Three brave decisions-silence, saying no, and walking away.
.....
The man who had appeared out of nowhere ,calm as mist and annoying as a riddle dusted off his dark blue sleeves like he'd just walked through a mildly inconvenient breeze.
Not through a corridor charged with magic so heavy it could strangle a grown man's lungs.
I, meanwhile, remained frozen in place. Half from fear, half from instinct.
Or maybe because my legs had decided, in a moment of democratic unity, that this was a great time to retire from functioning.
My back was damp with sweat, but I couldn't be sure whether that was fear, heat, or well, let's just say I hoped it was only sweat.
Elya didn't lower her blade entirely.
The violet fire coiling around it dimmed, yes but it didn't vanish. It pulsed in her grip, a warning more than a retreat.
Like a flame that hadn't decided whether it wanted to warm or burn.
Elda, to her credit, didn't twitch.
But she did step back only one step, subtle, careful but her blade remained drawn and deadly.
"Didn't expect you to intervene," she said, her voice flat and cold, like stone that had forgotten how to be warm. "This isn't your business."
"On the contrary, Miss Elda," he said smoothly.
"When mana signatures flare up like it's the Summer Solstice, it becomes everyone's business."
His gaze shifted to me.
"And Master Lynn here seems to be the centerpiece of this delightful little melodrama."
I opened my mouth to object to clarify that I had very little to do with any of this but all that emerged was a raspy, "Technically, I was just standing."
He tilted his head, ever so slightly. "That does seem to be your specialty."
Ah. Insults, delivered with the polish of etiquette. Fantastic.
"Why don't you ladies calm down," he said, turning back.
"Especially you, Elya. It's not good for a talented young lady to be this... shortsighted."
Elya's response was instant.
"This isn't the academy," she snapped. "It's personal."
"Oh… my. Quite a respectful response." His tone didn't shift. If anything, he seemed delighted by the sheer chaos. "And you, Ms. Head Maid?"
He glanced toward Elda, whose expression hadn't moved a muscle.
"Can you stop playing war like children?" he continued. "Especially since your lord might get another headache if this gets out. And I believe we all remember what happened last time."
Elda didn't respond immediately.
Her blade lowered just an inch.
A breath of a pause, nothing more. Then, with a clipped tone: "Okay."
She stepped aside. Just enough.
He stepped forward, and Elda backed off,not in surrender but in mutual understanding. A silent ceasefire brokered by inconvenience.
"I'll deal with the angry one"
He looked at me then. Not kindly. Not cruelly. Just… looked.
I blinked. "What?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he turned to Elya. "We'll talk after I deal with her," he said, tone hardening by a fraction.
Elya's shoulders squared. "Please," she growled, "let me finish this. I'm sick of seeing that bastard's face."
Ouch. That was unnecessarily clear.
He didn't flinch. "Whether you like it or not, this isn't the place for difficult choices. And besides…" His voice lightened. "He doesn't remember anything. So what's the point?"
Then he turned to me again, eyes narrowing slightly. "You don't remember me, do you?"
I didn't even hesitate. "Nope. Never seen you in this life."
"Thought so." He sighed. "Which means there's no point getting rid of someone who doesn't even recall what they did."
I had a sudden realization: this man wasn't here to help me. He was just postponing the execution until it would be more satisfying.
"So let him be," he continued smoothly. "Eventually, when the memories return... then you can try again."
Try again? What was I,some kind of revenge rehearsal?
I didn't like the glint in his eye. The quiet message behind the civility. He was saying: Let him breathe now. We'll tighten the noose later.
Elya's jaw clenched. Her grip tightened on her blade.
"I don't care about his memory," she said, voice low.
"I have mine. That's enough."
"Then go on" He replied softly "but I'll cancel your scholarship. Immediately. You'll be left alone in this house to deal with every consequence that follows."
That landed like a unexpected slap on Elya's face.
Her expression cracked. Just slightly. Her mouth parted. Her gaze flickered.
"That's unfair" she whispered.
"I earned it."
"Yes. And sometimes, what you earn can be taken away by someone else's bad mood."
His words weren't cruel. They were simple. Cruelty didn't need to shout it just needed to sound reasonable.
"Think wisely," he said. "Your life is just beginning. The dead won't return, even if you succeed in your revenge."
Elya looked away. Her shoulders trembled. But she didn't swing. She didn't shout. She just… stood there, silent.
Until the man exhaled sharply. "Too much time."
And with a casual wave of his hand, Elya collapsed.
No drama. No flash. Her body simply dropped like an anchor. Her knees hit the floor hard, and her blade clattered beside her, violet fire snuffed out like it had never existed.
