Night blanketed the village in silence. Not the peaceful kind, but the kind that felt heavy—as if the world itself was holding its breath.
Ji-hyeon sat at the edge of the cliff behind his house, overlooking the forest he'd begun to dream about almost every night now. Dreams that weren't his. Battles that felt too real. Voices that called him Your Majesty, Dark Sovereign, and worse—The Devourer of Light.
But more than fear, he felt… clarity.
As if, for the first time, something inside him made sense.
He looked at his hand. So small. So human.
And yet… when the moonlight touched it, just for a second, a black marking flickered across his palm. Ancient. Curved. Like the brand of a king.
> "You were never meant to live as an ordinary child," the voice inside him whispered again.
"Your soul is a throne abandoned by time."
He clenched his fist. Not yet. He couldn't let that part of him rise—not until he understood why he was reborn like this.
Suddenly, he heard a noise behind him.
Areum stood there, holding a sealed scroll.
"You're being watched," she said, tossing the scroll to him.
Ji-hyeon caught it. "By who?"
"Not who. What," she replied coldly. "The Academy has begun selecting students for next year's entrance. But certain factions… are already looking for you. The stone reacted to your bloodline. That kind of power doesn't stay hidden."
Ji-hyeon narrowed his eyes. "What's in the scroll?"
"An invitation," she said.
"To where?"
"To a place where you'll learn to control that thing inside you."
Ji-hyeon looked down at the scroll. His fingers tightened slightly.
A new chapter of his second life was about to begin.
But the shadows of his past life… they were already moving.