The dark was total.
Cold rock pushed against Zane's back as he started to wake up. Pain ran through every bit of his body—not the sharp hurt of a killing wound, but a deep, ongoing ache that told of being locked up for a long time.
"Am I dead?" he thought, trying to move his arms and legs. Something heavy kept him from moving. "Is this the place where dead people go?"
His eyes got used to the dark bit by bit, making out faint shapes. Chains of glowing light wrapped around his wrists and feet, tying him to the wall. The soft glow showed rough rock walls, iron bars, and the heavy feel of a jail cell.
Zane's heart beat fast. "How?" he whispered to the empty room. "I saw the blade... I felt it..."
The memory was clear—Master Han's energy blade flying at his heart, Julian's happy smile, everyone in the sect waiting to see him die. He should be dead. Yet here he was, breathing, hurting, alive.
"Could I have been... born again?" The idea seemed crazy, yet what else could it be?
He shut his eyes, looking inside to check his power level. Where once flowed the power of a high-level fighter, now only a tiny bit of energy came when he called. His power paths felt squeezed, hurt, like someone had on purpose wrecked his training.
The sound of steps coming closer pulled him from his thoughts. Keys rattled, and the heavy iron door to his cell opened with a scary creak.
Liam Forge's tall shape filled the doorway, his face lit by the magic lamp he carried. His face was strict but not mean—so different from the last time he saw him, when he watched him get punished.
"You're awake," he said, stepping into the cell and hanging the lamp on a hook in the wall. "The healer wasn't sure you would wake up so soon."
Zane stared at him, very confused. "Liam? What... what is this place?"
"The Blood Prison, in the back mountain of the Phoenix Sect," he said simply. "You've been here for three days."
"Three days?" Zane's voice broke. Something wasn't right. The Blood Prison was where the sect put people who did bad things but could still be fixed. Not a place for traitors who were going to die.
Liam looked at his face carefully. "Have you had time to think about what you did? Do you get now why what you did was so bad?"
"What I did?" Zane said, trying to make sense of his words. "You mean in the not-allowed area with Julian?"
Liam frowned. "I'm talking about your fight with Julian three days ago, the one where you almost made him get sick from power problems. You went too far, Zane."
Fight with Julian? Power problems? The words hit Zane like real punches. His mind raced, trying hard to put together this impossible timeline. What Liam just talked about was a fight from ten years ago... not the fight in the Blood Peak... not his almost-death...
And then he got it, so shocking that he almost passed out again.
He hadn't just lived, he had been born again to the past, back to before Julian's lying, before the sect turned against him, before they tried to kill him.
"Julian's hurt," he whispered, more to himself than to Liam. "Ten years before..."
"Are you still confused?" Liam asked, sounding a bit worried. "They said being in the back mountains jail for too long does things to you. I guess the magic chains can do that after a long time."
Zane swallowed hard, making himself focus. If this was really ten years in the past, then he had been put in jail for that fight with Julian—a small fight between young students that got him a short time in jail as punishment. A small thing in his life that seemed so big then, but became nothing compared to what came after.
What came after, but hadn't happened yet.
"I... I remember now," he said carefully, watching Liam's face. "My fight with Julian. It was... dumb of me."
Liam nodded, seeming happy with his answer. "Zhao has said he'll talk to Sect Leader Han about letting you out, but only if you say you were wrong and say sorry to Julian for real."
Just hearing about Zhao and Master Han, who had turned against him so fully in his past life without feeling bad at all, sent a cold feeling down Zane's back. And say sorry to Julian? Just thinking about it made him want to throw up.
But he wasn't stupid. If luck had given him this second chance, he wouldn't waste it being proud.
"I get it," he said, looking down like he felt bad.
Liam raised an eyebrow. "This is... not what I expected. Three days ago, you were crying, begging for another chance. Now you seem almost... calm."
Zane realized his mistake. The Zane from ten years ago—young, angry, and scared of punishment—would have acted different. He needed to be careful not to make them wonder.
"I've had time to think," he said, making his voice sound scared. "I don't want to stay in this place any more, please, Senior Liam, help me get out of here."
He looked at him for a long time, then nodded slowly. "Okay then, Zhao will be here soon to take you to Sect Leader Han. I think you should get ready to act really sorry."
As Liam turned to leave, Zane called after him. "Liam... thanks."
He stopped at the door, looking back with a slightly confused face. "Don't thank me yet, what happens to you is still up to the Sect Leader."
When the door closed behind him, Zane fell back against the wall, his mind racing with what this all meant. Somehow, he had been given a second chance. Ten years to get ready for Julian's lying. Ten years to get stronger, to find friends, to make sure history would not happen again.
"In my past life, I died by the Sect Leader's hands," he thought darkly. "I paid back the teachings of the sect with my life. In this life, I don't owe anyone anything."
His eyes got hard in the dark. "This time, Julian Drake, I'll be ready for you."
The sun was too bright after days in the Blood Prison's dark. Zane squinted as Zhao Lin led him across the Phoenix Sect's big grounds toward the main hall. Around them, students did their daily stuff—fighting in the training fields, sitting quiet under old trees, reading scrolls on stone seats.
It felt so weird. Scenes from a life he had lived before, playing out just as he remembered. There was Ming Wei, having trouble with his sword moves like always. There was old Master Jun, yelling at his students for their bad writing. Everything was the same, yet everything had changed—because "he" had changed.
"Remember your place," Zhao warned as they got near the main hall. "One wrong word to Sect Leader Han, and you'll find yourself back in that cell for another month."
Zane nodded meekly, keeping his eyes down. Let them think he was broken and sorry. Let them think he was less than he was. He knew now what they could do—what Julian could do.
"Senior Zhao!"
The happy voice cut through the air like a knife. Zane's head snapped up before he could stop it.
Julian Drake stood at the door to the main hall, bright in clean white clothes, his hair done up with green stone things that showed he was a favorite student. His smile was bright as he bowed nicely to Zhao.
"Welcome back from your trip, Senior Zhao! The sect has missed your help these past weeks."
Zhao's stern face softened right away. "Julian. You look good. Have you been practicing that move I showed you before I left?"
"Every day," Julian said eagerly. "Though I still have a lot to learn."
His eyes moved to Zane, and for a quick second, something cold and mean flashed in his eyes—so fast that anyone else would have missed it.
"Brother Zane," Julian's voice was soft with worry. "I heard you were sick. Are you feeling better now?"
Zane felt his chest get tight with anger and hate. This man—this monster—had made him die, had smiled as he was judged. And now he stood there, acting like a caring friend perfectly.