The heavy doors of the dining hall creaked shut behind him, but the lively chatter of the nobility didn't follow him into the quiet of his chambers. Closing the door, Aether leaned against the wood for a moment, his mind already miles away—or rather, worlds away.
He sat at the edge of his bed and closed his eyes, desperately trying to recall the details of the novel he had read back on Earth. In his previous life, he had failed to awaken. The memory of that insignificance stung like a fresh wound. If he didn't find an alternative path to power, history was doomed to repeat itself.
Think, Aether. Think, he urged himself.
He recalled a pivotal scene from the middle chapters of the book. The protagonist, Keleon, had absorbed a rare rune within a hidden dungeon, awakening the fire element. A spark of hope lit up in Aether's chest, only to be extinguished a second later. Those dungeons wouldn't start appearing for another two years.
He couldn't wait two years. He needed to be strong now.
He forced himself to stop dwelling on the "future" of the novel and focus on the "now." He combed through the lore of the Kingdom until a specific detail surfaced: the Rune of Thorns. It was a legend and dangerous artifact rumored to exist somewhere within the capital's inner sanctum. If the stories were true, that rune possessed the raw power needed to jumpstart a dormant mana circuit.
A sharp knock at the door broke his concentration
Second Prince," a servant's voice called out from the hallway. "The carriage is ready to depart for the Awakening Hall."
Aether looked toward the window. The sun sat high in the midday sky, casting long, sharp shadows across the floor. The Awakening Ceremony was about to begin. Today, he and the other high-born children of the duke families would finally learn if they possessed the spark of mana or if they were destined for a life of mundane shadow.
He took a slow, steadying breath, smoothing out the wrinkles in his tunic. He wasn't the same person who had failed before.
"Understood," he replied, his voice calmer than he felt.
He stepped out of his room and walked through the marble corridors with a measured pace. Outside, the royal carriage waited, its dark wood polished to a mirror shine. Without a word to the guards, Aether stepped inside, the door clicking shut behind him as the carriage began to roll toward the center of the capital.
The path to the Awakening Hall was short, but for Aether, it felt like the longest journey of his life.
The carriage slowed to a crawl as the shadow of the Golden Tower fell over them. This was the Awakening Hall, a spire of shimmering auric stone that pierced the clouds, rumored to be forged from the very essence of the first mages. As the morning sun hit its polished surface, the tower seemed to bleed light, casting a divine glow over the arriving nobles.
Inside the carriage, the air was filled with the bright, rhythmic sounds of laughter. Aether sat quietly, watching his two younger siblings as they played and chatted with effortless joy. He sat opposite them, his back against the velvet bench, as the carriage jolted forward toward the Great Hall.
His younger sister looked up, her eyes wide with curiosity. "Brother, are you also going to awaken your mana today like eldest brother kaelion and elder sister lyra? I hope I grow up fast so I can awaken mine, too!"
"Yeah!" his younger brother chimed in immediately, his face beaming. "I want that too!"
Aether watched them, a sudden, sharp pang of grief tightening in his chest. Listening to their excited voices, he was forcibly struck by a memory from his past—one where these two never got the chance they were so eagerly discussing. In that life, they had been lost to the disaster that struck two years later.
The carriage slowed to a crawl before finally coming to a halt at the towering gates of the Awakening Hall.
His siblings scrambled out of the carriage, their small feet hitting the pavement as they hurried toward their parents waiting ahead. Aether stepped out more slowly, his movements heavy with the weight of things only he knew. He walked toward his mother, who was watching him with a soft, searching expression.
"Are you ready, Aether?" she asked gently.
"Yes, mother," he replied, his voice steady despite the storm of thoughts in his head.
As he turned to look around, the true scale of the event became clear. Inside the vast, high-ceilinged hall, the twelve Dukes of the Kingdom were present, seated in a grand semi-circle. Surrounding them stood the children of these twelve noble families—each one standing tall, waiting for the moment they would finally awaken.