Breath returned before sight.
Han Seo-Jin awoke in a chamber of smooth white stone. Pale light reflected softly across carved walls, illuminating his flawless form. No injury, no pain, only perfect alignment of every joint and muscle. Memories surged—not entirely his own, but intimately familiar. Another childhood, another life.
Aetherion.
He recalled tutors drilling etiquette, mana theory, and history. A mother with gentle eyes, faintly scented with herbs, who had disappeared in winter. Twice he had died in his previous life, collapsing at the Arcane College entrance. Declared dead, body gone.
Then came a voice. Calm, detached, neither male nor female.
"You lived without disturbing the flow. If given power, would you seek to rule?"
No answer.
"Then power would not corrupt you."
A golden drop formed in front of him—neither blood nor light, but responsibility, pure and heavy. Han Seo-Jin disappeared from one world and began to exist in another.