Pain. That was the first thing Aiden felt.
A sharp, stinging pain in his ribs as someone's boot connected with his side.
"Get up, rat. Breakfast isn't going to serve itself."
Aiden blinked, the world around him a blur of stone walls and flickering candlelight. He sat up quickly, groaning as his body throbbed. He wasn't in his apartment. He wasn't even in the real world.
His reflection in a cracked mirror confirmed it — he was younger, thinner, dressed in a servant's plain tunic. Panic rose in his throat.
This is… the Blackthorn estate.
The name came to him like a lightning strike. He knew this place. It was the household of a minor noble in Chronicles of the Eternal Flame. A place mentioned only briefly, where a nameless servant boy dies in Chapter 3 during a bandit attack.
His heart pounded. He scrambled through the fog in his mind, searching for clues. A scrap of memory surfaced — a servant named Kael who tried to warn the nobles of the coming attack and was ignored.
"Kael," Aiden whispered. "I'm Kael."
A forgotten extra.
A death sentence waiting to happen.
But something inside him stirred. Not fear — not entirely. Determination.
"I know what's coming," he muttered. "And I'm not dying in Chapter 3."