The next time I opened my eyes, I saw a sight that I never thought I would see again, the gates of Lexion. Nestled in the heart of Zion, the capital city of the Kingdom of Zonia, Lexion Academy was the most prestigious academy for magic in the entire Kingdom. Everything was the same as before all hell broke loose, from the intricate spires that towered in the distance, to the shiny golden gates that stood before me.
I had really regressed hadn’t I?
I patted myself down and pulled out a small mirror from my pocket. As I stared at my reflection, a strangely nostalgic face looked back. Gone was the sad, gloomy face that had been ravaged by battle. Instead, I looked much more alive, frankly, and dare I say even a bit handsome. I was leaning against a tree, with a large bag beside my leg, probably carrying all my belongings inside. I was going to wander around for a bit, but before I could go anywhere I felt something touch my shoulder.
“Your Arata Eos right?”
As I turned around, I was greeted by a neatly dressed student, wearing a pair of black glasses. He was holding what appeared to be an old book, its leather binding looking like it was about to fall apart.
“Yes I am, and you are?” I asked, but I already knew who he was. A slight smile found itself on my face after all, who wouldn’t be excited to be face-to-face with one of the greatest mages of the modern age? A man who would not only pioneer countless advancements in the field of artifacts and their decryption but also become perhaps the most talented anti-mage of modern times.
Lucas quickly extended his hand before introducing himself. I had vague memories of my first day at Lexion but as the two of us began walking through the courtyard, more and more came back to me. As a transfer student joining my cohort at the beginning of the second year, Lucas was assigned to make the transition process a lot smoother by being my companion.
I had gotten there early that day, I sort of remembered being sent a letter saying that Lucas was going to be giving me a tour of the school before classes started that day, which had been mailed to me alongside the uniform I was currently wearing to one of the many taverns I had temporarily stayed at.
“So, what’s being an adventurer like?” Lucas asked, clearly eyeing the bag I was carrying. He probably thought it was filled to the brim with powerful artifacts. I didn’t blame him for being interested, from what I recalled Lucas was a diligent scholar during his time at Lexion, practically obsessed with anything magic-related yet lacking the experience with all the artifacts or weapons he read about. To him, I was like a goldmine of information waiting to be used, which explained why he had practically been bombarding me with questions, as the two of us made our way towards the school's main building.
“It’s not as glamorous as you probably imagine it to be. These days, many wannabe adventurers have begun clearing any easy quests the guilds let them get their hands on, so if you want to put food on the table for yourself, then you have to do some of the more dangerous quests. For me, I usually accept rift-related ones but even then most of the entry-level ones get snatched up too quickly so I’m forced to do a lot of the higher-tiered ones,”
“Ehhh? You’ve managed to clear such difficult rifts before?”
“I mean it's not like I did them alone, I had a good party with me,” I quickly replied. Rifts were gateways that bridged the gap between worlds, appearing randomly in abandoned areas that had abundant mana or aether. They were one of the many sources of income for adventurers as valuable artifacts, powerful objects imbued with magical power, were often able to be recovered from them. But the dangers that lay in rifts, were equally as tough, as the relics humans sought to get their hands on would be guarded by otherworldly creatures, monsters drawn to the power the artifacts emitted.
As we made our way around the school, I felt a sense of nostalgia bubbling up inside me. After the destruction of Lexion and the death of my comrades during the first round, I never thought that I would be able to live in peace after the Legion plunged our world into unending chaos. But now I had been given a second chance, and the world was as peaceful as it got.
Lucas continued showing me around the school, explaining its rich history and occasional remarks about its elaborate design and architecture. Eventually, the two of us made our way up the spiralling staircases that led to the student dormitories, which marked the end of the tour.
“Here we are,” Lucas announced, gesturing to one of the rooms which lined the balcony. He pulled out a small silver key from his pocket inserting it into the keyhole before swinging the door open.
“This is your room from now on, room 237,” he said, passing me the key as I walked inside. To my mind, it was a familiar feeling yet it felt foreign to my hands. I looked around the empty room, remembering all the memories I made that I’d make again.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“There's still some time before classes start so you can probably unpack your stuff and make yourself at home. You know where our first class is right?” Lucas asked, preparing to leave the room. I gave a quick nod and after a few moments, he had left the room, leaving me with just my thoughts.
