January 26, 2012 — 7:50 AM

Perspective: Kaiser Everhart

Location: Academy Grounds

I walked alone down the stone path, my hands shoved deep into my pockets.

My eyes stayed locked on the ground.

It was 10 minutes before homeroom. Most students were probably already seated and preparing for class.

It had been a few days since the dungeon exam and the mysteries surrounding it.

Elfie was officially the Class Representative. Between Rigel’s strategic pitches and her own overwhelming sweetness, she had captured the majority vote easily. With her newfound popularity, pretty much the entire class wanted to be her friend. Everyone wanted to be on her good side.

I let out a slow breath. The fog plumed in the cold air. My face remained entirely neutral, though a faint, melancholic shadow rested over my eyes.

With popularity came threats. The 1st monthly exam was going to be announced soon, possibly even today. Rumor had it that it would be a class-wise exam. That meant the other classes weren’t our immediate enemies yet, but the danger of internal ranking and expulsions still hung heavy over a lot of us.

I tilted my head back, looking up at the gray, cloudy sky.

I had picked up a side-job. Mostly just cleaning dishes, carrying plates, and delivering food at a tavern in the commercial district after classes. In 1 way or another, I had to repay the 7,291 gold I had compiled in debts and loans.

Speaking of that job, it gave me a perfect excuse to avoid Elfie.

Now that she was popular and surrounded by people who adored her, it was better if I slowly distanced myself. She needed the space to make new friends, build her own connections, and be genuinely happy without her shadow hovering over her shoulder.

"Finally got you."

I stopped walking. I didn’t sigh, but my soul certainly did.

I looked back over my shoulder.

Standing in the middle of the path blocking my way was the absolute worst combination of human beings in Class C.

Milo, Daniel, Roman, and Axel.

What did I ever do in my life to deserve this situation.

Axel stepped forward. His oversized trench coat blew dramatically in the morning wind. He pointed his finger at me.

"You." Axel glared, his black eyes wide with delusional fury. "You sent me that picture! You assaulted her in her own room and kissed her cheek!"

"I don’t know what you’re talking about." I blinked, my expression completely blank. "I don’t even have a camera."

"Liar!" Axel yelled. "You sent it to me on DIS! You blocked me! You are a hurdle in the path of true love!"

"Love is a strong word for someone who asked for feet pictures," I replied flatly. "I think the word you’re looking for is ’felony’."

Milo leaned against a nearby tree, crossing his arms. He looked completely exhausted by his own gang.

"He got you there, Axel." Milo muttered, not even looking at us.

"Quiet, Axel." Daniel shoved him aside, stepping up to me with his massive, brick-wall frame. He cracked his knuckles loudly.

"Where the hell have you been going, huh? We’ve been hunting you every morning before class for the past 3 days. You never take the main path."

"I’m usually late." I answered normally, keeping my voice mild and innocent. "So I jump from building to building and take shortcut alleys to get to class."

Daniel stopped cracking his knuckles. He stared at me.

Roman raised an eyebrow, tossing a pebble up and catching it.

"Thief ahh strategy." Roman scoffed. "Who jumps buildings to get to class? You’re a weirdo."

"It saves 4 minutes of walking." I shrugged.

Axel pushed his way back to the front. "We are here to give you an ultimatum, Kaiser. Back off from Elfina. She is my eternal mate."

"Back off." Daniel echoed, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, stay away from her." Roman added.

I looked at the 3 of them.

Elfie was never mine to begin with. They were making the entirely wrong warning to the wrong person.

But I let my shoulders slump. I widened my eyes just a fraction, projecting the perfect image of a scared, fragile student cornered by bullies.

"Okay." I nodded quickly, looking down. "I’ll do as you say. I’ll stay away."

"Good." Daniel sneered, leaning down into my face. "Because if you don’t, I’m going to rip your arms off and beat you with them."

"That seems biologically counterproductive." I noted, my voice trembling slightly. "If my arms are off, I wouldn’t be able to feel the beating on my arms. You should probably just use a stick."

Daniel blinked, his brain clearly struggling to process the logistics of his own threat. "Shut up! I’ll break your spine!"

Roman stepped forward, pointing his pebble at me. "If I catch you near her, I’m going to steal your shoes."

"Okay."

"Then I’m going to fill them with mud." Roman threatened.

"That’s very unhygienic." I said.

"And then I’m going to make you wear them to the cafeteria." Roman finished, looking incredibly proud of his devious plan.

"I’ll just walk barefoot." I countered softly. "The floor is relatively clean."

Roman frowned, realizing his threat had a massive tactical flaw.

Axel grabbed the collar of my jacket, pulling me close.

