The academy returned to its usual rhythm.
Or so it seemed.
But in the shadows behind its pristine halls, something ancient was stirring.
And someone should not have existed.
---
Elsewhere…
Inside a sealed cavern lined with runes that pulsed like dying stars, a cloaked figure knelt before a stone mirror.
His face, though partially hidden, bore jagged scars and eyes like ash and embers—dead of light, yet too alive.
> "The new Chosen has awakened…" he rasped.
The mirror shimmered, revealing Kai's image—bloodied, eyes fierce from the battle in the forest.
> "He looks… just like I did."
The man clenched his fist.
> "But not this time."
Behind him lay a graveyard of shattered relics and broken weapons—remnants of worlds undone.
Because he was not from this world.
> "You never should've been born in this timeline," he muttered. "Not you… and not her."
He rose. And behind his cloak, a blackened crest shimmered—the inverse of Aria's Celestial sigil.
> Fallen Chosen. Class: Voidbound Tyrant.
He stepped forward, and the mirror cracked.
---
Back at the Academy
Kai sat beneath a tree, bandaged but calm.
> "You're not worried?" asked a voice.
He looked up. It was Daren, a top-ranked Warrior student, strong and cocky. But today, he looked uneasy.
> "Just a little incident," Kai replied. "Nothing serious."
Daren frowned. "You don't bleed from 'little incidents.'"
Before Kai could answer, a girl appeared—her robes black, her eyes silver. A new transfer, she claimed.
She sat beside Kai like she already knew him.
> "You're special," she said quietly. "More than you realize."
> "...Do I know you?" Kai asked.
She just smiled, pulling back her sleeve to reveal a mark—a celestial sigil turned black.
His breath caught.
> "Be careful, Kai Valenhardt," she whispered. "The heavens choose… but so does the void."
Then she vanished into the crowd, leaving behind a feather that shimmered with shadow.
---
Far above, a ripple tore through the threads of time.
A being long erased was walking again.
And he had one goal:
Kill the next Heaven's Chosen… before he surpasses the last.
---
Next: chapter 6 - "The Girls who Walks Between Timelines"