(Third person pov)
Nexus Academy, Second-Year Rankers' Dorm
The night air over Nexus Academy shimmered faintly with mana lamps, their pale light pooling over marble paths and the sprawling gardens that wound between the dormitories. Inside the second-year rankers' dorm, the common lounge was warm and lively, the crackle of chatter and clink of tea cups mixing with the faint hum of a mana heater.
Elaria Calder had just returned from a grueling mission, dust still on her boots and her hair pulled into a loose tail. She was in the middle of walking to her room when she spotted Ruby Drazmere, Kaelith Vaelthorne, Marcus Corvax, Aria Irelith, and Lucas Dragonborne loitering near the academy's outer garden, animatedly talking about the enrollment exams that had wrapped up earlier that day.
"Elaria!" Ruby called, waving.
She slowed, smiling faintly. "You're all still here? Shouldn't you be in your dorms?"
"Pfft. We were just dissecting today's performance," Lucas grinned, practically glowing with pride. "And in case you didn't hear—Rank 1, baby."
Marcus crossed his arms, smirking. "Rank 2."
Kaelith's voice was calm but carried the faint edge of satisfaction. "Rank 3."
Aria gave a sly grin. "Fourth."
Ruby puffed her chest. "And yours truly, Rank 5."
Elaria chuckled, shaking her head. "I suppose congratulations are in order. Come on, you can brag inside. I just got back from a mission."
They followed her toward the dorm, still trading jabs and boasts. The moment they stepped in, the warm light of the common lounge spilled over them, and from the corner, the sound of measured footsteps drew every eye.
Liora Silvercrest entered, silver hair cascading like molten moonlight, eyes aglow like embers under starlight. Conversations faltered. Even in a room full of prodigies, her presence was magnetic.
"Back already?" Liora's lips curved into a faint smile as she joined Elaria.
"Mission went smoothly," Liora added before anyone could ask. She glanced at the first-years. "So, these are the top ranks?"
Lucas laughed. "Damn right. We were just telling Elaria."
Then, almost as if the thought had struck them at once, Marcus leaned toward Elaria. "Hey… Calder. Any relation to Nex Calder?"
Ruby tilted her head. "Yeah, we saw a Calder on the rankings. Didn't get to meet him though."
Elaria blinked, surprised but smiling. "He's my little brother."
That caught everyone's attention.
"I knew it!" Lucas said, snapping his fingers. "The name was too rare."
Elaria's eyes softened, a warmth creeping into her voice. "He… was my whole world when we were younger. After our mother died, I was the one who took care of him. He was so small back then, always clinging to my arm, pestering me for bedtime stories." She laughed quietly, a little wistful. "I used to braid his hair in the mornings because he'd get it tangled so badly while sleeping. And the way he'd look up at me… like I could fix anything in the world."
Her tone dipped, almost imperceptibly. "I haven't seen him for almost two years. One year I spent in training just to get into Nexus, and then after I enrolled… our schedules never matched. I just hope—" she stopped, smiling again to hide the tightness in her chest—"I just hope he's doing well."
Liora's smile was faint but sincere. "He was even cuter than you remember, Elaria. Honestly… cuter than anyone in this room."
Ruby snorted. "Hey, speak for yourself."
Even Marcus gave a reluctant chuckle.
Unseen by them, somewhere across the academy grounds, Nex Calder had just left the special infirmary, the sterile scent of mana-saline still faint on his skin. His hair was now an ethereal white, curling faintly like a halo under the corridor lights, his skin healthier, more luminous than before. Fresh clothes replaced the tattered remnants of the exam, and a pair of sleek headphones hung around his neck.
Approaching the reception desk, he leaned slightly, voice calm. "Excuse me, could you tell me where Elaria Calder is staying?"
The receptionist's brows rose slightly at the shared surname, but she simply pointed toward the rankers' dorm. "Second-year rankers' wing. You can't miss it."
"Thanks."
He started toward the building, unaware that the girl speaking so fondly of her "adorable little brother" was the very person he no longer remembered—while in the common room, the others laughed and shared stories, not knowing the subject of their conversation was only moments away from stepping inside.
____________________________________
A sudden chime cut through the chatter in the lounge.
Elaria blinked, glancing toward the entrance. "That's… odd. Hardly anyone comes to the rankers' dorm unannounced."
