When Cassian crossed the threshold the room experienced a unique immersion that lacked all forms of noise.
The silence was not a result of noiseless conditions but instead emanated from complete lack of attention. This was the weight which lay upon the chest as if ghostly while never laying a hand on someone.
That's what followed Cassian Vale.
The academy cafeteria welcomed Cassian throughout its dull morning activity as clean magic rails sustained the floating plates while students talked. Students used rune-infused food machines whilst laughing as they cast heat magic on their beverages before performing maintenance on their school garments.
Then they saw him.
And everything dimmed.
Not the lights. Not the sound.
The atmosphere.
Cassian entered the room and everything seemed to become strangely quieter despite the humming sounds of the cafeteria. Conversations died mid-sentence. Plates clattered more carefully. Every student of the room shifted their glance to study him before looking away with haste.
His actions made a strong impact on the room without verbal communication. The presence of his being required no additional effort or acts.
He simply was.
He carried the empty tray as he moved through many tables avoiding most of the partly filled plates along the extended dining area. The students who occupied the tables closest to him awkwardly rushed from their seats to abandon their meals after he took his seat. Fear did not guide their reactions because such reactions would have been easily detectable.
It was instinct.
Each student experience a hidden instinct advising them to stay a safe distance from him.
Cassian didn't notice at first. As he ate he just reached for his cutlery without any additional concern. The food tasted like nothing. Or maybe he just didn't care.
But then he felt it.
A faint pull.
He looked up.
One of his classmates who appeared to be a freshman approached his table with great uncertainty based on her red neck badge. A tray remained suspended in her hands as her brows scrunched into an expression of confusion before she entered the wrong space.
Their eyes met.
She gazed at him with a puzzled expression before her face slowly transformed into confusion before she lost balance. Then dazed. Then—without warning—she dropped her tray.
She gasped while backward stumbling into the floor where a stream of blood flowed from her nostrils.
The girl caught her head before stumbling to a separate distance. The teacher approached with healing magic prepared but Cassian detected the situation right away.
She tried to sit too close.
He studied his fork while its surface created an unrecognizable pattern of his features.
People do not perceive it directly although everyone senses the change. That's enough."
He didn't remember standing up.
One moment he was eating. The next, he was walking.
He walked through academy corridors which became hazy as he passed by various powerful ancient symbols and the slow-moving spells carved into walls. Within the academy all functions relied entirely on mana systems which included lights, locks, shields and surveillance. The magic faded into eternal silence when he walked by due to a weakening of the energy signals.
Cassian spotted a beast near the distant area—a hawk familiar—winging madly above its summoner as its feathers bewitched him with illusion runes.
It refused to land.
The creature flew through the air while producing loud noises as its wings attempted to break free from unknown restrictions. Commands came from the student's mouth while he spoke with panic in his tone.
Then Cassian walked by.
The bird disappeared into its magic seal after creating a strange opening of disfigured light.
"Sorry, Professor," the student stammered. He is acting differently than usual. I don't understand the reason behind his behavior. He's never acted like that."
His face darkened when his eyes fell on the floating summoning glyph in the air. The professor instructed that a stabilizer crystal would be delivered directly to the student's room. Students should not permit their familiars to exhibit this sort of behavior during the classroom schedule.
Cassian kept walking. No one looked at him.
No one connected it.
But in his chest, something pulsed.
Something… aware.
He discovered himself present in the library.
The standard floors consisting of elemental textbooks and enchanted scrolls did not make up this space.
The Restricted Wing
Places that normally have magical defenses combined with memory-binding barriers typically stand in their sealed state.
When he moved toward the area the protective shields moved in a trembling motion before dissolving before his eyes.
No resistance.
No alarm.
All the doors recognized his presence as if they sensed his identity. Or rather—what he was.
Cassian stepped inside.
It was darker here. Older. The air carried weight. Not dust—but memory. Alternating with bookshelves stood volumes that had been bound in tannery skin and slept with dangerous power beneath their covers.
He moved in a way that seemed sure to those around him. The passage flowed through his steps as if he had visited such chambers countless times before.
A locked glass display of curses with high-level seals showed itself to him. The glyphs seemed to malfunction when he passed by the section. The building shook with an eerie rumbling whenever his fingers touched one of the bookshelves.
Then he found it.
A single, black tome. Bound in crimson stitching. No title on the spine—just a sigil.
A broken circle.
Cassian touched it. Instantly upon contact between his fingers and the pages the book started to illuminate.
Blood-red light pulsed down its seams.
And the title revealed itself:
"Nullborn: The Blood That Devours."
He opened the first page.
Words didn't appear.
Instead, visions did.
A wide stretch of dead bodies surrounded smoking piles of ash that consumed former magic robes. Towers fallen. Magic showed a similar destruction pattern to what oil does against flowing water. A throne made of blood and bone forms the central point of a pulsating heart shape.
Someone sat on it.
Eyes black as the void.
The tip of his hand glowed red like living flesh through the white skin.
Cassian.
The book jolted him so much that he shut it immediately.
His fingers trembled.
Not out of fear.
But recognition.
That place… that throne…
He knew it.
He remembered it.
A recollection materialized as if hidden under his flesh. Buried. Waiting.
The magic security mechanisms tried to reactivate behind his exit from the restricted area. The spell dimmed to life briefly before losing all power like an exhausted celestial body.
He didn't pause.
Didn't look back.
But someone saw him.
Reina.
She walked by the doorway at that moment to witness his departure. Her breath hitched. She naturally pushed herself against the wall as her face turned whiter than usual.
Their eyes met.
Cassian observed her body lower itself to the floor for a brief moment.
She held a mana crystal as a communication charm while she tightly gripped it in her hand.
It cracked.
No—shattered.
The unstable mana surge released from her palm cut through her hand in a thin blade of mana light. She winced, dropping it.
Cassian didn't stop walking.
Didn't say a word.
He just passed by.
Reina collapsed onto the floor while using her injured hand to breathe heavily at the same time she tried to shield her bleeding wound.
She didn't scream.
Didn't call for help.
Because she understood.
She remembered the fountain.
She kept the image of his passing vivid in her mind.
She gained a knowledge which nobody else possessed: he came back in a damaged state.
He had come back wrong.
Moonlight drifted through high glass windows of the academy grounds during his return to his dormitory.
But it wasn't any moon.
It was red.
An ominous direction floated in the sky's bottom area. Like an eye.
Cassian appeared once more in front of the mirror.
He didn't see himself.
Not truly.
The dark void he observed replaced the usual gray shade that marked his eyes before death. Not color. Not light.
Absence.
Like the void.
A voice emerged from the reflection without any visible movement of his lips.
"They built this world on magic."
"And I was made to erase it."
Cassian Vale rested his arms on the table while not showing any emotion through his face.
Hand under his chin.
Eyes staring down.
Unblinking.
Emotionless.
A king without a crown. A god with no worshippers.
A sovereign of nothing.
A throne without occupant exists as a vacant seat which needs its ruler.