The Bully’s Reincarnation

Chapter 6: Pages of Sin

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 burned against his skin—hot, but not painful. Like fire that didn’t destroy. Like light that didn’t blind.

And then, all at once, the page shifted.

It unfolded.

Literally. Like paper stretching beyond its edge, revealing more than what was printed. Glyphs and words bloomed outward in spirals, lines of energy crawling across the wood pedestal and up Kai’s arms, wrapping his skin in glowing tattoos that flickered then vanished.

The ink sank into him.

Into his blood.

Into his mind.

He gasped.

And the memories came.

Not full ones. Not stories. Not scenes.

Flashes.

Rafe’s hands gripping this very book, his voice whispering spells into the pages, his shadow cast long across a battlefield, his enemies burning behind him.

It wasn’t like watching a memory but like remembering it himself.

Like he’d done those things.

Felt the power rip from his bones. Watched cities crumble. Heard the screams.

His knees hit the floor.

He clutched his head.

“No—no, I didn’t—”

But he had.

Some part of him had.

The Tyrant had lived inside this power.

And now so did he.

When he finally stood, the book had returned to normal.

The page—folded back into a single sheet.

But Kai’s heart hadn’t.It beat faster and harder now, he felt it.

A part of him was waking up and he didn’t know if that part wanted peace—or blood.

The next morning came like a slap.

Kai sat in class, sweat on his back, mind still echoing with spells he hadn’t known yesterday.

Professor Velin walked past, eyes sharp.

She paused behind him.

“You’ve been reading, haven’t you?”

He froze.

She leaned down. Whispered low enough that only he could hear:

“Dark ink stains more than fingers.”

Then she walked away.

At lunch, Lina sat across from him, quiet.

He barely touched his food.His hands trembled, still raw from the book.

She reached across the table and touched his knuckles.

“You’re shaking.”He didn’t look up.

“You ever feel like you’re losing control of yourself?” he asked.

She didn’t answer right away.

Then: “I used to.”

“When?”

“When I stopped pretending everything was okay. And when I realized that being broken doesn’t mean being evil.”

He looked up.

Her eyes were soft and Kind but he saw it now—the sadness behind them. The pain she kept buried under smiles, they weren’t so different….not really.

That evening, the door to his dorm creaked open.

A shadow entered, not one of the other students or Lina.

A figure in a silver cloak.

Hood up and mask off.

Cyrus….

Perfect Cyrus. From Class A.

The prodigy.

The one who had smiled at Lina like the sun smiled at the earth.

Kai stood, tense.

“Relax,” Cyrus said, raising one hand. “If I wanted you dead, you’d already be bleeding.”

“That’s comforting.”

Cyrus stepped into the room, eyes sweeping across the stone walls, the creaky bed, the small stack of books.

“Not much of a tyrant’s chamber, is it?”

Kai narrowed his eyes.

“What do you want?”

Cyrus smiled—but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“I want to know what’s waking up inside you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do. Everyone else might be blind, but I see it. Power like that doesn’t stay hidden forever.”

Kai said nothing.

Cyrus took a step closer.

“I read about Rafe. His methods. His fall. You’re not him. Not yet. But you’re standing where he once stood.”

“I didn’t ask to be.”

“Doesn’t matter. The moment that mark lit up on your chest, the game changed. You’re a piece now. Whether you want to be or not.”

Kai’s jaw tightened. “So what, you’re here to warn me?”

“I’m here to offer you a choice.”

Cyrus dropped a coin on the table. Silver, etched with the academy’s seal.

“Meet me in the Observatory Tower tomorrow night. Midnight.”

“Why?”

“There are things you don’t know, Kai. About Rafe. About the Council. About what really happened ten years ago.”

Kai looked at the coin. Felt its weight without touching it.

“And if I don’t come?”

Cyrus smiled thinly. “Then you’ll find out the hard way.”

That night, Kai didn’t sleep.

He reread the book—carefully and slowly.

Only one page would open at a time,it was like the book knew how much he could handle.

The next spell made his veins buzz.

A shadow-walking charm.

Short range.

Limited time.

But still.

He whispered the words.

And for a heartbeat, the room dimmed, like his body had stepped through the light.When he blinked, he was on the other side of the room.

Breathing hard, stronger and alone.But still… afraid.

Because if this was what power felt like—he wasn’t sure he could stop.