" 1 years before jiro Tensai awakening ".
Beyond the broken continents of Fluxion lay Lunaris, the Continent of Light — a realm where dusk and dawn intertwined. The sky shimmered in pale gold and soft azure, its clouds glowing faintly as if made from captured sunlight. Vast crystal spires rose across the horizon, linked by sky bridges and streams of pure energy that pulsed like living veins through the air.
Beneath those glowing towers flowed the Ether Veins — rivers of luminous energy that hummed with divine rhythm. To the people of Lunaris, this energy wasn't mere power. It was the holy essence, the breath of their gods.
Lunaris was an order made manifest .After the Cosmic Rupture, Lunaris reforged itself through faith and steel. The Dominion decreed that strength was divine inheritance — and thus birthed the orders of the Radiant Knights and the Aether Mages. Only a handful in every generation could master both paths, earning the title Arcanum Paladin. They were both blessings and omens — for power like that came with madness, and the gods themselves feared what it could awaken.— elegant cities floating on radiant platforms, music woven from wind chimes of silver, and prayers whispered in every hall. But beneath its light lay silence — a silence born not of peace, but of fear. Questions were discouraged. Doubt was heresy.
And in the shining heart of it all stood Sol Ardent, the capital of faith and knowledge. Within its radiant academy, a young boy stared through tall crystal windows, watching the artificial sunlight flicker across distant clouds.
••••
Caspian Ravenscroft, fifteen years old, leaned slightly over his desk.
His ink-stained fingers twirled a broken pen as his mind wandered far beyond the glowing pages before him. His eyes — sharp, calm, and the shade of storm-washed silver — didn't belong to a daydreamer. They were the eyes of someone who watched too much, thought too deeply, and spoke too little.
Soft brown hair brushed over his forehead, the only thing that looked remotely unruly about him. His uniform — white and gold with the crest of the Radiant Academy — was perfectly neat, though faint scorch marks near his sleeves hinted at experiments gone wrong.
He was quiet, observant, analytical… yet gentle. And in a world that worshiped certainty, that made him dangerous.
"Mr. Ravenscroft," the professor's voice broke the silence, slicing through the hum of the classroom. "If you're quite done staring out the window, perhaps you can tell us the first principle of Etherian Law?"
The class chuckled. Caspian blinked, then turned his gaze lazily toward the front. "Ether follows will, not worship," he said, voice steady.
The room went silent for a beat — too long. The professor's brows twitched.
"That," he said stiffly, "is not the answer written in the scriptures."
Caspian shrugged. "Maybe the scriptures are wrong."
A gasp rippled through the class.
The professor's jaw tightened. "Careful, boy. Doubt the gods, and you doubt your place in this world."
Before the tension could boil further, a voice piped up from the back — cheerful, loud, and utterly fearless.
"Professor, if he doubts his place, can I have his seat? It's closer to the window."
The class erupted in laughter.
Caspian turned to see Lio Varen, his best friend, grinning from the back row. Blond hair, sharp grin, the kind of boy who always looked one mistake away from detention.
The professor sighed, muttered something about "hopeless youth," and continued the lesson.
Lio leaned forward and whispered, "One day, you're going to get yourself smited by the gods, Cas."
Caspian smirked faintly. "Then at least they'd have to admit I exist."
Lio snorted. "You really don't believe in anything, do you?"
"I believe in proof," Caspian murmured. "And in protecting the people who matter."
Lio's grin softened. He knew what that meant — Caspian's mother and little sister. The last of his family since his father's death years ago in the border wars.
••••
When the lecture ended, sunlight spilled across the hall's crystal floor. Students filed out, chatting about divine blessings and the coming festival. Caspian gathered his books in silence, his mind lingering on the words Ether follows will, not worship.
He walked through the academy's open courtyard — a vast expanse of polished stone, white flowers blooming in circular patterns around floating lanterns. The air shimmered faintly with energy drawn from the Ether Veins below. Priests in silver robes chanted blessings near the center fountain, their voices echoing through the square.
Lio caught up to him, tossing an apple casually in the air. "You're spacing out again. What's wrong?"
Caspian didn't answer at first. He looked toward the distant mountains, where storm clouds gathered unnaturally over the horizon — the Movarian Border, the place his father vanished years ago.
"They say the Ether Veins there are corrupted," Lio said, following his gaze. "That the demons broke through again."
Caspian's eyes narrowed. "Then maybe it's time someone stopped waiting for gods to fix what they won't."
Lio frowned. "You sound like your father."
Caspian gave a small smile — tired, wistful. "He fought for people. Not for gods. That's all I remember."
The bell tolled across Sol Ardent — deep, resonant, and cold. Its echo rolled through the academy like distant thunder. Somewhere beyond the radiant horizon, something ancient stirred.
Caspian Ravenscroft looked up at the glowing sky, unaware that his calm defiance had already begun to ripple through the fate of worlds.
*****