMANENT INTEGRATION

Copied spells become permanent

Cost: 4% Self Integrity per spell

Spell Slots: 20

Warning: Personality changes become irreversible

STAGE 5: COMPLETE REVERSION

Can revert bloodline magic to original form

Cost: 2% Self Integrity per spell

Spell Slots: 50

Critical Warning: Total identity loss likely

I stared at the progression. "Stage Five. That's when I could actually free magic?"

"Yes. But look at the cost." Vaelor waved his hand, and the Stage Five warning grew larger. "By that point, you'll have absorbed so many personality fragments that you might not remember who you are. You could become like Marcus."

"Who?"

"The first Reverter I met. Three hundred years ago." Vaelor's voice was sad. "He reached Stage Four. Defeated a hundred mages. But he lost himself completely. Forgot his name. His family. Why he was fighting. He became a weapon without a wielder."

I thought about the vision I'd seen. The man asked if he'd won. His mother crying because her son didn't recognize her.

"Each stage makes you stronger," Vaelor continued. "But less human. By Stage Five, you might have the power to change everything. But you might not care anymore. You might not even remember why it mattered."

"So what do I do?" I asked. "Just accept being weak?"

"I can teach you to minimize the cost. To protect your core identity while advancing. But it takes time. Months. Years even."

"I don't have years."

"Then you'll die." Vaelor's words were blunt. "Or worse, you'll become another Marcus. A cautionary tale about the price of power."

I looked at Lirae. "What do you think?"

"I think this is insane," she said. "But it's your choice."

Before I could respond, Vaelor raised his hand. The air shimmered again, and a new image appeared.

It showed the Plaza of Ascension. The same place where my life had ended three days ago.

On a wooden platform in the center stood a girl. Beaten. Bloodied. But unmistakably Lirae.

The real Lirae.

"That's me," Lirae beside me whispered. "But I'm here. How.."

"The girl next to Kael is a magical construct," Vaelor said. "A very sophisticated one, containing a fragment of the real Lirae's consciousness. The enforcers captured the real you while Kael was unconscious after absorbing the relic."

The construct Lirae flickered. Her form wavered. She looked at her hands with horror. "I'm not real?"

"You're real enough to suffer," Vaelor said quietly. "But yes. You're a copy."

On the image, a mage stepped forward, reading from a scroll. "Let it be known that this Hollowborn aided the traitor Kael Veyrin. She will be executed at dawn tomorrow as punishment."

New words appeared in my vision.

[QUEST TRIGGERED: SAVE LIRAE ASHWYN] [TIME LIMIT: 8 HOURS] [LOCATION: PLAZA OF ASCENSION, SKYREACH] [RECOMMENDED RANK: FLAME (3RD RANK) MINIMUM] [YOUR CURRENT EQUIVALENT: EMBER (1ST RANK)] [ENEMY COUNT: 200+ ENFORCERS ESTIMATED] [SUCCESS PROBABILITY: 0.03%]

Point-zero-three percent. Not even one percent. Basically impossible.

"They're using her as bait," Vaelor said. "They know you'll come for her."

"Of course I'll come for her." I turned to him. "Can you train me? Right now? Make me strong enough in eight hours?"

"No." His answer was immediate. "Even if we rushed, you'd need weeks to reach the Flame equivalent safely. Anything faster would shatter your mind."

I looked at the image of Lirae on the execution platform. Then at the construct beside me, tears ran down her face even though she wasn't real.

Then at the impossible numbers floating in my vision. Eight hours. Two hundred enforcers. Zero-point-zero-three percent chance.

"Then I don't have time to train," I said.

Vaelor's eyes widened. "You can't be serious. You'll die."

"Maybe." I started walking toward the tunnel exit. "But I have to try."

"This is suicide!"

I stopped and looked back. "You said you wanted redemption. That I was your hope. But hope isn't about playing it safe. It's about doing what's right even when it's impossible."

"You'll lose yourself trying to gain enough power," Vaelor warned.

"Then I'll lose myself." I met his ancient eyes. "But at least I'll lose myself trying to save someone, not hiding in a cave feeling sorry for what I did three hundred years ago."

Vaelor flinched like I'd struck him. The construct Lirae grabbed my arm. "Even if I'm not real, I don't want you to die for me."

"You're real enough." I pulled away gently. "And she's real. That's all that matters."

I looked up, toward where I knew the floating city hung miles above us. Skyreach. The capital. Guarded by thousands of mages. Protected by barriers and walls and power I couldn't imagine. Lirae was up there. And I was down here.

The distance between us might as well have been the space between stars. But I'd already fallen from the sky once and survived.

"Where are you going?" Vaelor called after me.

I didn't look back.

"Then I'll climb."