"Anyone can pretend to be strong. Real talent is convincing everyone you're weak."
***
The academy bells hit six times. Bronze on stone, bouncing off walls that had heard the same sound a thousand mornings before this one.
I dragged myself out of bed.
Everything hurt. My back screamed from a mattress that couldn't decide if it wanted to be too soft or too hard. My shoulders ached. My neck felt like someone had welded the bones together overnight.
The pain helped, though. Reminded me this wasn't a dream. Wasn't some elaborate fever trip my brain had cooked up.
This was real. Flesh and blood and consequences.
Time to become Kaelen Leone.
I stood in front of the mirror and got to work. The transformation wasn't just acting. It was a complete psychological rewiring. I had to dim the sharpness behind my eyes. Let my shoulders slump forward. Adopt the posture of someone who'd already given up before breakfast.
