Aethan didn't get out of bed right away.
The soft light from the rising sun pooled on his floor, golden and warm. Outside, the city of Halcyon came to life with its usual hum of hovercars, morning chatter, and artificial birdsong.
He sat there, motionless.
The dream still clung to him like wet fog — **a younger him**, fire in his hands, standing between innocents and a monster out of nightmares.
The words echoed again:
> "You are the last obstacle. Kill me, and you bear the curse."
> "Then fine. Curse me."
And then that *screen* — that impossible, glowing interface — with its warnings and terms and countdowns. Four years. No one could know.
He didn't even fully understand what it all meant. But the fear it left in his chest was very real.
Worse than fear, though, was the **doubt**.
What if it was true?
What if everything — the city, the academy, his perfect little life — was just a beautifully packaged cage?
He glanced at the clock. 7:12 AM.
He hadn't touched his phone. Hadn't checked messages. Hadn't styled his hair.
He just... sat.
Thinking.
Staring at his hands.
They looked like normal hands. Pale, slender, clean. Not like the hands of someone who could summon fire, or wield power, or strike down cursed angels.
But in the dream… they had.
*Was it just a dream?*
No.
He knew. Deep down. It was a **memory**.
And that changed everything.
---
By the time he stepped out into the morning light, Halcyon was in full swing. Citizens passed by with polite nods and mechanical smiles. Traffic moved like choreography. The scent of fresh coffee and synthesized sakura filled the air.
His walk to Crestfall Academy was uneventful.
Exactly the same as yesterday.
But now, Aethan noticed everything — the too-perfect symmetry of the buildings, how every trash bin was perfectly empty, how the birds *never* landed anywhere.
His classmates greeted him with the same lines.
Varying only slightly from other days
Now thinking about it, they never really talked about superpowers, it was like they avoided that subject.
He had read a good fantasy book once, but unlike other times when people read what he recommended, they didn't, not even if he asked multiple times. A lot of people said it wasn't their genre, too many said that, and everyone didn't want to talk about it.
---
The classroom smelled like lemon-scented polish and quiet repetition.
International Politics.
A subject Aethan normally breezed through.
He sat in his usual spot, third row from the front, by the window. Outside, students crossed the quad in neat little lines, perfectly on time.
He opened his notebook and stared at the blank page.
His pen didn't move.
He wasn't thinking about the resource crisis in the Eufari Union.
He was thinking about the monster in the dream. About the curse. About the words on the screen:
> "You will NEVER recover your powers... if anyone discovers you remember."
That line stayed with him more than any other.
Why?
Why that condition?
What was everyone *not* supposed to know?
---
"Yo."
A voice cut into his thoughts.
Aethan blinked and turned.
Rei.
Messy dark hair, lazy grin, always a little rumpled like he'd just woken up from the best nap of his life. He looked like the type of guy who didn't care about anything, but somehow always knew everything that mattered.
He slid into the seat beside Aethan with practiced ease, tapping the corner of Aethan's desk.
"You're unusually quiet, man. That brain running simulations or did you just forget how school works?"
Aethan blinked at him. "Didn't sleep well."
Rei smirked. "Damn. Halcyon's golden boy had a bad night? I thought you recharged in your sleep chamber like a flawless android."
Aethan gave a weak laugh. "Guess my warranty's expired."
Rei leaned back, his chair creaking slightly.
"Dreams, huh?" he said casually. "They get weird sometimes. Especially when you're stressed."
Before he could respond, another presence arrived.
"Dreams?"
The voice was smooth. Familiar. Feminine.
Liora.
She sat on his other side, sliding into her seat with effortless grace. Light curls framed her sharp eyes — eyes that always seemed to know more than she said.
"You had a dream?" she asked quietly.
Aethan glanced between them.
"I said I didn't sleep well," he corrected. "Never said it was a dream."
Rei tilted his head, as if pretending to be surprised. "Did you not? Must've imagined it."
Liora didn't smile. She was watching him — not in an invasive way, but with focus.
She always paid attention like that. Like every word he said mattered more than it should.
"What did it feel like?" she asked. "The night, I mean."
Aethan hesitated. "...Heavy."
Liora nodded, as if that confirmed something.
And then, silence.
The teacher began speaking at the front of the class, launching into a lecture about territorial neutrality zones. The projector flickered to life, outlining graphs and treaties.
Aethan tried to focus. He really did.
But his ears were ringing.
And not from noise.
From tension
Rei was doodling in the corner of his notes.
Liora was quietly highlighting text in her tablet.
But both of them... kept glancing at him.
Only for a second at a time.
Subtle. Unreadable.
But he saw it.
---
**Do they know?**
Were they part of this?
Had they always known?
He remembered what the system said. If *anyone* finds out…
But what if they already knew? What if they were planted in his life from the start?
His closest friends.
Was it coincidence that these two — the people who always flanked him — were suddenly pressing him about dreams the day after the system activated?
He didn't know what was real anymore.
---
Fifteen minutes into the lecture, Aethan hadn't written a single note.
The teacher was talking about post-war reconstruction models.
Aethan was staring at his hands again.
He tried to imagine what they looked like, back then. When he was a child — the child in the dream — standing against a monster with power in his hands.
Now they were just… hands.
Frail. Unremarkable.
But the memory lingered.
So did the weight of the choice.
*He had killed that creature. Knowing the price.*
And now… he was paying it.
---
The bell rang.
Aethan barely noticed.
Rei stretched like a cat, yawning. "You coming to the cafe later? Midday break, my treat."
Aethan blinked. "Maybe."
Liora stood, brushing invisible dust from her skirt. "I'll be late. Need to stop by the lit room."
"You're always late," Rei teased.
She shrugged. "Some things are worth being late for."
Her eyes flicked to Aethan.
He didn't move.
They both said their goodbyes.
And then he was alone.
---
The classroom emptied.
Sunlight spilled across his desk. A breeze stirred the curtains near the window.
Aethan stayed seated.
He stared at the desk in front of him.
He was being pulled.
By two people. Two friends.
Two… sides?
He didn't know who they were. Not really.
But one thing was certain.
They were watching him.
And if the system was right…
This was only the beginning.