Chapter 1: The Fractured Equation
The last thing Dr. Elias Veyne remembered was the explosion.
Not the sound—though it had been deafening—nor the heat, though it had seared his skin. No, what lingered was the equation.
The one he had scribbled in desperation, the one that defied every law of physics he had ever known. The one that had answered him.
And then—
—darkness.
Awakening in Another World
His lungs burned as he gasped awake, fingers clawing at his throat as if he could still taste the smoke. But there was no fire. No ruined lab. Instead, he was sprawled across a stone floor, the scent of ink and old parchment thick in the air.
Where—?
A sharp pain lanced through his skull, and suddenly, memories that weren't his own flooded in.
Kael Arvandor. Nineteen years old. A failed student of the Ivory Tower. Expelled for "delusional heresy."
Elias—no, Kael—staggered to his feet, gripping the edge of a cluttered desk. A cracked mirror hung on the wall, and in it, a stranger stared back. Pale, gaunt, with dark circles under hollow eyes.
Reincarnation? Transmigration?
His scientist's mind latched onto the problem, dissecting it. But before he could spiral further, a knock came at the door.
The First Heresy
"Kael Arvandor." The voice was cold, bureaucratic. "By order of the Grand Magister, you are to present yourself for evaluation."
Evaluation. The word sent a jolt of dread through him. In Kael's fractured memories, he saw it—the Tribunal's white robes, the accused kneeling as their magic was measured, their theories picked apart. Fail, and you were branded.
And branded mages did not survive long.
Elias—Kael—swallowed hard. He had no magic. No understanding of this world's rules. But he did have something else.
On the desk, half-buried under notes, was a single sheet of paper. And on it, in smudged ink, was an equation.
His equation.
The one that had killed him.
Heart pounding, he traced the symbols. They were different here—twisted, as if the numbers themselves were alive. And yet...
He understood them.
A whisper brushed against his mind, soundless and hungry.
"You see the cracks, don't you?"
The knock came again, louder.
Kael exhaled. Then, with a trembling hand, he tore the page in half.
The Choice
The door burst open. Two men in silver-trimmed robes stood there, their eyes glowing with faint runes.
"Kael Arvandor," the taller one said. "You are summoned."
Kael smiled. It was a thin, fragile thing.
"Of course," he said, slipping the torn equation into his sleeve.
Let them test him.
He had just discovered something far more dangerous than magic.
He had discovered truth.
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End Chapter 1