Hey there, I'm Edward Norton. Well, I used to be.
I grew up in a little town in Sweden, surrounded by endless forests and lakes that seemed indifferent to everything. My life was far from dreamlike. My mother passed away in a car crash when I was just seven. She was my only source of warmth in a pretty cold world.
After her death, I was left with my dad and his new wife. If you think of family as a safe haven, mine was anything but that. My dad blamed me for everything that went wrong, and my stepmother pretty much treated me like I was in the way. The bruises on my arms and the quietness in my heart became my everyday life. I learned quickly that the world doesn't stop to care about you.
Anxiety took root in me like a pesky weed. I stopped going outside and talking. I became a ghost in my own home. The only time I felt alive was while playing RPGs. In those fantasy worlds, I could wield swords, cast spells, and save kingdoms. I mattered there. My choices changed outcomes, and I wasn't invisible.
I would spend hours—a lot of them—lost in those games. My room turned into a dark cave lit by my computer screen. I could easily clock in 18 hours a day, fingers flying over the keys, eyes straining but never blinking, my heart heavy but still beating.
Until one night, it all changed.
I felt a sharp pain in my chest and thought it was just a cramp. Kept playing, but then my fingers froze. The screen blurred, and I broke out in a cold sweat. Everything spiraled.
I died.
There wasn't any light or angels singing. Just… quiet.
But that wasn't the end.
I woke up to birds chirping and the smell of fresh hay. The sky was a bright blue, too bright. I couldn't move like I used to. My limbs felt tiny. Everything felt… wrong.
Then I saw her.
A woman in a black-and-white uniform, her auburn hair neatly tied back, leaned over me. Her eyes were kind.
"Oh! You're finally awake, young master!" she said.
Her voice wasn't Swedish or English, but I understood it perfectly. It felt like a memory I didn't have.
She lifted me carefully, and strong arms, softer than I expected, moved me with ease. That's when it hit me—I was a baby.
A real baby.
Tiny hands, short limbs. My voice made gurgles instead of words. Panic took hold harder than death ever did.
"What the heck…?" I tried to say, but all that came out was a squeal.
As the days went on, I started to understand what had happened.
I had been reincarnated.
Just like in the RPGs I used to play, I had a fresh start.
The place around me looked straight out of a medieval fantasy. Stone walls, glowing lamps, carriages passing by, knights in shimmering armor. Magic symbols on the ceiling, banners with family crests, and whispers of mana and nobility floated in the air.
My new name was Leonhart Edevane.
I was born into one of five noble families in the Kingdom of Elaria. From what I picked up from servants' chatter, the Edevane family had the biggest supply of elemental crystals—meaning we were wealthy, respected, and pretty powerful.
Not at all like my old life.
But that didn't mean this one would be a piece of cake.
I had to learn quickly. By the time I was six months old, I already knew the language. My body was weak, but my mind—my old, battered, game-trained mind—was alive, hungry to learn, survive, and maybe even thrive.
The woman who first held me, that strong but kind maid named Elira, became my guardian and my first friend. For a long time, she was the only one I trusted.
Elira noticed things about me. Like when I didn't cry when hungry—I just stared. Or how I seemed to remember faces after just meeting them once. Sometimes, she'd whisper to me, "You're special, young master. I can sense it."
The world around me was magical. People used Aether, a life energy that let them control elements. Fire, water, wind, and earth were just the start. The real pros could bend time, shadow, and even memory.
When I turned three, noble kids were tested for their "Aether Affinity."
On test day, the grand hall filled with robed examiners and nobles in fancy clothes. My new dad, Duke Reinhard Edevane, sat on his throne, silent and unreadable. He was a huge man, even wore armor at dinner, with ice-cold eyes and a voice that could silence storms.
When I was called forward, the crystal orb lit up fiercely before I could even touch it.
The room gasped.
The orb didn't just glow. It shattered.
The silence was deafening.
"He… he has dual affinity!" one examiner stuttered. "No, wait… triple… no, this is—"
"Impossible," another mumbled.
But it wasn't impossible. I could feel it—a storm inside me. Elements swirled beneath my skin. Fire that wanted to burn, wind that begged to race, shadows that whispered secrets.
Duke Reinhard stood slowly. For the first time since I had woken up, he looked at me—not with hate, not with pride, but with curiosity. And something else.
Fear.
From then on, I wasn't just another noble child. I was a prodigy. A potential weapon. A threat.
They assigned tutors to me in every skill—combat, magic, swordplay, ancient languages, and court manners. I learned to swing a sword as soon as I was strong enough to lift one. I read about elemental laws and practiced manipulating mana until I collapsed from exhaustion.
But I never complained. Because this life was my chance to start fresh. My rebirth.
I wasn't Edward Norton anymore, the abused kid who wasted his life in a dark room.
I was Leonhart Edevane, the boy with power waiting inside him, born in a world where strength was respected and the weak were crushed.
And I wasn't going to be crushed again.
Not this time.