The streets of Tokyo buzzed with life as Annie and I walked side by side toward the towering gates of Aether Academy. She kept talking. something about how excited she was, how today would change everything—but her words felt distant, almost muffled.
On the surface, I must have looked calm. Focused. But inside… my thoughts were loud.
Fifty-nine years ago, the world burned. They called it the Great Collapse—born not of pride or conquest, but hunger. Nations starved, clawing at each other like beasts. And then… powers appeared. A spark of something no one could explain, strong enough to end a war that had swallowed continents.
That spark gave birth to Exorcists. To Aether Academy. To the world Annie and I now stood in.
She nudged me with her elbow.
"You're spacing out again. Nervous?"
"…Not really," I said. My voice was flat, almost automatic. I don't think she believed me, but she smiled anyway.
If only she knew the truth.
To her, this was a dream. To walk these gates meant power, respect, status. To me? It was a burden. Because while the Heavenly Clans sent their proud heirs, I was the boy from the Kage Clan—the forgotten one. Powerless, scorned. A mistake of blood.
Except… not entirely.
The elders whispered of prophecy. Of the Five Gods of Emotion sealed inside me at birth—love, hate, joy, sorrow, rage. Emotions said to move heaven and earth. Emotions I couldn't even feel anymore.
Annie laughed at something—probably her own joke. I didn't respond. My reflection in the academy's glass gates stared back at me: a boy with empty eyes, walking toward a destiny I neither wanted nor believed in.
They call me a savior. But how do you save the world with emotions… when you've lost your own?
"Hey." Annie's voice pulled me back. She was grinning, her eyes bright. "Ready to change the world?"
I adjusted my collar, forcing the smallest of smiles.
"…Let's just get this over with."
And with that, we stepped into Aether Academy.