Kael found himself drifting in a void.
There was no sound.
No sensation.
No weight.
Just endless darkness stretching infinitely in all directions, swallowing everything.
He turned slowly—or thought he did; it was hard to tell without a body to anchor the motion—trying to find something solid, some point of reference.
But there was nothing.
No up. No down. No horizon.
Just silence.
And strangely... it didn't bother him.
A part of him—maybe the part that had spent thirty years sleeping through life—found the emptiness comforting.
Familiar.
Safe.
He closed his eyes. Or maybe they were already closed. It was impossible to tell.
And he surrendered to it.
Time lost all meaning.
Minutes? Hours? Days?
There was no way to know. No heartbeat to mark the seconds. No breath to measure the passing moments.
He simply... drifted.
Until something changed.
A single point of light appeared in the distance.
Small. Barely noticeable. Like a star glimpsed through thick clouds.
It pulsed—once, twice—with a slow, rhythmic glow that felt almost alive.
And then it grew.
The light flared brighter, expanding outward in slow, deliberate waves. It wasn't just light—it was something older. Deeper. Something that resonated in a place beyond sight or sound.
Something familiar that he couldn't name.
It called to him.
Pulled him forward—not physically, but in a way that bypassed his body entirely, tugging at something beneath his skin.
His soul, maybe.
If he even had one.
He drifted toward it, helpless, weightless, drawn like a moth to flame.
The light grew brighter.
Brighter.
Until it swallowed him whole.
And then—
◆ ◆ ◆
Thud.
Kael's eyes snapped open.
He was lying on something soft.
His bed.
The stone ceiling above him was familiar now—cracks in the mortar, the flickering rune casting uneven shadows across the surface.
He blinked slowly, his mind struggling to catch up.
'How long have i been out?'
He sat up slowly, his body heavy and sluggish, like he'd been asleep for days.
And then he heard it.
A soft chime echoed in his head—clear, crystalline, impossible to ignore.
Ding.
A golden screen flickered to life in the air beside him, its edges pulsing faintly before stabilizing.
[Archive Synchronization Complete.]
[Would you like to view your Status Window?]
[Yes] [No]
Kael stared at it for a long moment.
Then, slowly, he reached out and tapped [Yes].
The screen shifted.
...
[◆ STATUS WINDOW ◆]
Name: Kael Darven
Race: Human
Age: 18
Class: None
Rank: Unassigned
...
Kael studied the screen intently, his eyes scanning every line.
It was... simple.
Clean.
Nothing particularly special about it.
He had no idea what was considered "standard" in this world.
'I really need to do some research.'
Before he could process further, another window blinked into existence, overlaying the first.
[You have fulfilled the requirements to advance.]
[Would you like to ascend to Novice Sigil?]
[Yes] [No]
Kael blinked.
'Novice sigil?'
He hesitated for a moment, then shrugged and tapped [Yes].
[Congratulations! You have completed your Archive Trial.]
[You have earned the privilege of Class Awakening.]
[Choose your path:]
[Mage] [Knight]
Kael stared at the options.
'Wait. I get to pick?'
Hope flickered in his chest—brief, fragile.
'Then maybe I can—'
The screen glitched.
Hard.
The text splintered, fracturing into jagged lines of corrupted script. The glow flickered violently, casting erratic shadows across the room.
And then—
[⚠ WARNING ⚠]
[EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE DETECTED.]
[OVERRIDE IN PROGRESS...]
Kael's stomach dropped.
"What—"
[CLASS SELECTION OVERRIDDEN.]
[The Path of Knighthood has been FORCED upon you.]
"..."
'Excuse me?'
[Class Assigned: Knight]
[You have ascended to Novice Sigil.]
The screen pulsed once, twice, and his body reacted.
A surge of energy flooded through him—hot, sharp, almost painful—rushing through his veins like liquid fire.
His muscles tensed.
His bones ached.
His breath caught in his throat.
It lasted only a few seconds.
Then it was gone, leaving him gasping slightly, his heart pounding.
The screen updated.
[◆ STATUS WINDOW ◆]
Name: Kael Darven
Race: Human
Age: 18
Class: Knight
Rank: Novice Sigil
WEAPON MASTERY:
Sword: 0%
Spear: 0%
Bow: 0%
Gauntlets: 0%
???: 0%
ACTIVE TASKS:
→ Gain Admission to Obsidian Fang Academy [IN PROGRESS]
→ ??? [Waiting]
→ ??? [LOCKED]
◆ ◆ ◆
Kael spent the next hour poking at the system, trying to understand it.
He flipped through every menu he could find, tapped on every option, read every tooltip.
But most of it was either locked or vague.
He sighed, leaning back against the headboard.
'I really don't know anything about this world.'
◆ ◆ ◆
The door opened later at night.
Kael glanced up as Theo stepped into the room, moving with his usual quiet precision. He closed the door behind him and paused, his sharp eyes scanning Kael with an intensity that felt almost clinical.
A flicker of something passed through his gaze—surprise? curiosity?—before his expression smoothed back into neutrality.
He walked over to his desk and sat down, his posture relaxed but his attention still fixed on Kael.
"So," Theo said calmly, adjusting his glasses. "I assume you've thought about what I said."
Kael met his eyes, then offered a slight, almost imperceptible smile.
"Maybe."
"And?"
But Kael didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he leaned forward slightly, his gaze steady and deliberate.
"Before I go any further, I want to ask you something."
Theo tilted his head—a subtle sign he was listening.
"You said it yourself: you're not this nice to everyone." Kael's tone was calm, unbothered, but there was an edge to it now. "So what exactly do you want from me?"
Theo didn't flinch. His expression remained perfectly neutral.
"You don't need to worry about that yet. You'll find out when it's time."
Kael held his gaze, unflinching.
"And what if our goals don't align?"
Silence.
Theo studied him for a long moment, his eyes narrowing slightly behind his glasses.
Then, quietly, he murmured—almost to himself—"Something about you has changed."
Kael leaned back slightly, arms behind his head.
"Really? And what might that be?"
Theo didn't answer.
He just watched him, his gaze sharp and calculating, like he was solving a puzzle that had suddenly shifted beneath his hands.
And then he smiled.
It was small. Barely there. But real.
"You don't need to worry about our goals aligning," Theo said quietly, his voice a low hum. "I've got a feeling we'll always be on the same side of the door."
Kael didn't reply immediately.
Their eyes remained locked, unspoken thoughts passing between them in the silence.
Finally, Kael shrugged.
"...Yeah. I've got that feeling too."
Theo nodded, the faint smile lingering on his lips.
Kael fell back onto the bed with a tired groan.
"I've got some questions about some stuff," he mumbled, already half-asleep. "But I need to sleep first. I'm dead tired."
Theo didn't reply.
He just sat there, staring at the figure on the bed.
And through his vision—through the ability he'd carried since childhood—he saw.
Kael's soul.
Where there had once been a dim, brittle flicker—fragile and hollow, barely clinging to existence—there was something else now.
Something different.
A flame.
Small, still. Uncertain.
But alive.
Burning.
But the most important thing was that it wasn't corrupted.
Theo's breath caught.
Just as I thought.
He adjusted his glasses, his expression unreadable.
And for the first time in a long time, he felt something he'd almost forgotten.
Curiosity.
Hope.
Possibility.
He turned back to his desk, opening a book he wasn't really reading.
But his thoughts were elsewhere.