Moonlight poured through the arched window, striking pale silver shadows on the headmaster's house floor of polished wood. The entire mansion was quiet, filled with a soothing night-time hum of mana streams, as though the world itself were paused, holding breath.
In one of the highest rooms, a boy sat cross-legged on the very well-polished floor. He was no ordinary child. Far from it.
Lucifer.
He held a parchment within his hand; old, written with runes that pulsed with feeble gray light. It was a talent-alignment chart, a mundane item which allowed activated users to see their soul stamp and find out their most promising profession in magic.
The air around him shifted as he initiated the formation. Gray lines crept off the parchment like skeletal vines, climbing up his arms and encasing his torso. The runes pulsed before fading slowly into his chest with a warm, rhythmic light.
[Talent Alignment: Initiated.]
[Analyzing Soul Resonance.]
[Synchronization: 98.2%]
[Recommended Combat Specialization:]
[NECROMANCY]
[Affinity: Death Domain]
Lucifer blinked. He wasn't surprised.
He had known long before this time. His soul had been steeped in death since the day of his birth, and drenched in it on the night he died.
[Activation of Auxiliary System: SOUL PAGE]
A thin, transparent screen materialized before him; visible only to him. It resembled a ghost page from a work of ancient tome, rippling as if a misty scroll of whispers.
Everyone across the Aetherra and Haven Cluster were cognizant of the Soul Page.
It manifested when one awoke; a present from cosmic law of Haven Cluster. The scholars were unable to interpret it.
But it existed.
And to individuals like Lucifer… it was not everything.
---
SOUL PAGE Holder: Lucifer Ashenford
Race: ??? (Half-Elf Registered)
Age: Classified
Rank: Initiate
Path: Magus
Combat Affinity: Necromancy
Combat Class Skills:
[Soul Grasp] (lv.1)— Drain soul fragments from the recently dead.
[Bone Stitch] (lv.1)— Infuse life into low-quality skeletal objects.
[Grave Whisper] (lv.1)— Speak to lost souls in proximity.
Passive Ability:
[Undead Reservoir] : 000/100
Magical Core: Stable — Early Initiate
Energy Mastery: Mid-Initiate
Scan: Available with Condition
---
Lucifer breathed slowly. The room became silent once more.
So it begins.
Even for a Magus, becoming proficient in all of the arcane and cosmic arts was a dream of fools. A Magus could learn much, but war did not wait for a man to become enlightened.
He did not have centuries to spend. No masters to teach him. No order to rely upon.
Survival demanded specialization.
Necromancy.
The art of the dead. Feared and loathed. Forbidden everywhere. But also powerful, versatile, and surrounded by so much myth that it could be discounted.
He pulled out and grasped the small soul gem. A smaller beast's soul was contained within.
He hovered it above his palm and made a formation he learned before:
"By the silence of the grave, rise and remember."
A purple tendril of smoke twisted out of the gem. It pulsed once, then vanished.
The gem dissipated.
He felt it. The Grave Whisper had worked. A faint impression came. The beast's last memory. A broken forest, a scream, a flash of fangs—
He cut the link with a shiver.
Necromancy wasn't just bones and corpses. It was about seeing what remained.
"Not bad for a first cast," he growled to himself, wiping sweat from his brow.
He stood up and moved to the window. Outside, Valkarion Academy smoldered with pale light. Dormitories slumbered in peace. Magic creatures patrolled across the campus jungle.
And very far away. the stars shone like a million eyes.
Southwestern Fortress.
That was where his true journey started. Towards the fortress that guarded the dimensional battlefield of the Undying Exalted Union. Where mortality met madness. He would battle for Syrelle. He will battle to absorb knowledge.
But for the moment, he would sharpen his blade in the darkness.
---
Lucifer smiled weakly.
"Let's get started."