Silence.
That was the first thing I noticed—not light, not pain, just the thick, unmoving silence of a room forgotten by the world.
I wasn't cold. I wasn't hurting. But something felt… off.
My eyes opened to shadowed stone above me. Dust clung to the air like it hadn't moved in years. I lay on something hard—stone, not a bed. No sound. No voices. No heartbeat echoing in my ears.
I breathed.
I waited.
Then I realized—I shouldn't be awake.
---
I pushed myself up, slowly. My arms trembled. Not from weakness… more like disuse. Like I hadn't moved in a long time.
But I wasn't injured.
There was no blood on me. No wounds. Not even pain. Just a dull weight in my head, like someone had pressed two lives into one skull and told me to figure it out.
I looked down at my clothes. Black fabric, noble trim, a crest I didn't recognize. Gold lines etched in faded patterns across the sleeves. Formal. Stiff.
Noble-born?
The name came before I could question it.
Cael Valeon.
It felt right… and wrong at the same time. Like trying on a jacket that fits perfectly—but doesn't belong to you.
Then the voice came.
"Core loading… Unknown host signature. Rebooting manual protocol…"
It wasn't from outside. It rang inside my mind. Flat. Robotic. Cold.
Before I could move, a screen shimmered in front of me, floating in the air like an illusion.
---
[ SYSTEM INITIALIZING… ]
User Detected: Cael Valeon (?)
Tier: 1 ( level 9)
Affinity: Mind
Logic - basic
Telekinesis - basic
Status: Classification: Suppressed
Override Mode: Dormant
---
Then it vanished.
I closed my eyes—and a thousand fragments hit me at once.
Blueprints. Steel. Circuits. Equations.
Engines. Calculations. A world of logic and electricity.
And none of it belonged here.
I was an engineer.
On Earth.
But I wasn't there anymore.
---
The stone beneath me groaned. Footsteps echoed from above—slow, steady, approaching.
Voices.
"Still asleep?" a woman asked, her tone dry. "He doesn't move unless the stars change."
"The Baron says he mumbles sometimes," a man replied. "Talks in his sleep. Wild things—like machines and sparks."
"No Affinity. No magic. Just silence and shame. What a waste."
---
I didn't move. I barely breathed.
They were talking about me.
Who was Cael Valeon really? Why did my heart feel split between two worlds? Why was there a system inside me that felt like it belonged to another universe entirely?
Then another voice slipped through the silence—not theirs.
This one came from inside me again. But not mechanical.
Older.
"They don't know what you are."
"But you will."
---
I should've been afraid. I wasn't.
Because deep down, something told me this was only the beginning.
And I wasn't the one waking up.
The world was.
___
The chamber was silent except for the flickering candlelight casting restless shadows across the cold stone walls. Outside, the evening wind howled faintly through the tall windows, carrying with it whispers of a world that seemed so far from this dim room.
I sat stiffly on the edge of the narrow bed, my hands clenched tightly in my lap. The heavy quiet pressed down on me like a weight I couldn't lift. Thoughts swirled, fragmented and confusing—memories that weren't mine, memories of a life spent among wires and engines, of logic and reason, not this strange world of nobles and magic.
The door creaked open slowly.
Footsteps echoed as a tall figure entered.
My father.
Baron Valeon.
---
He moved with the assured grace of a man who had never known doubt, his presence filling the room like the shadow of a mountain. His dark eyes locked onto me, sharp and unyielding, as if trying to pierce through the strange silence that separated us.
"You're awake," he said flatly, voice steady, betraying no emotion.
I swallowed hard, the lump in my throat tightening.
"Yes," I answered, voice barely more than a whisper.
---
He walked toward me, each step deliberate.
"Ten years," he said, voice cold as the stone beneath my feet. "Ten years of waiting. Ten years of disappointment."
I met his gaze, searching for something—hope, anger, even hatred—but found only a hard, indifferent stare.
"No Affinity," he continued. "No spark. No sign that you were anything more than a wasted name."
A bitter truth settled in my chest.
"I am not who you think I am," I wanted to say. But the words caught in my throat.
---
He paced the length of the room, hands clasped behind his back.
"The Valeon name demands strength," he said quietly. "Power. Influence."
He stopped abruptly and looked down at me.
"You will go to the Imperial Arcane Academy."
The words landed with the force of a judge's gavel.
"The academy is no place for the weak or the unworthy," he said. "It is where the empire's finest train. Where those destined for greatness are forged."
I nodded slowly, still trying to grasp the weight of his words.
---
"You must understand," he said, lowering his voice, "The academy does not coddle weakness, and it will not spare you."
---
I didn't flinch. Something was changing — not in my blood, not in my magic, but in my mind.
I could feel it.
Like a code unlocking.
Like gears turning.
Like something ancient, buried deep, had just opened one eye.
And the world?
It wouldn't be ready.