Since his return from Krisai Village, Raine had not slept the same.
He would close his eyes… only to find himself standing in the courtyards of the academy, where everything was reversed. Towers fell upward, books were read backwards, and students moved like phantoms breathing silence. In every dream, he heard the same phrase:
"What was never created… cannot be broken."
⸻
The next morning, Raine was summoned to appear before the Deep Spectrum Committee, one of the academy's enigmatic bodies, which only called upon those whose powers had begun to transcend human classification.
The council had five seats, but Raine saw only four faces. The fifth seat remained shrouded in darkness, as if someone sat there but was not meant to be seen.
Professor Niveira asked him directly:
"Have you remembered anything?"
He did not answer.
A luminous member spoke, his voice slow, as though time itself flowed through him:
"Your powers are starting to emanate from the shadows… not just pass through them. This suggests a sixth spectrum."
Raine stared at them:
"Does this mean… I'm no longer human?"
The response came from the shadow behind the fifth seat:
"You're not outside the classification… You're becoming a classification of your own."
⸻
That day, a rare class was held, known as "The Circle of Chaos", conducted only once per cycle. The session was led by Professor Kaltar, a specialist in analyzing unclassified powers.
Standing at the center of the hall, he said:
"What we usually teach is classified: Fire, Shadow, Mind, Nature, Metallic, Awareness… But the world does not always obey categories. There are powers that exist apart. Powers you do not learn… but are afflicted with."
He drew a circle on the magic board, inside which he wrote:
"Absolute Power = A Non-Negotiable Price."
Then he continued, voice charged with gravity:
"First example? Emperor Selius… Raine's father. His magic is gravity."
A hologram appeared, showing the emperor raising his hand, while soldiers were crushed in mid-air as if the earth had rejected them.
"Gravity at its highest state means controlling space and mass… But Selius evolved it to the point of locally unraveling time, and even imprisoning light itself."
"The cost? His lifespan is drained. Each use brings him closer to a slow death. It's said he restructured his heartbeat twice—just to maintain dominance."
Whispers spread. Then Kaltar added:
"And the second example… is the Headmaster himself: Malek."
Silence fell, as if his name alone were a spell.
"His power is known as Author Magic."
A hologram appeared of a floating glass chamber, inside which a man manipulated everything around him.
"Within a sealed space-time field, Malek becomes the director of the scene. He rewrites events, reshapes actions, and even alters the will of others."
"But the backlash? It's severe. Each use erodes the boundary between reality and imagination in his mind. There are nights… when he no longer knows whether he's the one creating the story—or merely a character within it."
Kaltar turned to them all:
"Unclassified powers don't grant superiority… They place you on the brink of losing yourself."
Raine looked at his shadow… and felt that the professor's words were not a lesson—but a personal warning.
⸻
Return to the Impossible Calm
When he returned to his room, he found Renal waiting, seated at the table, fiddling with a device shaped like a transparent orb.
Without looking up, Renal said:
"I've been analyzing your bio-readings from the mission… There was temporal interference in the field around you. Did… did you live more than your time?"
Raine answered calmly:
"No. I lived something… without time."
Renal shut the device and stared at him:
"I'll be honest, Raine. You're changing… at an unhealthy rate. Your body is coping—but I doubt your mind is still whole."
Raine gave a faint, ironic smile:
"I'm not losing consciousness, Renal… I'm restructuring it."
⸻
In one of the meditative workshops, the students were asked to interact with the Mirror of Cognitive Proximity—a spell that reveals the person closest to you emotionally.
Lina was beside him.
When Raine touched the mirror… no image appeared. Only a void that swallowed the light.
But when Lina touched it, Raine's image appeared… kneeling in the darkness.
She froze, and said:
"This… is impossible."
Raine replied without looking:
"I'm not searching for someone like me… but for someone unafraid of the reflection."
⸻
In the Structural Distortion Arena, where all known powers are suppressed, Kavrin of Aron publicly challenged Raine.
He summoned what was known as Iron Nerve Magic—a power that turned his nerves into an electric web that shocked anyone he touched.
He struck Raine in the shoulder. Raine shuddered… but did not fall.
Then the shadow appeared.
It spread over Kavrin's body like a disease.
His enemy collapsed—not from physical pain, but from the sudden surge of memories… death, loss, betrayal.
Raine whispered:
"He who sows pain… reaps it."
⸻
That night, Raine was summoned again to the Headmaster's Hall. He did not find Malek… only a single line glowing on the wall:
"When you gaze into your shadow… don't forget the shadow also gazes into you."
Then the light vanished.
⸻
In the forbidden Hall of Memories, Nira watched a recording from the Krisai mission.
Raine was there… but behind him, a second shadow appeared—smiling.
Nira's voice trembled:
"That's not a reflection… That's a counterpart."
⸻
In the eastern wing, Raine sat in the dark. The books whispered, and the walls quivered.
Then, for the first time…
His shadow spoke—in his own voice:
"You can no longer say… which of us is truly you."
Then silence fell.
But within him…
Something had begun.