"I will destroy you." Axel hissed. "I will plunge you into the darkness."

"Sounds cold." I said.

"I will unleash the alpha wolf inside me and bite your neck."

"Please make sure you have your rabies vaccine first. I don’t want an infection."

"I am going to steal Elfina, and you will watch as I buy her lunch with my 6 gold coins!"

"She usually eats 12 gold coins worth of cake alone." I informed him helpfully. "You’re going to need a loan."

"I will bankrupt my family for her!" Axel roared. "And then I will banish you to the shadow realm!"

"The academy doesn’t have a shadow realm." I tilted my head. "But they do have a detention room. Are you going to report me to the disciplinary committee?"

Axel froze, completely thrown off by my literal interpretations.

Milo finally let out a loud, irritated groan. He pushed off the tree and walked over, grabbing Axel by the back of his trench coat and yanking him away from me.

"Enough." Milo snapped. He looked at me, his green eyes filled with deep annoyance. "I didn’t even want to do this. But this idiot has been bombing my phone with begging messages for 3 days. I had to comply just to make him shut up."

I fixed my collar, looking at Milo. I dropped the scared act, letting my expression return to its casual deadpan.

"You must be frustrated." I said. "Is it the Class Representative situation? Having Elfie in charge must hurt your pride."

Milo scoffed loudly, waving a hand in absolute dismissal.

"I don’t care about the representative garbage." Milo stated, his voice hardening. "What I care about right now is finding that masked saboteur."

He clenched his fists, his jaw tightening as the memory of his humiliating defeat flashed in his eyes.

"I’m going to find whoever that freak was," Milo growled. "And I’m going to beat the shit out of them."

"Just don’t trigger him anymore," Milo warned, pointing a finger at me. "It’s annoying."

"I won’t." I said.

I looked at Axel. He was still glaring at me from behind Milo’s shoulder.

"Do you really like her?" I asked.

"Yes!" Axel declared loudly.

"What do you like about her?"

"None of your business."

"I’m just curious." I tilted my head. "What do you like about her?"

Daniel slapped Axel heavily on the back. "Come on, man! Say it! Assert your dominance!"

Roman slapped his other shoulder. "Yeah, tell him why she’s yours."

Axel puffed out his chest, stepping forward with absolute confidence.

"She has pretty looks." Axel stated. "She has sweet kindness towards others. She has leadership. She has intelligence. She has a very nice figure, and her hair smells like lavender. She is the perfect prize for a high-value man like me."

I stared at him. The silence stretched for a long, painful moment.

"If you really want her," I started, keeping my voice perfectly calm and wise, "you need to work hard and give up on frustrating her."

Axel frowned. "What?"

"To get a girl like that, you have to be as kind as she is." I said. "You have to be a shield for her, not a sword trying to stab her. You need compassion. Trust. Humility. You have to love her soul instead of just her surface beauty."

Axel stared at me for a few seconds. Then, his face twisted into deep annoyance.

"I don’t need any of that garbage!" Axel yelled. "By the end of the month, just watch. She’ll be burning with jealousy when she sees me walking with dozens of girls. After all, I am the secret weapon of Class C."

Daniel looked at him, scratching the back of his neck. "You keep saying that. What does it even mean?"

"It means I hold back." Axel said, closing his eyes and crossing his arms with a smug smile. "I suppress my overwhelming intelligence and my lethal combat skills so I look weak. But if I were to go all out... I would be completely undefeatable."

Milo, Daniel, and Roman all raised their eyebrows simultaneously. They stared at Axel like he had lost his mind.

Axel ignored them, pointing his finger back at me.

"Never, ever kiss Elfina again." Axel threatened. "I know you only did it because you’re jealous."

"Jealous?" I repeated, my expression completely blank.

"Yes, jealous." Axel sneered. "Soon, she is going to be mine. So stay within your limits, Kaiser."

Milo put a heavy hand on Axel’s shoulder, physically pushing him down. "Quiet down, idiot."

Milo looked back at me. The annoyance was gone, replaced by the heavy, feral aggression that usually defined him.

"He’s right about one thing." Milo warned, his voice dropping low. "Don’t ever pull a stunt like that again. Next time, I’ll bury you in a ditch."

"I’ll break both of your kneecaps." Daniel cracked his knuckles.

"I’ll shave your head as a punishment as well." Roman added.

I looked at the three of them. I let out a very slow, quiet breath.

"You guys have made a mistake." I said softly.

They froze. The air around us suddenly felt a little colder.

"I am not the one in trouble here." I continued, my voice perfectly flat.

Daniel took a step back, his eyes widening.

"Wait. I’ve heard about this in stories." Daniel said, his voice trembling slightly.

