Senior year was dull —
especially for Damon.
With an intelligence stat of 100, his photographic memory let him recall everything he'd ever learned.
Not just from this life — even memories from his previous one felt fresh as yesterday.
Still, boring or not…
high school life was pretty great.
By noon, when Madison went to the restroom,
Maria suddenly appeared at the classroom door and called Damon outside.
He thought she wanted to take a walk with him — maybe build some chemistry.
But what he didn't expect was how enthusiastic Maria's other personality, Airam, could be.
Before he knew it, she had pulled him up to the rooftop,
where, somehow, a mirror had appeared.
"Maria, what did you want to talk about?"
Damon followed her up the stairs, barely finishing the question when Maria suddenly turned around,
shoved him hard against the wall, and leaned in — confidently, almost predatorily.
The top two buttons of her white shirt were undone;
her curves rose and fell like waves.
"Damon," she whispered with a wicked smile, "you like my stockings, don't you?"
Slowly, she lifted her leg. "I can feel your gaze. Don't you want to… touch, and experience them properly?"
Before she could finish, Damon already had his hands on her.
There was no hesitation between them.
Instead of getting angry, Airam only laughed harder — delighted.
Perfect synergy.
Two people, completely drawn to each other.
In the mirror, Maria pressed her lips together, watching helplessly
as her other self used her body to enjoy the tenderness of the man she loved.
If she had known Damon would give in so easily,
maybe she wouldn't have needed Airam to take over.
It was her first time, after all.
Airam clung tightly to Damon, resting her chin on his shoulder,
her alluring eyes glinting toward the mirror — as if saying:
"My dear sister, your man is amazing."
What followed blurred the boundaries of reason.
They skipped past hesitation, past modesty —
each base crossed faster than the last, until there were no bases left to reach.
Airam faced the mirror, palms flat on the wall,
staring straight into her own reflection.
She bit her lip, her breathing mixing with Damon's behind her.
Inside the mirror, Maria stared back at both of them,
her gaze meeting Damon's through that fragile, cruel sheet of glass.
They were separated by a mirror —
a barrier of light and reality,
keeping her trapped in her own reflection.
After a long while, Airam suddenly pressed her lips against the glass,
kissing her own reflection.
Damon didn't question it.
He acted as though nothing unusual was happening —
letting her indulge in that strange, narcissistic intimacy.
When it was finally over, Maria's presence returned.
Same body — different soul.
And the difference in energy between them was overwhelming.
Damon couldn't help but think —
he'd struck gold.
Maria looked into the mirror again.
Inside, Airam smiled at her — silently mouthing something.
"Your turn to enjoy it, my twin… my kindred self."
"Kindred… selves?" Maria murmured, and then her eyes widened in realization.
She smiled.
"Yes. From the beginning, now, and forever — we've always been the same root, the same soul."
Meanwhile, Madison returned to the classroom and noticed Damon's empty seat.
A strange sense of déjà vu washed over her.
Hadn't this… happened before?
When?
She frowned, lost in thought — not noticing the odd, knowing looks the other students were giving each other.
Peter was quietly jealous.
Harry's expression twisted with envy.
"Peter, what the hell is Damon's secret? First he got the senior beauty, and now he's after the junior one?"
"I think we'd better move fast," Peter said dryly. "At this rate, there won't even be soup left for us."
Harry, a freshly transferred rich kid, smacked his lips.
Even as a billionaire's son, he didn't get this kind of attention —
and yet, this foreign orphan was swimming in romance.
"Seriously? Does being an international student make you that irresistible now?"
Peter gave him a long look and sighed.
"No soup left. This morning, I saw Damon talking very intimately with the junior campus belle — Mikaela."
Harry froze.
"What the—? He eats the steak and won't even share the broth? Outrageous!"
"Man shouldn't hog the feast alone!"
An hour later,
Damon finally returned to class, calm and refreshed —
not the slightest hint of exhaustion.
Everyone's eyes followed him strangely.
Madison leaned over and whispered, "So? What happened?"
"It was Maria," Damon said easily. "She was feeling… hungry. Didn't want to go alone, so I helped her eat her fill."
He was telling the truth — in his own way.
And wasn't that exactly what had happened?
Madison nodded, not suspecting anything.
After all, it was school — Maria wouldn't actually do anything crazy here, right?
She still hadn't realized how Airam's personality worked —
just how bold and passionate her "other side" really was.
After school,
Damon and Madison escorted Maria home.
She'd twisted her ankle during P.E.,
so they helped her back to her apartment.
At the door, a package was waiting.
Damon blinked.
"Since when is American logistics this fast?"
Inside was a note — and a Russian matryoshka doll.
He skimmed the note and recognized the handwriting — it was from The Ancient One.
She wrote that she was currently helping Dave (from The Sorcerer's Apprentice) master the power of the Merlin Dragon Ring,
and that once he could channel basic spells, she'd send him back.
She also hoped Damon could look after Dave in the future —
as a friend and fellow student of magic.
As for the matryoshka doll, it was a dangerous sealing artifact.
The Ancient One mentioned that, while observing the Time Stream,
she had caught a glimpse of a future where Damon already possessed this artifact.
Believing it was fated, she sent it to him now.
"A sealing artifact…?" Damon muttered, his expression thoughtful.
"Wait… could this be the same doll used in The Sorcerer's Apprentice — the one that sealed the Dark Sorceress?"
His face lit up.
He hadn't expected to meet Bumblebee yet,
but somehow, he'd already gotten his hands on the Matryoshka of Veronica.
In The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the story followed the ancient battle between Merlin's disciples and the dark witch Morgana.
Morgana — Merlin's greatest enemy — sought to dominate the world with dark magic.
In the final battle, she betrayed Merlin's student and nearly won…
Until Veronica, another of Merlin's disciples, used herself as a vessel —
sealing Morgana's soul inside the matryoshka doll,
and willingly entering eternal confinement with her.
Meanwhile, Balthazar, Merlin's last disciple, took the Dragon Ring
and began a thousand-year search for Merlin's true successor.
For Damon, though…
the most unforgettable part of that movie was, of course—
"Her. Veronica. Absolute perfection."
He grinned.
"Doesn't anyone else appreciate the real value of that rose?"
Excited, he began examining the doll.
[Abnormal Object Detected — Veronica and Morgana.]
[Gained 200 Anomaly Points.]
[Map Editor upgraded to Version 2.2 — Current anomaly progress: 0 / 1300.]