There was weight again.
A breath.
A pulse.
Kael's eyes opened slowly.
The ceiling above him was smooth and white, marked with faint silver veins that shimmered gently. Soft light filtered through slitted blinds.
He sat up.
The room wasn't small, but it wasn't large either. A clean, square space. A soft gray couch sat beside a bookshelf filled with actual paper books. A glowing rectangular screen hovered in the corner, humming softly. The walls were stone but polished and patterned, like a cathedral crossed with a showroom. Ornate, old-world wood carved into the edges of a sleek black desk. Candles sat beside digital lamps.
A strange balance. Not quite old. Not quite new.
Modern… yet medieval.
He stood up, bare feet touching the cool marble floor. As he walked toward the wide window, velvet curtains parted without touch.
The view stole his breath.
Outside was a city a hybrid of two timelines. Spires and gothic towers stretched toward the sky, carved with runes and draped with banners. But woven between them were glowing rails, floating vehicles, and glass-paneled towers that looked like magic was woven into metal.
A large, six-legged beast hauled cargo across a street lined with glowing signs. Knights in futuristic armored coats with swords patrolled alongside people in jackets with mana-thread logos glowing across the back.
It was a semi-futuristic medieval world, strange and beautiful, where steel met spell and tradition danced with innovation.
Kael's hand trembled as he reached for a polished mirror on the wall. He needed to see who had he become?
The reflection hit him like a strike.
He was young sixteen at most. His skin was pale and smooth, like porcelain. His hair was white as snow, falling in soft layers across his forehead and shoulders.
But it was the eyes.
Blood red.
Not just red they were glowing.
And his pupils were thin and vertical.
Like a serpent's.
Kael touched his face.
This body wasn't his.
Not the one from the battlefield.
Not the boy his father raised.
Yet… something about it felt alive.
Powerful.
This world had begun.