The same scent of burnt wood and damp soil returned. The same tiny house stood before him — too quiet, too familiar. Lumiel knew this place now, as if he'd lived in it himself. He wasn't here to question things anymore. He didn't care whose soul this was or what body he had taken. All he knew was that this family didn't deserve to die.
He burst through the door.
"Alice! George!" he shouted. His voice cracked with urgency. The boy turned in confusion, and the woman froze with a smile that hadn't yet faded. Without another word, Lumiel slammed his hand to the floor and willed the earth to move — the man's power, now his to wield. The house shook as stone burst from the ground, carving a path straight through the foundation.
"Hold on to me!" Lumiel yelled. He grabbed both of them and tunneled through the earth, deeper and deeper, until the house and the howling monsters above were distant echoes. He only stopped once he knew they were far enough — safe.
He looked back. The warmth in Alice's trembling hands. George's wide, scared eyes.
They were alive.
That was enough.
He surged upward, breaking the surface again. His eyes burned. The monsters were still tearing through the ruins of what was once a home, blind to the fact that their prey had slipped through their claws. Rage, pure and quiet, took hold of him. These creatures had stolen something that wasn't theirs to take — and now he would take it back.
Lumiel woke up crying.
But for the first time, it wasn't because he was scared or lost.
He had saved someone. Really saved someone. A soul that had suffered more than him, a family that reminded him of everything he'd never had. He couldn't protect his own family because they had never been there… but at least he could protect someone else's.
The day of the exam finally came.
Lumiel stood outside the gates of the Gifted Academy, surrounded by hopefuls far stronger, richer, and prouder than him. Some looked like nobles. Others were already practicing their flashy powers, eager to show off. He was just… him. A civilian in secondhand clothes, gripping the strap of his bag too tightly.
Still, he walked in.
Each step felt heavier than the last, but somehow, he reached the front of the registration line.
"Name?" a woman behind a desk asked, barely glancing up.
"L-Lumiel."
She paused, then tapped something on a glowing screen. Her lips curled into a smirk. "A civilian?" she muttered. "Did you get lost on the way to your real school?"
Lumiel swallowed hard. "No… I—I want to take the exam."
She raised an eyebrow, but waved him toward the appraisal crystal anyway. She pressed two fingers to her temple. A small circle of light blinked to life in her eye — the Appraisal Lens.
The moment she looked at him, her expression froze.
She didn't speak.
Her hands began to tremble.
It wasn't just his power she saw. It was something more. Behind Lumiel stood not one power, but many — an ocean of souls, old and young, strong and grieving. All of them echoed behind his back like a storm of forgotten legends. His potential… it wasn't a number. It was a wildfire. Chaotic. Untamed. Unstoppable.
"Hello?" Lumiel asked, stepping forward nervously. "What's my gift? Am I… am I allowed in?"
But the examiner didn't answer. Her lips parted, her voice lost. All she could do was stare, heart pounding, unable to understand what exactly she had just seen.
Eventually, one of the instructors stepped in. "Please wait in the side hall. We'll inform you of your results soon."
Lumiel gave a polite nod and walked off, his heart racing. He didn't know what they saw. He didn't even know what he was anymore.
But one thing was clear.
This cruel world, which once labeled him a mistake, was starting to tremble at the name he had barely learned to speak with confidence:
Lumiel.