"Stay down there until you get your head cleared."
I took a step back instinctively.
This man… wasn't just powerful. He was practiced,felt terrifying in a bureaucratic way.
I looked at Elya, who struggled to lift her head her pride clearly heavier than her limbs and thought, So this is how elders teach the young now.
Step one: Explain what's right.
Step two: When they refuse,slam them into the floor with invisible authority.
Highly efficient.
"Oh,Where were we?"
He said, turning back to me.
"Ah. Right. Lynn. Come now. Let's have a little chat, my boy."
I stared at him, halfway between confusion and dread. "Ah. Okay…"
He began walking toward one of the inner archways, gesturing for me to follow. Behind us, Elda knelt beside Elya, checking her pulse. Elya was breathing, at least. Furious, embarrassed, but alive.
And I?
I followed him like a rat after a flute.
The corridor he led me into was dimly lit, lined with heavy oak panels and expensive silence.
Every step I took felt too loud.
He didn't speak until we reached a long room with tall windows, overlooking what I assumed was the training yard. He motioned to a bench. I sat.
Not because I wanted to but because I didn't want to test gravity like Elya just had.
"So" he said, turning his gaze back to the window, "you don't remember anything."
"No" I replied.
He actually chuckled.
"You can loosen up now."
Then silence. Long and uncomfortable.
"You know why almost everyone hate you,right?" he said finally.
"Yeah,but not clear yet" I muttered.
"Not clear huh."
He turned slightly. His expression was unreadable.
"You were involved in something very serious. Whether knowingly or not."
I sighed. "Everyone keeps saying that, but no one ever says what it is."
"Because," he said, "no one agrees on what it was."
That… stopped me.
"Excuse me?"
He smiled faintly. "You're a paradox, Lynn. Half the people want you dead. The other half want you protected. And no one,not even me is entirely sure what to believe."
I frowned. "That's not comforting."
"It wasn't meant to be."
He walked to the table, picked up a crystal orb, and turned it in his hand.
"You are either a victim," he said quietly, "or a monster who forgot what he did. And the truth is…"
He placed the orb back down.
"...you might be both."
The silence between us stretched like a rope neither of us wanted to pull too hard.
He didn't speak. Neither did I. We just kept walking.
Long corridors, polished floors, and walls lined with portraits of people who looked like they hadn't smiled in centuries. It felt like walking through the digestive tract of a very rich, very repressed institution.
He wasn't dragging me. That was the curious part. No guards. No spells around my neck. No threats whispered under breath.
Just walking.
I figured I had three options:
Ask questions and risk getting another vague lecture.
Run and test my reflexes against a guy who just casually body-slammed a human without touching them.
Keep walking and see if this was a polite stroll or the setup for another murder attempt.
I chose the third.
"So" I said, after we turned another corner, "is this the part where you pretend to be my friend before stabbing me?"
He didn't stop walking. "If I wanted to stab you, you'd be bleeding by now."
"Comforting."
He let out a small breath of amusement. "You're calmer than expected."
"I'm emotionally exhausted. There's a difference."
Another pause.
The hallway opened into a stone balcony that overlooked a lower courtyard. Grey tiles, two guards pacing below, and a few sparring students probably the ones not currently traumatized by Elya's earlier fireworks.
He leaned on the balcony railing, like a man admiring a garden.
"You sleep at night?"
"Not when people are trying to kill me."
"I mean in general."
I joined him at the railing, giving him a sideways glance. "What's with the questions?"
He didn't look at me. "Just wondering how intact you are."
"Physically? I have all my limbs. Mentally? Debatable. Spiritually?
Who knows maybe I was a good person in a past life and this is karma's way of telling me to try again."
He chuckled. "I was being serious."
I shrugged. "So was I. Mostly."
He shifted his weight. The breeze tugged at his coat, the blue fabric fluttering faintly as he asked,
"Do you feel anything unusual?
Any… mana presence in your body?"
That caught my attention.
"You're asking if I can feel magic?"
He nodded slowly. "Yes."
I turned to face him fully. "You mean aside from the part where everyone around me keeps launching spells like they're party favors?"
"I'm not asking about others," he said. "I'm asking about you."
I considered it. Thought about the strange coldness that sometimes crept under my skin when I got scared.
The flashes of déjà vu that weren't mine. The dreamlike echoes that sometimes surfaced when I closed my eyes too long.
But none of it felt like mana. Or at least, none of it felt mine.
So I answered truthfully.
"No. Not really."
He hummed. "Interesting."
"That bad?"