"This is the part where the hidden main character reveals his true capabilities and shocks everyone."

Roman dropped his pebble. Milo shifted his weight, his green eyes narrowing sharply.

Axel immediately dropped into a terrible, uncoordinated martial arts stance.

I slowly reached my hand into my jacket pocket.

They all braced themselves. Milo’s muscles coiled tight, ready to summon earth spikes at a moment’s notice. Daniel raised his massive fists.

I pulled out my Dwarvian Phone and looked at the screen.

"We’re all in trouble." I said. "It’s past homeroom time."

Complete, absolute silence fell over the path.

"What?!" Milo blinked.

"It’s 8:18 AM." I showed them the glowing screen. "We are officially late."

Milo’s eyes went wide with pure horror.

"We’re screwed!" Milo shouted.

He didn’t even look back. He turned around and sprinted down the path toward the main building as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Wait for me!" Daniel roared, turning and instantly sprinting after him.

"My attendance record!" Roman panicked, dropping his tough-guy act entirely and sprinting right behind Daniel.

Axel was left standing alone. He looked at me, then looked at his friends disappearing into the distance.

"This isn’t over, Kaiser!" Axel shouted, pointing at me one last time. "The alpha wolf never forgets!"

Then, he turned around and ran after them, his oversized trench coat flapping wildly in the wind.

I stood alone on the stone path. I slowly slid my phone back into my pocket.

I looked up at the sky. The gray clouds were turning dark and heavy.

It’s probably going to rain later.

I started walking down the path at a slow, leisurely pace, completely unbothered by the time. My mind drifted back to Axel’s superficial list of traits.

A nice figure and lavender-scented hair.

I shook my head slightly, a faint, melancholic shadow returning to my eyes.

Idiots.

They say the hardest thing a person can do is watch the one they love fall in love with someone else.

For me, that was just an inevitable reality.

Elfie was going to love someone else. Eventually, as we grew up and the academy years faded into the past, our paths were going to diverge. We were going to live entirely separate lives.

She was never mine in that sense. I wasn’t jealous of Axel, or anyone else who tried to claim her.

She was too kind. Too sweet. Too deeply caring toward everyone around her. She had an innocent heart that deserved all the love the world could offer.

She deserved the entire universe, and I was just a cold rock floating in that space.

Even if I ever wanted to learn how it felt to love someone romantically, it would never be with Elfie. I couldn’t see myself using her like a doll just to experience an emotion I barely understood.

I had already broken my most fundamental rules just to keep her safe. It was ironic, really.

As she grew up, she would realize the true value of her current position. A popular representative was the undisputed queen bee of the academy. Right now, she was still just a child. She wouldn’t fully understand the hordes of admirers throwing themselves at her feet. But it would only benefit her in the long run.

She was still my best friend. Even if I meant nothing to her in the future, that didn’t matter.

All I wanted was for her to win in life, with or without me by her side. I wanted to see her standing at the very top.

Though, sometimes... I did wonder.

If things were different. If I wasn’t who I was. Could we have ever been together?

Maybe in another lifetime.

A cold drop of water hit my cheek.

I stopped walking and looked up. The dark clouds had finally broken. The rain slowly began to fall, pattering against the stone path and soaking into my jacket.

Elfie would never be unloved by me. I would make sure of that.

But she wouldn’t ever see true romantic love from me, either. We would always exist somewhere in the middle—in that safe, untouchable space where she could just be happy.

Plus, it was better that way.

I wasn’t a person who deserved love. I didn’t deserve companionship, or warmth, or a future filled with light.

Being alone was better.

I pulled my collar up against the freezing rain and continued walking down the empty path.

*

January 26, 2012 — 8:30 AM

Perspective: Elfina

Location: Class C, Demonic Magic Theory

I stared at the empty wooden desk next to mine.

My fingers tapped nervously against my notebook. It was 30 minutes into the first period. Kai was never this late.

The heavy oak doors at the back of the classroom suddenly creaked open.

Kai walked in. His jacket was completely soaked from the rain, his black hair plastered flat against his forehead. He didn’t look bothered. He just looked mildly sleepy.

The entire class turned to look at him.

At the front of the room, Instructor Sukuna stopped writing on the chalkboard.

The Demonic Magic instructor was a tall, imposing man with sharp eyes.

Sukuna narrowed his eyes. "You’re late, Everhart."

"I got caught in the rain." Kai answered.

"I can see that." Sukuna sneered, crossing his arms over his chest. "Come down here. Before you take your seat, let’s see if you can at least demonstrate the basic demonic mana circulation we went over yesterday."

Kai walked down the steps to the front of the class.