She crossed the room and pulled the heavy oak door open.
The breath left her lungs.
Standing there was a boy she'd last seen as a lanky, scrappy kid — but now… His hair was a striking white, curling faintly at the ends like spun frost. His violet-tinted eyes seemed almost unreal under the lamplight, and a sleek pair of headphones hung casually around his neck. For a heartbeat, her mind refused to connect the image with the name.
"Nex…?" Her voice wavered.
He looked at her — and in that moment, he didn't see Elaria Calder, prodigy of Nexus Academy. He saw her — the face of his sister from his previous world. The same way her eyes shone before crying, the same way she'd hold herself together until she was alone.
Before she could say anything more, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close with a strength that startled her. The contact was instinctive, almost desperate — as if afraid she might vanish if he let go.
Elaria froze, her mind racing, then melted into the embrace, her own arms tightening around him. She didn't even try to hide the tremor in her breath. "You… you're really here…"
The common room had fallen into absolute silence. Ruby's eyes widened. Lucas's usual grin faltered into surprise. Marcus and Kaelith exchanged quick glances, both quietly reading the tension in the air.
Only Liora's expression remained unreadable, though her ember-bright gaze lingered on Nex, as if weighing the subtle, colder energy that seemed to radiate from him.
"I'm back," Nex murmured, his tone calm — almost too calm for such a reunion. The words were for her… but the warmth she remembered from his voice was gone, replaced with something distant.
No one in that room knew — not even Elaria — that the boy holding her wasn't quite the same one she'd been missing all this time.
Elaria reluctantly let go, still holding his shoulders as if to reassure herself he was real. "Come in, it's cold out," she said softly.
The moment they stepped into the lounge, the atmosphere shifted. Conversations picked up again, but every glance slid back toward the newcomer — the white-haired boy whose presence felt… composed, but edged.
They gathered near the central table, and Elaria instinctively motioned for him to sit beside her. Nex, however, instead chose a seat a little to the side — close enough to be part of the circle, but with a faint buffer of space.
Ruby's eyes lit up with curiosity. "So you're the Nex Calder. Rank 8 in the first-year entrance exam, right?"
Nex inclined his head politely. "Yes." His voice was smooth, low, and even, with none of the fidgeting or bashfulness one might expect from a younger brother meeting his sister's peers.
Lucas leaned forward, grinning. "Man, I have to say — you look way too composed for someone who just survived that nightmare of an exam. What's your secret?"
"Preparation," Nex answered simply.
Marcus narrowed his eyes, studying him. "Preparation… and something else. Not every first-year walks out of the exam looking like that."
Elaria followed their gazes and realized they weren't exaggerating — his posture was straight but relaxed, his eyes sharp without seeming harsh, and there was a quiet confidence in him that wasn't there before. It was a transformation she couldn't place, and it made her chest tighten.
Aria smirked faintly. "Guess good looks run in the family, huh?"
Even Liora's head tilted slightly, her ember eyes scanning him the way one might appraise a rival. "Rank 8… yet your presence feels far heavier than that. Interesting."
Nex met her gaze for a brief moment before offering the faintest of smiles — polite, but distant — and looking away.
They began peppering him with small questions: which monsters he faced, what path he took, if he planned to join a club. Nex answered each one with calm precision, never more than a sentence or two, his tone free of boast or complaint.
Elaria watched in silence, every clipped answer pressing heavier on her heart. The boy she remembered had been animated, asking endless questions, always looking for her approval. Now… he felt like a stranger wearing her brother's face.
Her fingers curled slightly in her lap. She didn't know if it was pride or grief welling in her chest — or both.
Across the table, the others exchanged subtle glances. None of them missed the fact that, while Nex was unfailingly polite, he never tried to close the gap between himself and them.
And for the first time that night, the warmth of the lounge felt just a little colder.
The warmth in the lounge dimmed into a quieter hum, the main cast settling into the kind of easy banter that came when rankers gathered. But for all the polite smiles and measured answers, there was something unspoken hanging between Nex and the rest of them — an invisible thread that refused to knot.
Liora sat back in her chair, her gaze lingering on him longer than anyone else's. The embers in her eyes softened — just barely — in a way most people would never notice. She had known the old Nex Calder. She remembered the boy who used to peek around corners to watch their sparring matches, who had the unshakable habit of smiling too wide when he caught her attention.
