The gates loomed tall before me, wrought in black steel and carved with runes that pulsed faintly under the morning sun. The sight should have inspired awe, as it did for the countless wide-eyed students around me. Instead, it felt like déjà vu—an echo of memories that refused to fade.
The same gates… the same day… the same foolish excitement I once had.
"Wow! It's really the Academy of Tomorrow!" a boy near me exclaimed, clutching his admission scroll as though it were treasure. His eyes gleamed with the untainted wonder of youth.
I envied him.
Not because I lacked that wonder now, but because I once had it—before I learned what awaited us here. The Academy promised greatness, yet it was also where dreams crumbled, where ambition was twisted, and where the path of fate was sealed.
This time, I clenched my fist, I will not allow myself to be consumed by it.
The headmaster appeared on the platform, robes flowing like water woven from the stars themselves. His voice carried over the courtyard without need of magic.
"Welcome, chosen ones, to the Academy of Tomorrow. Here, you shall be moulded into the guardians of our realm's future. Your potential shall be tested, your resolve sharpened, and your destiny revealed."
The same speech, I thought bitterly. I could almost recite it word for word.
Around me, students whispered with excitement, some trembling with nerves. None of them noticed me, standing quietly in the corner, my gaze fixed not on the headmaster, but on the shadows that stretched at the edges of the courtyard.
I remembered those shadows.
I remembered what crawled from them.
And I remembered the faces of those who would not survive the years ahead.
A chill wind brushed against me, though the day was warm.
Perhaps it was only my imagination. Or perhaps it was memory bleeding into reality.
Either way, I whispered to myself, unheard by the crowd:
"This time… I'll change everything."