If Oakhaven was a bruised lung, the Aethelgard Royal Academy was a heart carved from polished marble and stolen sunlight. There was no scent of coal or despair here; the air was thick with aged parchment, expensive cologne, and the ozone-heavy weight of high-tier Authority. The gates, wrought from white iron into the shape of open books, were guarded by Sentinels in armor so pristine it looked as though it had never tasted a drop of rain.
Rei Slavena stood at the end of the gravel drive, clutching his forged recommendation letter. In this sanctuary of perfection, he felt like a grease stain on a wedding dress.
Mercury Silver Eyes: Active.
Through his distorted vision, the Academy transformed. It wasn't a school; it was a high-density narrative zone. The "Lines of Fate" weren't mere threads here—they were thick, golden cables of destiny. Every student walking through those gates carried a pre-written Role: The Gifted Prodigy. The Redemption-Seeking Noble. The Comic Relief.
Rei caught his reflection in a puddle that had somehow survived the Academy's perfect drainage.
[Role: Rei Vansworth (Filler). Threat Level: Negligible. Narrative Importance: 0.001%].
"Perfect," Rei whispered. "To the world, I'm just the guy who dies in the background of a training montage".
The crowd suddenly parted, not for him, but for the Main Event. A black-and-gold steam-carriage, pulled by six alchemical stallions, ground to a halt. Out stepped Alaric Thorne, the "Golden Son" of the Thorne Duchy and the world's current favorite Protagonist. He had hair like spun gold and eyes the color of a summer sky. Every movement felt choreographed, as if the wind itself blew only to make his cloak flutter.
To Rei's silver eyes, Alaric's Plot Armor was so thick it looked like a physical shield of light. The Script wasn't just writing him; it was worshipping him.
Alaric scanned the crowd, his gaze momentarily snagging on Rei. For a heartbeat, the golden cables of the Script twitched. The Protagonist felt the ripple—the typo in his perfect world. But Rei immediately slumped his shoulders and dulled his eyes, receding into the "Filler" he was supposed to be.
The applicants were ushered into the Chamber of Echoes, where the Dean announced the entrance exam: "To enter Aethelgard, you must prove your Narrative Resonance".
Alaric Thorne went first. When he touched the obsidian Echo Stone, the hall erupted in a golden supernova.
"S-Rank Authority!" the proctors screamed. "The Lion of the North has arrived!".
Then, it was Rei's turn. He pressed his palm to the cold stone. A pathetic, dim grey light flickered.
"Rei Vansworth," a proctor sighed. "D-Rank Resonance. Role: Support Staff. Barely passing".
Rei walked toward the South Wing dormitories, a cold smile hidden by his collar. Laugh all you want, he thought. In a story full of lions, the most dangerous thing isn't another predator. It's the fly they don't bother to swat until it's already laid its eggs in their wounds.
That night, Rei didn't sleep. Using his Mercury Eyes, he peeled back the "Margin Notes" of the dormitory walls, finding a structural weakness—a Plot Hole. He slipped out, using [Narrative Stealth] to bypass the guards and enter the Grand Library through a drainage grate.
Behind a wall shimmering with oily purple Raw Ink, Rei struck the Plot Hole, opening a path into a Void Space. Standing in the center was a girl with hair like bleached paper and embers of blue flame for eyes: Elara, the Forsaken Heroine of the previous Volume.
"I'm going to un-write him," Rei told her, his mind on Alaric. "I'm going to take his Authority and give it to the people it was stolen from".
Suddenly, the air thinned. Silas the Scrivener, a mid-tier Editor, descended from the ceiling on a line of Red Ink.
"Anomaly 00-Slavena and Anomaly-Deleted-Elara," Silas rasped. "This is a very messy paragraph. Sentence: Purge".
Silas flicked his crimson quill, firing a [Strike-Through]—a lethal line of deletion. Rei glitched through the attack, while Elara lunged with blue void-fire. Silas blocked with a [Defensive Footnote], a wall of glowing text.
Then, Silas invoked a [Pause] command. The world froze. Rei was suspended inches from Silas's neck as the Editor aimed his quill at Rei's heart for [Total Deletion].
But Rei's [Residual Sovereign] trait flared. The Quill-mark on his chest burned with rejection. The "Pause" shattered like glass. Rei drove his iron shard through Silas's throat.
"I'm not the footnote," Rei roared. "I'm the End of the Chapter!".
Silas dissolved into shredded strips of parchment.
[Narrative Interference: +5.00%]
[Level Up: 1 -> 4]
[New Skill: Marginalia].
"We need to get back to the surface," Rei said, leaning on Elara. "I have a lecture on 'The Hero's Journey' tomorrow morning. I'd hate to miss it".