After the girl finished and everyone had settled down, the guards exchanged glances before nodding and they led Sion out of the throne room.
However, while he was leaving, he could feel the same girl's eyes trailing after him and his eyes narrowed, meeting her, due to which her eyes widened slightly and he turned away, as the guards led him through the dimly lit corridors of the palace.
The air was thick with tension. Torches and other magical artifacts flickered along the stone walls, casting long shadows that danced beside them. Sion said nothing to the guards, his mind too preoccupied with the whirlwind of events that had struck him like a storm since his arrival. He had no power, no answers, and no allies… at least, not yet at least.
He was going to find a way to survive, no matter what it took. Soon after, they finally stopped before a door, one that was large yet plain, tucked in a quieter wing of the palace. One of the guards pushed it open.
"This will be your room. For now," he said gruffly. "You are not permitted to leave without permission. Wait here. Someone will summon you when the king decides what to do next, there will be food and clothing; you will wish you were never summoned here."
The door shut behind him with a heavy thud, and he was alone once more. The silence was deafening and their words rang through his head. He knew as long as he was in this palace, he was trapped like a bird in a cage and he had no fancy of being a trapped pet.
He was no damsel in distress and he would make the most of this chance that he was given and his first goal was to gain something to help himself, some sort of talent, because he knew without one, he would be as good as dead.
He took a deep breath and looked around the room, which was fit for a royal, but he was not happy. He needed to find a way to carve a path for himself without the king or anyone else suspecting a thing and he would use the academy to do so.
He sat on the edge of the bed, running a hand over his face. His body still felt foreign, too strong, too agile. He clenched and unclenched his hands, noticing the lack of fatigue or pain he was once familiar with. It wasn't just a cosmetic change. He felt different the more his body began to relax, as though it was natural.
His eyes narrowed and he got up and walked toward the mirror, studying his reflection clearly for the first time since his arrival here. Sharp jawline. Eyes like steel. A figure tall and lithe, his long hair cascading down like shadows at midnight. This wasn't the Sion he remembered. This was a stranger. A shell of someone else entirely.
"This… isn't me," he whispered. "But it's the only version of me that exists now."
"But who are you and what the hell is happening to this world? The gods, the power, instability—I have seen something similar before, the purpose of the summoning was to bring a warrior he could use as he saw fit, something is not right here..." Sion muttered, a frown appearing on his face.
He glanced at his reflection again; nothing was his. He barely recognized himself, it felt as though his soul was changing to match the body he was in, but beneath all of that, he was beginning to feel something new, an edge that was not supposed to be there, like an instinct or hunger. As if something inside him was beginning to stir.
While he was lost in his thoughts, the sound of hushed voices made him freeze, snapping him out of what was going on in his head and his eyes snapped towards the door of his room, wondering who was outside.
He slowly approached the door and peeked through the small crack, where he saw two servants had stopped just outside his room.
"So, they are really sending him to the academy?" One asked, his voice sharp, edged with a hint of disbelief and the female servant beside him chuckled.
"The king already decided. Better to keep him under watch than locked in a cell. Besides…" A pause. "That place weeds out the weak. If he survives, maybe he is worth something after all. The king is a monster in his own right; he will test whether he is a threat or not and break him to his liking like he did so many others."
"He doesn't even know how to use mana. Did you see him? He looked like a lost pup, a very big lost pup."
"It doesn't matter what he knows and what he does not; he is a nobody. That academy is not just for nobles anymore. With all the unrest, the palace is desperate for new assets."
"Still, it seems risky. What if he causes more problems?"
"You and I both know, if he does, then he will be dealt with. Like the others before him, that is nothing new."
Their footsteps faded, and Sion stared down at the stone floor.
'An academy for magic and war… and I'm being thrown in like a test subject,' He thought, before plopping down against the bed.
He didn't have time to think further; he did not know if he wanted to, either. His eyes felt heavy, and despite his best efforts to stay alert, sleep claimed him.
That night, his mind was blank; there was nothing but darkness surrounding him, with nowhere to turn and nothing to grab onto. His sleep felt light and the pain in his body disappeared.
The next morning, as the sunlight streamed through the curtains of the windows in his room, he stirred awake, his eyes groggy as he sat up with a groan.
He knew they would come for him soon and he could not lay around. Sion got up from his bed and his eyes narrowed when he saw clothes placed under the door for him.
He sighed, then grabbed the and went to take a bath; however, while doing so, he began feeling a throbbing sensation on his back, almost as though something was alive and moving on his skin.
Sion's eyes widened in alarm and he immediately rushed out of the bathroom, naked as he was and went right back in front of the mirror and his eyes widened when he saw a pair of eyes staring back at him.