"Channel it." Sukuna ordered.

Kai raised his hand. He stood there for ten seconds. Nothing happened. Not a single spark of mana, not a single shift in the air.

A few students in the back snickered.

Sukuna sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in sheer annoyance.

"Go take a seat." Sukuna dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "Don’t waste any more of my time."

Kai nodded simply and walked up the steps, sliding into the empty seat next to me.

Sukuna turned back to the rest of the class, his voice booming over the desks.

"Listen to me closely." Sukuna warned, his sharp eyes sweeping over the room.

"Being simply lucky is not enough. Some of you might have survived the entrance exams and the dungeon by pure luck, hiding behind your teammates. But you won’t always survive by luck."

He tapped the chalkboard hard.

"In a world of magic, if you can’t use it, you are prey. Nothing more. Do not expect the world to pity you."

I frowned, my chest tightening.

I looked over at Kai. He was already taking out his notebook, completely ignoring the blatant insult directed right at him.

"Where were you?" I whispered, leaning closer to him.

Kai looked at me and offered a small, reassuring smile.

"I just got caught in the rain." He whispered back. "Focus on the class, Elfie."

The rest of the morning was awful.

In every single subject—runes, alchemy, combat theory—the teachers looked at Kai with the exact same disdain.

Every teacher except Instructor Aisha treated him like he was a stain on the classroom floor.

"Don’t bother trying the formula, Everhart. It’s beyond your capacity."

"Just copy the notes from the board. Try not to slow down the students who actually have a future here."

It was painfully obvious. The teaching body of Asura Academy despised him. In their lives, they were used to training gifted geniuses, molding powerful weapons for the empire.

Having a student who couldn’t use magic at all hurt their pride as educators.

To them, Kai was simply a waste of time.

By the time the lunch bell finally rang, I was furious on his behalf.

I just wanted to drag him away from this awful place and buy him something sweet to make him feel better.

"Do you want to get lunch?" I asked, turning to him immediately.

Before he could answer, a shadow fell over our desks.

Delyra Nysira was standing there, accompanied by her usual group of girls and three boys from the front row. They were all smiling brightly at me.

"Elfina!" Delyra chimed. "We’re heading to the grand cafeteria in the main plaza. You have to come eat with us!"

"Oh, um—" I started, reaching my hand out toward Kai under the desk.

"Go on and enjoy yourself." Kai said smoothly. He didn’t look at me, already packing his bag.

"I’m not feeling hungry anyway. I had a really big breakfast this morning."

"But Kai—" I protested, my fingers brushing against his sleeve.

"It’s fine, come on Elfina!" Delyra smiled, gently grabbing my arm and pulling me up from the chair.

Kai didn’t look back. He slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the classroom, heading for a stroll alone.

I was dragged all the way to the grand cafeteria.

The food was incredible. The table was full of high-class meats, imported fruits, and expensive pastries. The boys kept trying to talk to me, laughing too loud and offering to pay for my meals.

The girls gossiped about Class A and Class B.

I smiled. I nodded at the right times. I laughed when they laughed.

But honestly? I felt miserable.

I looked down at the expensive slice of cake on my plate. It tasted like cardboard. I didn’t care about the boys trying to impress me. I didn’t care about the academy gossip.

I just wanted to sit on a cold bench with Kai and share a cheap sandwich.

I missed him so much it actually physically hurt my chest.

The day dragged on until the final class of the afternoon.

Elemental Magic.

Instructor Aisha walked into the room. She was the only teacher who didn’t glare at Kai.

She finished her lesson on elemental stabilization just as the final bell was preparing to ring.

She clapped her hands together, silencing the room.

"Before you are dismissed," Aisha announced, her voice echoing clearly. "I have an official announcement regarding your first monthly exam."

The entire room went completely still. Even Milo, who had been glaring at the wall, slowly turned his head to the front.

Aisha picked up a piece of chalk and drew a rough sketch of a descending tower on the board.

"The first monthly exam will be a controlled Dungeon raid," Aisha stated. "But unlike your physical combat practical, there are no instructors hiding to save you, and there are no fake flags. This is about raw survival, combat efficiency, and resource management."

She underlined the bottom of the tower.

"The objective is to reach the 10th floor of the designated dungeon sector," Aisha explained. "You will not be going in as a single class. You must divide yourselves into groups. The minimum requirement for a group is 3 members. The maximum is 5."

Instantly, the room erupted into murmurs. Students started looking around, sizing each other up.

I looked back at Kai. He was twirling a pen between his fingers, looking perfectly bored.

Three to five members, I thought. I need Kai, obviously. Scarlet’s ice magic is crucial for crowd control. If we can get Xavier for mapping and Mira for physical defense, that makes a solid five.