He didn't answer right away. Then, "You're like a locked room, Lynn. There's something inside. But no key. No sound. Just the sense that something's breathing in the dark."
I leaned on the railing again. "You talk like someone who stares into magical wells for fun."
"That's not far from the truth."
A few seconds passed in silence.
Then he said, "Elya hates you."
"I noticed."
"She's not the only one."
"Noticed that too."
He finally turned to face me. "But here you are, still trying to crack jokes."
"Would you prefer I cry on your shoulder?"
He gave me a long look. "No. But most people in your place would either scream or beg."
"Well " I said with a tired smile, "I'm not most people. I'm just the guy everyone wants to get rid off but no one wants to explain why exactly."
That got the faintest grin out of him.
"You really don't remember anything?"
"I've been blank since day one. Honestly, I'm starting to think I was boring in my last life."
"You weren't "
That stopped me.
He didn't say it like a warning. He said it like a fact. Like a man who had read the last page of a book I hadn't even started.
I looked at him, but his eyes were already turned back to the courtyard.
Somewhere below, i heard a laugh.
A normal sound in an abnormal day.
"So" I said, "what now?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Then: "We wait. Until your mind remembers… or your body does."
"Great" I muttered. "A mystery with no clues and a death sentence as a prize."
He gave me a look that wasn't cruel, but wasn't kind either.
"No, Lynn. Just the truth. And you'll either survive it… or you won't."
I waited a beat longer before blurting the question I'd been dodging since he showed up.
"So... who are you, exactly?"
I tried to sound casual like someone asking the time, not the weight of their impending doom.
He glanced at me sidelong, that faintly amused expression returning.
"Took you long enough."
"Yeah, well, I had a lot going on" I muttered. "Near-death experiences tend to delay introductions."
He leaned slightly back against the railing, almost relaxed. "Glenn Alaric Myrial. Headmaster of Arcus Academy."
Ah.
Great.
I looked him up and down like I was seeing him for the first time. The crisp blue coat. The faint trace of power that hadn't left since he arrived. That polite, smiling with a strong presence of aura.
"Oh, good " I said aloud.
Internally?My thoughts were a mess.
Great. So this is how it begins. Welcome to your mandatory magic school arc, shoved straight into my face before the actual intro villain arc even finishes airing.
I sighed inwardly.
Of course the guy who grounded someone with a whisper is the headmaster. Why not just toss me into a training montage and call it a day?
Glenn raised an eyebrow. "That wasn't the reaction I expected."
"Would you prefer I fainted?"
"No, but mild respect wouldn't hurt."
"Oh" I nodded solemnly, "I reserve that for people who don't pin teenagers to the floor like meat on a cutting board."
He chuckled again.
"You were a student at Arcus," he said, casually. "Under my watch. You may still be."
That caught my attention more than it should have. "Still be?"
He shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "Depends."
"On what? If I start glowing? Or stop being hated by half the building?"
"On whether you're sane enough to walk back through the gates without burning the place down" he said with a smirk.
I tilted my head, adopting the most deadpan tone I could muster. "So... am I allowed back in? Or should I crawl under the fence at night and pretend I'm just lost?"
He burst out laughing.
Actually laughing.
Which was worse than being threatened somehow.
"You?" he said between chuckles. "You're in no condition to be anywhere near a classroom."
"Harsh."
"Accurate," he replied, his voice suddenly dropping in temperature.
The change was quick. A switch flipping. The humor drained from his face as his eyes met mine again not amused this time, but analytical, cold.
"You're unstable. Unknown.
Without memory, without control. You walk like a man, but you're a cipher. And ciphers are dangerous when you don't know who holds the code."
"Was that supposed to sound poetic or threatening?" I asked.
"It was supposed to sound real."
His words carried weight not magical, but close. They pressed into the air like iron dust, making it harder to breathe for a moment. Not overwhelming. Just... heavy.
I rolled my shoulders, trying to shrug it off.
"No offense" I said, "but I've got no interest in going back to school anyway."
He blinked. "Really."
"Really really," I said, backing away a little. "For more studying? No way in hell."
In my head, the rant continued:
I've done enough education to last two lifetimes. Medicine,Algebra, history, social science, taxes don't even get me started.
I was ready to die just to avoid another group project.
Now you want me to go through magical lectures and monster homework?
No, thanks. I signed up for a one-year fantasy tour, not a magical boarding school trauma simulator.
"I'll pass" I added simply.
His face became unreadable, like someone trying to gauge whether the strange cat in their house was friendly or feral.
I gave him a tired smile and turned on my heel.
"Look, it's better if I keep to myself.