I quickly turned my attention to the bag I had been carrying with me, and curious as to what could be inside I emptied its contents onto my bed. There wasn’t much, mostly books, writing equipment and other miscellaneous school supplies, though some clothing from my adventuring days also tumbled out. It was quite a refreshing sight, seeing the old leather tunic and the beat-up pair of boots that had managed to keep me out of trouble numerous times.
However, what surprised me the most was the distinct sound of metal hitting the wooden floor. I quickly looked down and picked up a silver ring with a blue gemstone affixed to it. It was a stealth ring, an artifact that temporarily concealed the user’s presence. I instinctively went to put it on, which was when I realised I still had the ring Kairos had given me. I had completely forgotten about it, and as I took it off to get a better look at it, the words exchanged during our brief conversation began replaying in my mind.
The ring was supposedly instilled with a part of Kairos’ power, albeit a minuscule part, but it was still strange to think that the object I was casually twiddling in between my fingers contained the power of a god. As I examined it, I noticed four symbols that were engraved into the ring, they were some kind of runic script that looked unlike anything I’d seen during my years exploring rifts. Considering that the ring had been forged by an ancient deity, I doubt that any tangible traces of the language even remained at this point, much less anyone who could decipher it.
I slipped the ring back onto my index finger to see if I could draw any power from it. Usually, if an artifact had an ability its wielder could activate it through mental cues. I thought back to my encounter with Kairos, how he had said that the ring was meant to prepare my body for his power. Were the powers of the ring sealed? The more I thought about that idea, the more things seemingly fell into place. From our conversation it seemed that Kairos had been watching me for a while, and if he was going to give me some of his power, why didn’t he do that before my regression? The most obvious answer was that my body wouldn’t be able to handle the powers of a god, and if that were true about my pre-regression body, then there was no way my teenage self would either.
The four runes were then likely some incantation which was part of the seal, nothing more than decoration now that the seal was in place. I stood up from the bed, extending my right hand in a clawed position as I gathered mana into my hand and began channelling it into the ring, hoping to get a response from it or the seal. However, after doing so for a few seconds I stopped, dismayed that nothing seemed to have happened. Is the seal irresponsive to mana? I thought, briefly contemplating the idea of channelling aether into the ring before quickly dismissing it.
It wasn’t that I doubted my ability to do so in fact, my audience with Kairos had sort of confirmed that it had been some sort of dormant ability within me, yet why I possessed such a power was still unknown. As of now I mostly feared the repercussions of doing so, there was no way I would be able to get stronger if I destroyed my mana circuits by prematurely channeling aether through my body.
Putting the thoughts of the ring and its seals away, I glanced at the clock which hung about a meter or so above my bed, noticing that classes would be starting soon. After putting the equipment I thought I would need for the day in my bag, I took a quick look at myself in the bathroom mirror, making sure I looked decently presentable before heading out. The walk from the student dormitories to Lexion’s main campus was alot more lively then I thought whilst walking past rows of neatly pruned foliage accompanied by my peers. As I turned the corner to enter the main school building, I had found myself in the midst of a sea of white, gold and grey, the colour of Lexion’s school uniform. Everywhere I looked I saw students dressed in button-up shirts with gold-rimmed white blazers, dark grey trousers for the guys and gold-lined grey skirts for the girls, with the occasional black and gold blazer in the mix which was reserved for my third-year upperclassmen.
I slowly walked through the crowded halls, looking at the intricate marble pillars and fancy lights hanging from elaborate wooden ceilings. There had been a few whispers from people passing by, presumably second-year students, asking their friends if they had just walked past the new transfer, though no one had directly approached me and asked. I smirked slightly, thinking of the terrible job Lucas had done as my guide. It would have been a total nightmare for any new student to find their way to class unless that student happened to have memories of the two years of schooling they had here from their past life. In all fairness, Lucas had asked if I knew where my first class was and he had never been much of a ‘people person’, though I still found it funny that he was ok with me navigating through Lexion’s massive campus alone.
Eventually, I had successfully made my way to one of Lexion’s lecture theatres where my first class of the day Magic Theory would be held. It wasn’t my favourite class: learning about magic circles; the transmutation of pure mana to elemental mana; the uses of organs in the human body that allow us to manipulate mana; blah blah blah, had never exactly appealed to me. It was then that the image of a person flashed into my mind, a tall and slim man who should be in his forties, though looking much older, who held himself in the image of a classical ‘professor’, my Magic Theory teacher Francis Paraveral.
Seems like regression isn’t all that great if I have to sit through that guy’s lectures again, I groaned mentally as I entered the auditorium.