"Quiet." Aisha snapped.

"Reaching the 10th floor is only half the exam," Aisha continued. "Your grade is determined by a Credit System. Every monster you defeat inside the dungeon will reward your group with credits. Slimes and low-tier beasts will give you minimal points. Higher-tier beasts, like armored crawlers and dire wolves, will yield significantly more."

Rigel raised his hand from the second row. "Instructor. What happens if a group rushes to the 10th floor without fighting?"

"Then they fail." Aisha answered flatly. "There is a minimum credit threshold. If your group reaches the end but hasn’t hunted enough monsters to meet the baseline, you fail the exam."

A heavy tension settled over the room. That meant hiding and sneaking around wasn’t an option anymore.

We had to fight.

"You will be timed." Aisha added. "The entire exam duration is 6 hours, but it is split between the three classes. Class A will enter first. Class B will enter second. Finally, Class C will take the last slot. Each class is given exactly two hours to complete the test."

Daniel frowned, leaning forward. "Wait. If Class A and B go first, won’t they just wipe out all the easy monsters on the upper floors? What’s left for us to hunt for credits?"

Aisha smiled. It wasn’t a kind smile.

"Good question." Aisha said. "The dungeon will restock subtly. The classes that go later will be forced to hunt deeper, facing much stronger monsters just to scrape together the required credits."

Panic rippled through the weaker students in the class.

If we couldn’t find weak monsters on the first few floors, we would have to fight our way through the harder floors just to avoid failing.

"And the final rule," Aisha said, her voice dropping into a dangerous, serious tone. "On the 10th floor, every group will face a Floor Boss. You must defeat it or secure its designated loot drop to clear the dungeon. If your group is wiped out, if you run out of time, or if you fail the credit threshold..."

She looked at us, her eyes completely devoid of pity.

"Your entire group will face immediate expulsion."

A collective gasp echoed through the classroom. My heart hammered against my ribs.

Expulsion. This wasn’t just a test to lose points or get a bad grade. This was a purge.

Groups with weak combat capabilities were basically being served on a silver platter.

I clenched my fists under the desk.

I couldn’t let Kai fail. I couldn’t let the others fail either. I was the Class Representative now.

I needed a strategy, and I needed it fast.

Aisha dusted her hands off, wiping the chalk from her fingers.

"You have until next week to register your groups." Aisha said, picking up her clipboard. "I suggest you spend the rest of the evening discussing your strategies together. Remember, Class A and Class B are already doing the exact same thing."

She turned and walked toward the heavy oak doors.

"Choose your allies carefully," Aisha warned without looking back. "Your life at this academy depends on it."

The doors clicked shut behind her.

As soon as the heavy oak doors closed, the classroom erupted into panicked chatter.

I didn’t wait.

I stood up from my desk and walked straight down the steps to the front of the room.

Rigel stood up a second later, calmly following me down to the chalkboard.

I took a deep breath. My hands were shaking slightly, but I forced myself to smile.

"Everyone, please listen!" I called out, my voice clear and energetic enough to cut through the noise.

The class slowly quieted down, turning to face me.

"I know this sounds terrifying," I started, keeping my tone as soft and empathetic as possible. "Aisha’s rules are incredibly harsh. But panicking won’t save us. If we turn on each other, we’ll fail like the last test. We need to work together."

Rigel stepped up beside me, adjusting his silver glasses.

"The Representative is correct," Rigel stated, his clinical tone grounding the room. "The exam is designed to purge the weak. If we allow groups to form naturally, the strongest combatants will clump together, leaving the physically weaker students to fail the credit threshold or die to the boss."

Rigel turned his gaze toward the back of the room.

"Milo," Rigel called out. "We need your coordination."

Milo had his boots kicked up on his desk. He scoffed loudly, not even bothering to sit up.

"Get lost, Ravin." Milo sneered. "My group is already set. Me, Daniel, Roman, and Axel. Four men. We don’t need dead weight dragging us down."

"Milo, please," I said, stepping forward. I looked him right in the eye.

"During the entrance dungeon, you completely destroyed me in combat. I know how overwhelmingly strong you are. That’s exactly why the class needs you. If you take all the strongest fighters, the weaker groups won’t survive the 10th floor."

Milo looked at me. His expression didn’t change.

"That’s their problem." Milo said coldly.

Axel leaned over Daniel’s shoulder, pointing a finger at me. "C’mon Milo give her a chance."

Milo slapped Axel’s hand down, looking deeply annoyed. "Shut up, Axel."

I let out a soft sigh, turning back to the rest of the class.

