Chapter 15: The One Who Shouldn’t Exist
Seraphina Vale awoke with sweat clinging to her collarbone and her heartbeat echoing like distant war drums.
The dream had come again.
The one she'd convinced herself wasn't real.
In it, she stood in the old Ignis Arena — the same classroom where their first-year evaluations were held. Except it was drenched in smoke. Glyphs malfunctioning. Fire spiraling in fractal loops across the walls.
Students screamed.
She remembered trying to cast a flame seal to stabilize it.
Then… him.
He walked barefoot across the burning floor, carrying a pen snapped in half, blood dripping from his palm. He didn't panic. He didn't blink. He just knelt before the exploding glyph, drew something new, and the flames obeyed.
He looked back at her once.
His eyes weren't afraid. They were… tired.
> "It's better if you don't remember me," he said. "But I appreciate the effort."
Then he was gone. No records. No name.
Until weeks ago… when Lucien Drex appeared in the first-year rankings.
A ghost in student robes.
---
Back in Reality
Seraphina stood before her mirror, hair perfectly brushed, but her eyes burning with confusion.
> He erased himself.
> And now he's erasing everyone else's control.
---
Meanwhile, Lucien Was Losing a Nap War
"Renn, get the ladder," Lucien said, voice muffled.
"You're stuck again?"
"No," Lucien grunted. "I'm conveniently suspended in my sigil net. Totally intentional."
Renn looked up.
Lucien was tangled in his own hammock trap. One leg looped around a support rune, a sandwich hovering five inches from his mouth.
"You sure you're a genius?"
Lucien tried to grab the sandwich with telekinesis.
It teleported to the window ledge.
"Yes," he said. "But my sandwich is clearly a traitor."
---
Morning Class: Magical Ethics and Enchantment Loopholes
Lucien barely attended classes. But today, a particular professor was giving a lecture titled: "What Makes a Mage Dangerous?"
He sat in the back, scribbling nonsense in his notebook.
Seraphina entered late. Her hair was tighter than usual. Her steps calculated.
She spotted him instantly.
He didn't even glance her way.
The professor asked, "Can anyone define the boundaries between power and control?"
Lucien raised a hand.
Everyone gasped. He never raised his hand.
The professor stuttered, "M-Mister Drex?"
Lucien yawned. "Power is when you destroy a city. Control is when you make the city destroy itself and thank you for the favor."
The room went quiet.
The professor wrote "see me after class."
---
After Class: Seraphina Confronts Lucien Again
She cornered him in the hallway, beside a fountain that wept sideways.
"You knew," she said.
Lucien didn't stop walking. "I know many things. I'm very wise."
"You were there," she said. "Back then. The sigil collapse. You rewrote it."
He paused.
Then turned around.
"If I said yes, would you remember it clearly?"
"I already do."
Lucien's eyes softened. For a heartbeat, he looked almost… human.
Then the moment passed.
"You should forget again," he said.
Seraphina stepped closer.
"I won't."
Lucien shrugged. "Then prepare to be disappointed. I'm not that boy anymore."
She whispered, "You never were just a boy."
---
In the Shadows: Pale Sigil Watches
A projection orb hovered above the hallway, cloaked by masking enchantments.
The masked envoy of the Pale Sigil observed.
"She remembers," the agent said. "The file was supposed to be purged."
Another voice crackled through the link. "Then make her forget. Or make her… disappear."
The envoy paused. "And the boy?"
The voice said: "He's already a ghost. Bury him deeper."
---
Library – Quiet Schemes
Lucien laid traps in books. Sigils hidden in marginalia, enchantments in bookmarks. Every place where knowledge was supposed to rest, he made it whisper lies.
"I'm teaching the textbooks to betray their readers," he told Renn.
"Why?"
"Because truth is overrated."
A thump.
Ira had fallen out of the ceiling again.
"Your roof sigil has a hiccup," she said, upside-down. "Or maybe I do."
Lucien waved. "Did you bring snacks?"
She tossed him a fruit that blinked.
---
Evening Duel — Seraphina's Rage
That evening, Seraphina requested an official duel.
Opponent: No one.
Just an arena full of flame constructs.
She cut through them like a knife in a dream — every spell sharp, every motion desperate.
She wasn't fighting them.
She was fighting her lack of answers.
"I REMEMBER YOU!" she shouted into the flames.
But the arena stayed silent.
---
Lucien's Thoughts That Night
He stared at the stars, lying on a balcony trap that doubled as a hammock.
Caelum sat nearby, silent.
"You've made her unstable," Caelum said at last.
Lucien replied, "She was always a spark waiting for fuel."
"She's going to crack."
Lucien whispered, "Then I'll shape the pieces."
Caelum looked at him.
"You're not a good person, Lucien."
Lucien smiled. "I never claimed to be."
---
End Scene – Seraphina's Journal
A single page. Ink smudged, trembling strokes.
> He saved me once.
> I don't care if he's a monster now.
> I want to know why he let himself vanish.
> And I want to make him remember.
---
Fade to black.