The first thing Leo noticed was the silence.
Not quiet.
Absence.
No wind. No heartbeat. No sound at all.
It was the kind of silence that made your mind scream just to fill it. He couldn't even tell if his chest was rising or falling. The darkness pressed on him from every side, swallowing him whole.
His pulse quickened. Am I dead? Again?
Leo spun in place — or maybe he wasn't spinning at all. There was no up, no down. The blackness was so absolute it felt like he might just… dissolve into it.
Unknown Voice: "You are not the one meant for this body."
Leo's breath caught.
He looked around wildly, but there was nothing — only the infinite dark.
"…Who—? Where are you?"
Unknown Voice: "A better question… what am I?"
The words didn't echo. They didn't need to. They were in him, vibrating in his bones.
Leo swallowed hard. "Fine. What are you?"
Unknown Voice: "One who sees you. One who knows you. And one who offers you a choice."
The darkness trembled.
And then — light. Not warm sunlight, but something ancient, cold, and unbearably bright. For a heartbeat, he saw… wings. Massive, radiant wings that seemed carved from starlight itself, stretching across a sky that didn't exist.
Unknown Voice: "But before that… you must see him."
Flashback — 10 Years Earlier
A rusted swing creaked in a small orphanage yard.
A thin boy sat on it, head bowed, pushing himself gently with the tips of his worn shoes.
The caretaker poked her head out the door, bundled in a heavy scarf.
Caretaker: "Aren't you cold, Kaito? Come inside."
The boy didn't look up.
Kaito: "…It's warmer out here than in there."
The caretaker hesitated, then sighed and closed the door. Inside was noisy. Out here was just him — and the winter air that didn't judge.
---
A cramped classroom with peeling paint. Fifteen years old now, Kaito sat in the back corner. His notebook lay open, pen moving lazily. He wasn't writing anything real — just looping letters, drawing small doodles in the margins.
Bully: "Hey, orphan—"
Kaito's hand paused. He didn't look up.
Another Bully: "Careful, he might curse you if you talk to him."
Snickers spread. The teacher kept grading papers like she didn't hear.
From the window row, a soft but firm voice cut through.
Jinah: "Cut it out."
The room fell awkwardly quiet. The bullies turned away, muttering.
Kaito didn't thank her. He didn't even glance in her direction. If he did, she might see that one sentence had just cracked something inside him.
---
Kaito sat alone in a tiny rented room. The wind whistled through a loose window frame. His breath fogged in the cold. On the desk sat a small glass bottle, half-drained.
He lifted it to his lips. The bitter taste burned down his throat.
He coughed hard, hand gripping the desk to steady himself. His vision blurred.
Somehow, he stumbled outside. The orphanage yard looked just the same — bare trees, hard dirt, and that same swing swaying in the wind.
Kaito collapsed onto the ground, his cheek pressing into the cold earth.
Kaito (weakly): "…I'm so tired…"
Snowflakes drifted down, melting against his skin. His fingers twitched once. Then, nothing.
---
Leo's eyes widened. "That was… him. Wasn't it? The one whose body I'm in."
Unknown Voice: "Two souls. Both unwanted. Both were abandoned by their worlds. He sought release. You seek survival."
The darkness shifted again, revealing the figure fully. A being of golden light and armor, wings unfurling into eternity. Its face was ageless, expression calm but unreadable.
Leo's voice shook. "You're… not human."
Ruler: "No. I oppose the Shadow. And you… will be my counterweight."
Leo let out a dry laugh. "Me? I'm not a hero. I'm not even… I'm not anything."
Ruler: "Then be something. Live. And when the time comes… stand."
Leo shook his head. "I'm just some idiot who got dragged into a world that's going to chew me up. I don't have powers. I don't have—"
Ruler: "And yet, you are still here."
The light around the Ruler flared, forcing Leo to raise a hand against it.
Ruler: "Survival is your gift. Even the strongest fall when they cannot rise again. But you… I will give you a reason to rise."
"Why me?" Leo asked. His voice was almost a whisper. "Why not someone stronger? Smarter? Someone who deserves it?"
The Ruler's gaze burned through him.
Ruler: "Because the Shadow Monarch will not see you coming."
The words sent a chill down Leo's bones. He didn't fully understand, but he felt the weight of it.
Before he could ask anything more, the golden light surged forward, swallowing the void whole.
A searing warmth filled his chest, his vision going white.