I couldn’t force Milo to care, but I could save the rest of them.

"Here is my idea," I said, picking up the chalk Aisha had left behind. "We have 25 students in this class. That means we can form exactly five groups of five."

I drew five circles on the board.

"We don’t need five perfect combat groups," I explained, doing the math quickly. "We need synergy. If we mix our intelligent strategists, our combat-efficient fighters, and our survival-ready support mages evenly across the five groups, everyone has a chance to reach the baseline credits and defeat the boss."

Rigel nodded in agreement. "A balanced distribution of power. A shield for every sword, and a brain for every shield."

"Exactly!" I smiled warmly at the class. "We can’t let anyone get expelled. We started as 25, and we are going to finish as 25."

I looked around the room, my chest tight with paranoia.

What if they rejected me? What if they thought my idealism was stupid?

Instead, the tension in the room seemed to evaporate.

Delyra smiled from the front row. Scarlet nodded slowly from the middle. Xavier looked visibly relieved.

The class was agreeing with my leadership. Things were actually going well.

"Elfina," Cressida Vael raised her hand hesitantly. "What if a group gets stuck on a puzzle floor and loses their two-hour time limit?"

"That’s exactly why we need to balance our intelligence stats," I answered softly, making sure she felt heard. "We’ll make sure every group has at least one person who excels in academic theory and logic."

"What about the healing potions?" Mira asked.

"We’ll pool our gold together and distribute the potions equally among the five groups." I replied instantly.

I clapped my hands together.

"For today, I want us to go over everyone’s individual strengths and weaknesses," I suggested. "We’ll spend the next week analyzing the data to build the absolute best teams."

"I’ll pass."

The entire class turned their heads.

Kai had stood up from his desk in the third row. He slung his bag over his shoulder and started walking up the steps toward the back exit.

"Wait!" I called out, my heart skipping a beat. "Kai, where are you going? We need to strategize."

"I have work," Kai answered plainly, not stopping his pace. "If I’m late for my shift at the tavern, the owner docks my pay."

"But this is important!" I took a step up the aisle. "Please stay."

Kai paused at the heavy oak doors. He looked back at me, offering a mild, reassuring smile.

"I trust your judgment, Elfie." Kai said smoothly. "The rest of you can make the strategy without me. I’ll just get a summary from Rigel later."

Rigel pushed his glasses up his nose. "Very well. I will document the proceedings for you, Kaiser."

Kai nodded. He looked back at me one last time.

"Goodbye." Kai said.

The heavy doors clicked shut behind him.

"Bye..." I murmured to the empty doorway.

I stood there for a few seconds, my hands gripping the edge of the nearest desk. My chest felt strangely cold.

Why did he say goodbye to me?

He usually just said ’see you later’ or gave a small wave.

Goodbye sounded so final. I didn’t like that word. It made my stomach twist into nervous knots.

I forcefully shook my head, slapping my cheeks lightly with both hands to wake myself up.

This is important too, Elfie. Focus!

I turned back to the chalkboard, facing the class with a determined smile.

January 26, 2012 — 4:15 PM

Perspective: Kaiser Everhart

Location: The Salted Ladle Tavern, Commercial District

"Kaiser! Table seven! Move!"

I picked up the tray, balanced it with both hands, and cut through the narrow gap between two loud, overfed adventurers without spilling a drop.

The Salted Ladle was the kind of tavern that existed in every city in the empire. Wooden beams worn smooth by decades of dirty elbows. A fire in the corner that made the whole room smell like roasted boar and old ale. The clientele were a mix of off-duty academy guards, travelling merchants, and a handful of adventurers who wore their guild crests like they were medals from a real war.

I set the tray down at table seven. Three bowls of lamb stew, a board of black bread, and two mugs of something that smelled strong enough to strip varnish.

"Took long enough!" The larger of the two men slapped the table. He was built like a cliff face and wore a dented iron bracer on his forearm — D-rank adventurer’s seal, which meant he’d cleared maybe one dungeon in his entire career and hadn’t stopped talking about it since.

"How old are you, kid? 12?"

"Correct." I answered.

He laughed like that was the funniest thing he had heard all week.

I went back to the kitchen.

"The Haverstone table is still waiting for their sauce!" The head cook, a woman named Brynn, shoved a ceramic boat of dark gravy into my hands without looking up. She was red-faced and sweating and had the general energy of someone who had been awake for thirty hours. "Don’t stand there!"

"Yes, ma’am."

The next 2 hours were exactly that. Not interesting enough to remember.

I ran food. I refilled water. I cleaned a table where someone had spilled an entire pitcher of cider. I took an earful from a merchant who claimed his soup was cold, which it wasn’t. I nodded. I apologized. I moved on.

