The night deepened over Lumeria Academy, but sleep was elusive for many of its students. Shadows seemed to stretch unnaturally across the corridors, and the faint hum of latent magic made the air thick with anticipation. Izumi, however, remained awake, seated cross-legged on the floor of his dormitory, the shard within him glowing softly.
Fragments of memory surged more insistently than before: the screams of a city consumed by fire, the echoing laughter of betrayal, and the chilling certainty of death from countless loops. He clenched his fists, forcing himself to ground in the present.
Jack, half-asleep in his bed, muttered incoherently. "Why do you always have to look like you're plotting the end of the world?"
Aria sat beside Izumi, her eyes reflecting the faint golden glow of his shard. "Because, in a way, he is," she said quietly. "He doesn't just live in this world. He carries the weight of every world he has lived in, every choice, every failure. That kind of knowledge… it changes you."
Izumi closed his eyes. "It is not knowledge that changes me. It is purpose. Every memory, every loop, every shard of my soul—it all leads to one truth. I will awaken fully. I will master the shard. And I will challenge the destiny set before me."
The shard pulsed violently, almost as if agreeing, almost as if urging him to act. A soft whisper threaded through his consciousness:
> "The threads of fate converge. The first test approaches. Be ready… or break."
Izumi opened his eyes, gold flecks blazing. He rose, walking toward the window. Outside, the stars shimmered faintly, but he could sense a subtle disturbance—a tear in the fabric of reality itself. Something was watching, testing, probing.
> "Not all who notice are friendly," Aria warned from behind him.
Suddenly, the dormitory walls shivered. The shard pulsed violently, sending tendrils of energy curling outward, seeking the source of the disturbance. Izumi's senses stretched beyond the physical, reaching into threads of mana and reality.
A figure materialized in the courtyard below, cloaked in shadows, radiating an aura that made Izumi's pulse quicken. The being's presence carried an authority older than any mortal life, older than the academy itself.
Jack groaned. "Great… first we get ghosts, now creepy shadow people?"
Izumi's eyes narrowed. "Not a ghost… something far older." He stepped forward, allowing the shard's energy to extend, probing, measuring, preparing. The threads of his power wrapped around the intruder like a living net, ready to react.
The shadow paused, then spoke in a voice that resonated through the very air. "Izumi… the boy whose name will echo across worlds. Your awakening is premature. You do not yet understand the weight of what you carry."
Izumi's jaw tightened. "Then show me. I will understand, no matter the cost."
---