But now… he was calm, precise, his words clipped, his gaze heavy but unhurried. Like a river frozen mid-flow.
She tilted her head. "Nex," she said, her voice deceptively light, "if you had been aiming for Rank 1, could you have taken it?"
The question dropped into the air like a stone into still water.
Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Liora—"
"It's just curiosity," she said, but her eyes never left his.
Nex didn't flinch. "Rankings aren't my priority," he said simply. "Not yet."
The answer was polite, unprovocative… but it was also an avoidance. The old Nex might have laughed, teased, or even declared he'd beat them all next year. This Nex simply let the silence settle again.
Elaria's chest ached. She could feel Liora searching for the boy she once knew — and coming up empty.
Without thinking, she rose from her seat and crossed the small gap to his chair. The others watched, puzzled, as she knelt beside him, one hand gently resting on his shoulder.
He looked at her, faint surprise flickering in those violet eyes.
"You always used to look so tired after a mission or a test," she murmured, her voice low enough that only he could hear. "And I'd do this… until you fell asleep."
Before he could react, she gently guided his head down into her lap, the way she had when he was small — when the weight of the world was nothing more than a scraped knee or a bad dream.
The room fell still.
Nex didn't move at first. His body was tense, his mind caught between instinct and hesitation. He could feel the faint warmth of her hand in his hair, the way her fingers combed through it with the same absent care as years ago. A memory stirred — not from this life, but from another. A sister's touch, a fragile comfort he had once thought he'd never feel again.
For a moment, the cold walls inside him softened.
"You've grown so much," Elaria whispered, her voice trembling now, no longer able to hide the mix of pride and grief. "But you're still my little brother."
Something in his chest tightened — not enough to break his composure, but enough that he didn't pull away.
Across the table, Ruby and Lucas looked between each other, unsure whether to smile or keep silent. Marcus leaned back, watching with an unreadable expression. Aria's lips curved faintly, as if sensing the rare fracture in Nex's controlled mask.
Liora… just stared. Her ember eyes were softer now, but her thoughts were unreadable. She could see that Elaria's gesture had reached somewhere in him, even if the boy himself didn't seem ready to admit it.
For the rest of the evening, Nex remained in that seat — not quite part of the laughter, but not entirely apart from it either. And Elaria never once moved her hand from his hair.
One by one, the others began to rise from their seats. Ruby stretched with a yawn, Lucas mumbled something about needing food before bed, Marcus gave a short nod, and Aria excused herself with the promise of "next time, we're making him talk more."
Their voices faded down the hall until only the soft hum of the mana heater remained.
Liora hadn't moved. She sat quietly across from Elaria and Nex, her eyes tracing the edges of the boy's face as if memorizing every change.
Elaria's fingers moved slowly through his hair, untangling soft white curls. It was almost muscle memory — the way her thumb brushed near his temple, the way she smoothed a stubborn strand behind his ear.
Nex's gaze was fixed somewhere past the firelight, but his body… his body wasn't listening to him anymore. The steady rhythm of her touch seeped into his skin, the warmth of her lap cradling a part of him he hadn't realized was tired — not just in bone, but in spirit.
For the first time since arriving at Nexus Academy, the walls inside him faltered. His breathing slowed. The weight in his limbs grew heavier.
Elaria glanced down and caught the faint shift in his features — the way his sharp eyes had softened, the faint slackening of his jaw. But it wasn't the round-cheeked, wide-eyed little brother from her memories. His face had grown sharper, older, refined in a way that spoke of trials she had never seen.
She swallowed. When did my angel turn into this stranger?
A sudden, almost imperceptible movement drew her attention — Liora had leaned forward, resting her hand lightly on Nex's head. Her fingers brushed through his hair once, a slow, deliberate pass, as if confirming something only she understood.
"He's different," Liora murmured, so softly it could have been meant only for herself.
Then she withdrew her hand, rising without another word. The faint scent of moonlit air followed her as she turned toward the hallway.
Just before stepping away, she glanced back — a last, unreadable look — and then she was gone.
Elaria stayed, watching Nex's breathing grow steady and deep. Her hand never stopped moving through his hair, even as his weight settled fully into her lap.
Outside, the night over Nexus Academy shimmered faintly under the mana lamps — and inside, for a little while, the cold in Nex Calder's heart was kept at bay.