The moonlight spilled across Arin's dorm room, silver threads weaving shadows on the floor. Sleep refused to come. His body still thrummed from the duel, from Lira's words, from Kian's glare.
He closed his eyes—
And suddenly, darkness swallowed him whole.
Not the soft dark of night, but a void, vast and endless. His body felt weightless, his breath absent. For a heartbeat, panic clawed at him.
Then—
[Adaptation Sequence Initiated.]
The voice was not human. Not mechanical either. It was his own voice—but stripped of warmth, echoing with certainty, as if it spoke from some deeper place inside him.
Arin spun, searching, but there was no figure. Only words burning into the void.
[Combat data absorbed.]
[Analysis complete: Mana flow instability—corrected.]
[New trait unlocked: Reactive Acceleration.]
Arin staggered, though his body wasn't really there. "What… what is this?!"
The voice answered without pause.
[Designation: Subject Arin Vale.]
[Objective: Adapt. Survive. Evolve.]
His heart froze. Subject?
"Subject to what?!" he shouted into the emptiness.
But the void didn't reply. Only more lines etched themselves into the dark.
[Warning: Threat probability rising. External hostility detected. Prepare.]
Then, with a thunderclap, the darkness shattered.
Arin jerked upright in his bed, sweat dripping down his forehead. His chest heaved.
The dorm room was quiet, utterly normal. His desk, the lamp, the academy crest on the wall… all in place. But his body felt different. His breathing was smoother, mana flowing cleaner in his veins.
And his mind whispered a truth he couldn't deny anymore.
Something inside me is changing.
Something I was never meant to find.
He pressed a hand to his chest, trembling.
Who am I, really?
Far outside his window, the academy towers stood tall against the night sky. And somewhere within them, shadows stirred—watching, waiting.