No fighting, no drama, no threats. Unless someone pokes me in the wrong way. Then I can't guarantee I won't return the favor."
I meant it honestly. I wasn't looking for trouble. But if it found me, I wouldn't be the doormat anymore.
I started walking away.
I didn't expect him to say anything.
But he did.
His voice cut through the air like a well-aimed knife.
"What response could a manaless kid like you give now?"
I stopped.
Cold.
Glenn's voice was calm. No malice. Just the kind of chill that came from someone with nothing to lose and too much knowledge.
"Even if I got rid of you right here," he said, "not even your father would question me."
There it was.
The unspoken truth finally dragging itself out of the shadows.
A reminder of where I stood.
How fragile I was.And how alone.
But I didn't turn around. I didn't react not with fear, not with defiance.
I just smiled, barely.
"That's a lot of effort for someone who's supposedly worthless."
Then I kept walking.
Because sometimes, the only power you have left is the choice to walk away without giving them the satisfaction of seeing you flinch.
I hadn't taken five steps when he appeared again no sound, no flash, just there.
Right in front of me.
One blink, and the world rearranged itself to include him again.
Glenn stood still, blocking my path, face unreadable.
Then he spoke.
"I was happy when you woke up."
His voice was calm, too calm. The kind you use before delivering a fatal truth.
"But now…" he continued, "I'm disappointed."
I looked up, just slightly. His eyes were locked on mine.
That gaze didn't waver, didn't blink. Like he was trying to see if anything was still left inside me.
"The student I once knew," he said softly, "the mage you used to be ,
he's gone."
No insult.
Just fact.
Even i wanted to agree with him on that matter.
The Real Lynn was gone.
And somehow, that stung me more.
"I watched you rise, Lynn" he added.
"I watched you nearly surpass what you were born into. And now… now you're just a ghost in borrowed skin."
I didn't answer. Just lowered my head slightly and exhaled.
One slow, dry sigh.
Maybe he thought I'd cry. Or fall to my knees and beg to be fixed.
Instead, I stepped forward again.
Didn't even glance at him. Just walked around him, like a man sidestepping a statue in a garden he no longer admired.
For a moment, I think he thought I had given up. That the words had sunk too deep. That my silence meant surrender.
He wasn't wrong.
I am feel just like a misplaced object in this world.
Whether this life will mean something to me or not is a matter for the future to tell.
I could feel the man watching my back.
Probably expecting me to vanish into irrelevance.
But then I stopped.
Turned halfway.
And with more weight in my voice than even I expected, I asked:
"So Mr.Myrial… is the academy really that kind of place where you only treat people nicely only when they have or hold something relevant?"
The silence was sharp. It cut the air between us.
He smiled, slow and crooked.
"Yes," he said. "It's the kind of place that collects chosen ones. Heirs of great houses. Prodigies."
His words hardened, bit by bit.
"Children of power. Of bloodlines. Of legacy."
He walked forward, closing the space between us with surgical precision.
"You were just lucky enough to tag along. And then poof,bedridden.
A divine spell shattered your spine. While the others climbed the tower, you fell off the map."
He wasn't hiding the venom anymore.
"Talents far stronger than you have entered Arcus in your absence. Smarter. Finer. Fated."
Each word was shaped like a needle, and he was trying to sew shut any hope I had left.
I let it sit.
Let it swirl.
Then I nodded, once.
"Oh. Scary."
He blinked.
"But" I added with a smirk, "guess what?"
My voice was steady.
Clear.
"I'm coming back. In five days."
He stared at me.
I took a step toward him, for once.
"I'll be at the doorstep of your academy. You can slam it in my face if you want. But I'll still be there."
I don't know what shifted.
Maybe it was in my voice. Maybe my eyes.
But something changed.
Because the man's smile faded not into anger, but recognition.
He looked at me like he was finally seeing something real.
"Let everyone know" I said, grin curling just slightly at the edge of my mouth.
His brows lifted.
"Everyone" I repeated, with exaggerated clarity.
"The staff. The nobles. The powerhouses. The cleaning lady, if they want to know that is."
Then I leaned forward slightly, voice lowering into something between a joke and a challenge.
"And especially my brother who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet."
He didn't smile this time.
Not even a twitch.
He just studied me, eyes narrowed, a subtle frown tugging at the edge of his mouth like he wasn't sure if this was boldness or pure delusion.
Maybe it was both.
And maybe that's why I finally felt like me again.
I started walking again, not bothering to look back.
And with that,I walked off.
Not because I was brave.Nor because I had a plan.
But because somewhere between losing everything and standing up again, I realized something:
I was done waiting to be told who I was.
Let them figure it out.