By 6:00 PM, the dinner rush had burned itself out, leaving behind the quiet drinkers and the card players. Brynn appeared at the kitchen doorway, wiping her hands on a rag, and dropped a small coin envelope into my palm.

"5 silver." She said. "You were 40 minutes late today. I docked 2."

"Understood." I slid the envelope into my jacket pocket.

"You’re decent enough for a student." Brynn crossed her arms. "But if you’re late again, I’ll hire someone who isn’t."

"I’ll be on time." I said.

She disappeared back into the kitchen. I grabbed my bag from the hook by the back door and walked out into the cold.

7:20 PM

Location: Millstone Park, Near Crescent Wonder — The Commercial District’s Night Fairground

The park bench was far enough from the academy that no one I knew would walk past. Behind me, the Crescent Wonder fairground glowed in the early evening dark — a cluster of spinning lights and wooden game stalls that operated from dusk until midnight. The sound of distant music and children laughing carried over the cold air.

I sat down, pulled out the thick engineering volume from my bag, and opened it to where I’d left the bookmark.

Advanced Dwarvian Softcore Architecture: Signal Routing and Software Theory.

For a while there was nothing but the page. The notation was dense and the diagrams were small, but I had read worse. I worked through the Chapter on passive signal amplification, then the one on thermal regulation for portable conduit cores, then the bridging Chapter on applied software logic that the Dwarves called "programming language."

It was interesting.

I read for just over an hour.

Then I closed the book.

Across the park path, a small shop was still open — a bright little stall selling cream cones and rolled scoops, lit up with a warm amber lantern.

A woman in a thick coat stood at the counter, handing a small boy a cone stacked high with something pistachio-green ice cream. The boy grabbed it with both hands, immediately smiling and taking a bite.

I’m hungry.

I sat with that for a moment.

5 silver in my pocket. The debt standing at 7,291 gold. The ratio was so stupid it almost made me smile.

I wasn’t going to spend money on ice cream.

I lay down on the bench instead, one arm folded under my head, staring straight up. The sky between the park trees was a dark, flat grey. The stars weren’t visible tonight. The clouds from this morning had never really left.

Nothing has changed.

Even with the academy around me — 24 classmates, an instructor who forgot my name between classes, a girl who teased me in a language she thought I didn’t speak — I had never felt more alone than I did today.

Back at the Foundation, I was mocked for being a false genius. Here, I’m mocked for having no magic. The label changes. The feeling doesn’t.

I thought about the look on the rune instructor’s face when I handed in my theory worksheet today. That particular, weary disgust. Not cruel, exactly. Just tired. The exhaustion of a man who spent thirty years cultivating power in students, and was now expected to spend the same patience on someone who was, by every official measure, a dead end.

Life goes on. With or without friends. With or without love. We were all born alone. We all die alone.

I used to think the worst thing in life was ending up alone. That was the thought I had the night I lost my mother. Standing in the cold in a corridor I didn’t know, with nothing, with no one.

But better to be alone than to be someone’s maybe.

Better not to fear the loss of something that was never really yours.

I closed my eyes. The fairground music drifted over the hedge. Something too cheerful and slightly out of tune.

Today felt like the past.

Studying alone. Being seen as the bottom of the barrel. Invisible to everyone who mattered in that building, and painfully visible to everyone who wanted to remind me I was worthless.

The past had not changed. I had not changed.

I was still that child in the Foundation’s basement archives, reading books that were 10 grades above me because there was no one else to talk to and the books, at least, did not tell him he was defective.

You can be the prettiest rose in existence. But if they like lilies, it doesn’t matter.

A failed, alone loser.

With no change.

I looked up at the clouds.

"Kai!!!"

I sat up.

Elfie was running down the park path toward me, her pink hair flying, her scarf trailing behind her like a flag she’d forgotten to tie. She was slightly breathless and completely unconcerned about looking undignified, which was, in its own way, very dignified.

She stopped in front of my bench, hands on her knees, catching her breath. Her blue eyes were bright. Her cheeks were pink from the cold.

"I knew you’d be somewhere weird." She declared, pointing at me. "Rigel said you said you worked at a tavern. Delyra said she saw you near the Commercial District. I asked around. Someone near the Salted Ladle said a tiny black-haired kid had just walked toward the park." She straightened up, completely satisfied with her investigative work.

"So. Here I am."

"Here you are." I agreed.

She looked at my bench, then at my face, then at the closed engineering book beside me. Her expression shifted — not quite frown, something more careful than that.

"You look sad." Elfie said.

"I’m not sad."

"You look like you’ve been lying down staring at clouds."

