The bell chimed, and students packing up, the chatter of chair and sheaths filling the room. Kai remain seated for while, letting others to leave first. He can feel the sideways glance-The unspoken judgment of swordsman without an edge.
He steps outside from the classroom to the hallway, tall, sharp jaw and an even sharper smirk in his face, Lucian Draeven leaned casually against the frame, his academy coat half-buttoned like the rules doesn't apply to him.
"So you are Kai Relven, aren't you?" Lucian's tone was light, but his eyes where all venom. "I have heard interesting things about you, like how a fool enter an academy like this? A boy with no family name worth mentioning, no power, and you want to become swordsman. And somehow you get to seated in A-rank Sword class , must be nice to waste a slot for better and more deserving student then you.
Kai's gaze hardened, but Lucian's smirk only deepened.
"Do you know who I am and my family is?" Lucian's straightened, the Draeven crest stitched in gold on his sleeve catching the light. "The first Sword Saint in the recorded history were come from my family. Every generation in my family has carried his blade Legacy's. I am not just better then you.... I'm what every student of this academy wants to become."
He steps closer to Kai, lowing his voice so only Kai could can hear.
"People like you,"
"You Shouldn't Be Exist In Here"
Kai's grip tightened on the strap of his bag. Slowly, he looked up at the Lucian, meeting his gaze without flinching.
"Shut Up," he said, his voice steady but cutting.
"Your background doesn't work here. The academy rules do. And last I checked, those rules don't crown you the king of the classroom."
Lucian's smirk fainted for a moment-just enough for Kai to notice-before it returned colder then before-but there was something new in his eyes, something calculating.
As Kai walked away, Lucian's gaze lingered on his back like dagger pointing pressed between his shoulder blades.
"Enjoy your peace while you can, Lucian though. "I'll make sure you regret opening your mouth."
Kai wandered through the long marble hallway. Every corridors looks identically, each branching turn mocking him with the same polished floors and tall, sunlit windows.
"Great... first day and I can't even find my own room, and that arrogantly big family background guy what was his name, Lucian he is going to approach me again I think because I opened my mouth back then." He was muttering under his breath.
He turned a corner and nearly collided with a group of student in crimson-trimmed uniform-the emblem of S-Rank class stitched proudly onto their jackets. Their movements were precise, their eyes sharp, like predator's in human skin.
At the front was a tall boy with Raven-black hair tied neatly at the back. His eyes-deep crimson-locked on Kai, and for an instant, Kai felt the air grow heavy. The hallway seemed quieter. Slower.
"Lost, aren't you?" The boy asked, voice calm and low.
Kai nodded, trying not to show discomfort. "Yeah... looking for the Dorm Hall C."
The boy's lips curved into a faint smile. Behind him, another S-Ranker whispered just loud enough for the Kai.
"He Shouldn't Be Here..."
For the briefest second, the ticking sound of the distance wall clocked-Kai swore he heard each tick stretch unnaturally long-before returning to normal.
"Straight ahead, second left," The boy instructed. His tone was polite, but there was a finality to it, like a hunter letting his prey walk... for now.
Kai gives his thanks and walked away, unaware that the boy's gaze follow him until he vanished around the corner. The crimson eyes lingered a moment longer-calculating, waiting.
Kai finally made to his room, the memory of the winding hallways is still fresh in his mind. The door opened, reveling the smell, neatly arranged space he'd barely had time for unpack.
But on his desk, something was there that didn't belong.
A single sheet of paper lay perfectly centered, as if placed there with purpose. In bold, jagged handwriting, read it:
"You Shouldn't Exist In Here"
For a moment, Kai just stared to it, his pulse quickening. No signature. No clue. Just those five words, Heavy as a blade hovering over his neck.
Kai gaze lingered on the letter, but instead of tearing it up or tossing it aside, he sat it gently on the desk. He sat on the bed, the moment Kai's head touched the pillow, the noise of the dorm faded.
Not into silence - but into somethings else.
Tick...
The same sound. The same impossible, tick he'd heard three month ago on his house while preparing for the exam.
He remember the cramped desk in his old room, stack of textbooks leaning like tired towers, the night air pressing against his windows. The house had been silent-too silent-until that tick cut through the stillness.
…tick...
It was slow heavy, like it was dragging the time itself along with it. His wall clock's hands hadn't moved after his parents disappear. Yet, that night, he could swear they shifted-just once.
He'd shaken his head, blaming exhaustion. But now-
…tick.
Suddenly the air thickened. His vision got blurred-then cleared after some moment he found himself into a place that wasn't his room anymore. An endless darkness. A floor with glowing with a faint silver light that rippled like water with every breath he took. Vast gears and clock's hands turned above him, each movement grinding against time itself.
He didn't know where he was or how he got there.
All he remember was panic, then the world snapping back into place as it left.
But this time he didn't panic. He closed his eyes and willed himself towards his memory.
The dorm room melted away. Silver ripples. Endless dark. Gears turning. His DOMAIN.
He focus on the ticking. On the pulse between moments.
The clock's second hand twitched, he raised his hand.
The clock froze.
No... not just the clock. Everything.
The gears in the distance stopped mid-turn. The faint hum of this strange place vanished. Even the air froze in his lungs.
"One second..." he whispered.
"Two..."
The pressure in his head swelled.
"Three."
He released it - Gears spun again, the void breathed, and sound returned.
Then, like a ripple in water, an image appeared ahead of him-his dorm room from moments ago. He watch himself walk in, drop his bag, sit on the bed.
"The past... I'm seeing the past."
He grinned faintly, a rare spark in his usually guarded expression.
"So the clock wasn't broken that day... it was me."
With a through, the void dissolved, and he found himself back in bed, heart racing but steady.
For the first time since his family disappeared, Kai felt something new.
Control.
"Up Coming"
"Let's see that scholar boy can even hold a blade"