"I was resting."

"Kai." She sat down on the bench beside me, close enough that her shoulder touched mine. "When did you last eat?"

"I had breakfast."

She turned and looked at the ice cream stall across the path. Then she stood up, smoothed down her coat, walked over to the stall, and came back two minutes later with 2 cones. One chocolate. One strawberry.

She sat back down and handed me the chocolate one without asking.

"I can’t—"

"It was 4 coppers." She cut me off. "I had 6. Don’t make it a thing."

I looked at the cone. Then at her. She was already eating hers, looking off at the fairground lights with an expression that said she had solved the most important problem of the evening and was now at peace.

"Thank you." I said.

"You’re welcome." She swung her feet slightly, the way she always did when she was happy. "Tell me about the job."

"It’s a tavern in the Commercial District. Brynn’s kitchen. I run food, wash dishes."

"Is it hard?"

"Not really."

"Do the adults bother you?"

"One or two."

"I’ll freeze their food next time you go." She said this completely normally, still eating her cone. "Their soup will be so cold."

"Please don’t."

She smiled. Not the large, public smile she wore for the class. The small, loose one she only had when it was just us.

"You know," she started, then stopped.

I waited.

"The strategy meeting went well." She said instead. "Delyra wants to pair with Rigel and Leena. Xavier is making notes on every person’s dungeon performance from the entrance exam. We’re going to have proper team proposals by the end of the week."

"Good."

"I want you on my team." She said it directly, no preamble.

"Elfie—"

"No arguing." She turned and looked at me. "You’re on my team. That’s final. You can tell me it’s inefficient all you like, and I’ll agree with you, and you’re still on my team."

She was completely serious in the way that only Elfie could be — soft-faced, gentle-voiced, and entirely immovable.

She’s still with me.

The teachers had dismissed me before lunch. The adventurers at the tavern had laughed at my age. The study hall had been empty when I sat in it this morning, and it would be empty when I came back tomorrow.

But she had tracked me across the Commercial District in the cold, bought me ice cream I couldn’t afford, and was now sitting next to me on a park bench near a fairground, completely uninterested in being anywhere else.

Nothing else had changed. But she was here.

"Alright." I said.

"Alright?" She brightened immediately.

"You can put me on your team."

She pointed her cone at me in triumph. "I knew you’d agree."

"You gave me no actual choice."

"That’s strategy." She said smugly. "I learned it from watching you."

I took a bite of the ice cream.

It was very good, actually.

The fairground music played on, slightly out of tune, into the cold dark.

I turned my head to look at her.

She looked so innocent. So beautiful. A girl who had no business being dragged into the dark, complicated corners of my life.

"What’s wrong?" Elfie asked, noticing my gaze. She tilted her head, her strawberry ice cream hovering inches from her mouth.

I just looked at her.

I judged my own life. I had always been someone who valued safety and efficiency above all else. In my world, people were dolls. If a dolls became too dangerous or too ripped, you abandon it. I could throw people away in a second without a single ounce of regret.

But it was different with her.

Why do I care so much?

I didn’t have a logical answer. For some reason, she was the only exception.

Looking at her made me want to do anything and everything just to keep her safe.

The future was entirely uncertain. I didn’t know if I would ever truly become a human being with normal emotions. Maybe I was too broken for that.

But one thing would remain certain.

I would never let anyone hurt her. I would never let anyone use her, or make her cry.

You’re the protagonist in this story, Elfie. The one destined to win. Everyone else is a loser. And I? I’ll be the real villain of this story, just for you.

"What is it, Kaiiiii?" Elfie leaned closer, her eyes narrowing playfully as she tried to read my face.

I reached out and placed my hand on her head, gently patting her pink hair.

"It’s nothing, princess." I said.

Elfie froze. The hand holding her ice cream cone trembled slightly. Her cheeks, already pink from the cold, suddenly flushed a deep, bright red. She pulled back, looking down at the ground as she tried to hide her face behind her scarf.

"P-Princess?" she muttered, her voice barely a whisper. "W-Why do you always call me that?"

I offered a small, rare smile.

"Because you’re my princess."

Elfie let out a tiny, flustered squeak. She covered her face with her free hand, her ears turning completely red. She swung her legs back and forth rapidly, her boots kicking the gravel path in sheer embarrassment.

I looked away, staring back at the dark sky.

I’ll show this world that the hero doesn’t win every time.

Delusions of a disordered mind of mine. Ahaha...

I looked back at her. Elfie had slowly lowered her hand, her face still red, but a small, radiant smile was playing on her lips. She kept swinging her legs, looking incredibly happy.

But when I look at you.

I know everything is possible.