Lucien woke with a jolt. His breath caught in his throat as a sharp sting ran through his skull. For a moment, he couldn't tell if he was still alive. His vision swam, colors blurring together, and all he could hear was the steady rhythm of something beeping beside him. He groaned softly and tried to move, but his arms wouldn't obey.
When his sight finally steadied, he saw straps and metallic bands attached to his wrists and chest. Strange crystal conduits glowed faintly around the bed, pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat. Thin tubes ran across his body, feeding faint currents of light through his veins.
He blinked at the sterile ceiling above him.
"Where… am I?" The words came out dry, his throat scraping like sandpaper.
He looked around again, slower this time. The walls were white stone lined with silver glyphs, and the air smelled faintly of herbs and Aether. A medical chamber, perhaps, or a research wing.
But the moment he tried to think further, pain shot through his head, not just the ache of injury, but the flood of memory.
The beasts, the screaming, Elara's small hand going cold in his arms. The sight of her smile fading.
"Elara…" he whispered, voice breaking.
Her name lingered in the silence, fragile and final. His chest tightened.
He lay there quietly, staring at the faint glow of the conduit beside him. The pain behind his eyes grew stronger, forcing him to clench his teeth. Then came another memory, a voice, not hers this time. Cold, distant, and yet… familiar.
▓▒░ [Resonance anomaly detected.] ░▒▓
▓▒░ [Soulbinder protocol — initialized.] ░▒▓
Lucien's eyes widened. The same voice he'd heard before dying. It wasn't a hallucination. Something had changed inside him.
He lifted his hand slowly, flexing his fingers. There was strength there, faint, but real. He ran his palm across his chest, feeling the faint warmth that pulsed beneath his skin.
He shouldn't have survived the fight with the beasts, yet he had.
"I should be dead," he muttered, "but I'm not."
For once, his misfortune had bent in his favor. Maybe the universe owed him that much.
"Guess even bad luck runs out of luck," he whispered, half amused, half bitter.
And then, the light in his vision shifted.
A soft ping echoed through his mind, crisp and distinct, nothing like Aether or magic.
It was… familiar. Too familiar.
A window blinked into existence before him.
▓▒░ [Soulbinder System: Quest Unlocked] ░▒▓
▓▒░ [Main Quest: Aetherion Awakening] ░▒▓
▓▒░ [Description: You've taken your first step into a new life. To understand your Soulbinder abilities and survive what's ahead, you must reach Aetherion Academy — the place where mages, warriors and other awakened souls begin their path.] ░▒▓
▓▒░ [Objective:
• Travel to Aetherion Academy.] ░▒▓
▓▒░ [Rewards:
• Full Soulbinder System Tutorial: AI Assistant Unlock] ░▒▓
▓▒░ [Penalty:
• System growth remains restricted.] ░▒▓
▓▒░ [Quest Accepted? Yes / No.] ░▒▓
Lucien stared at it, stunned.
A Quest.
An actual Quest window exactly like the RPGs that had carried him through his bedridden past life, the games that kept him sane when his body had been too weak to move.
His chest tightened, but for the first time since waking, it wasn't from pain.
"…You've gotta be kidding me," he whispered, almost laughing. "It really is a game system."
A world of Aether. A system like the ones he lived through on-screen. A second life where he wasn't trapped in a hospital bed or watching his dreams slip away.
This world…
This system…
This was the life he used to wish for every night.
He didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
The Quest window shimmered.
▓▒░ [Quest Accepted.] ░▒▓
▓▒░ [Path initialized.] ░▒▓
A warmth spread through his body, gentle yet steady, like the hum of a starting engine. He felt it settle deep inside him, the promise of growth, of power, of a life he could actually shape with his own hands.
For the first time since Elara's death, he felt something other than grief.
He felt purpose.
A faint knock interrupted his thoughts. The door creaked open and a man stepped in, his uniform neat and posture stiff. Military, with a Valoria crest on his chest.
"You're awake," the man said, almost surprised. "Good. I was starting to think you wouldn't make it."
Lucien's gaze sharpened. "Where am I?"
"The Veyren recovery unit," the soldier replied. "You were found after the Rift subsided. Barely breathing. The only reason you're alive is because you awakened before you bled out."
Lucien frowned feigning ignorance. "Awakened?"
"You're lucky, half-blood. Whatever happened out there triggered a late awakening. That's the only reason they bothered saving you."
Lucien's jaw tightened but he said nothing. He'd heard worse.
"You'll stay here for observation until further notice," the soldier added. "After that, orders will come from the higher-ups."
"I wasn't planning anything," Lucien murmured.
The soldier left, and silence returned.
Lucien exhaled slowly, letting the earlier warmth settle in his chest. He reached inward, feeling the faint hum of energy, responsive, and alive.
This time in this life, he could feel Aether.
He smiled.
"So it's real…"
The system. The quests. The possibility of growing stronger in a world he once could only dream about. This world wasn't just a second chance, it was the life he never got to live.
Moments later, the door opened again. The same soldier returned with two robed figures. One, a silver-haired man, stepped forward.
"You survived the Rift," he said. "And awakened. That makes you a matter of interest."
Lucien met his gaze calmly. "So what happens now?"
"In four days, transport leaves for Aetherion Academy," the man replied. "You'll be part of that group."
Lucien's brows lifted slightly.
The Academy.
Exactly where the Quest wanted him to go.
The silver-haired man continued. "Don't misunderstand. You're not being granted favor. You're being studied. Mixed blood awakenings are rare, and we'd rather keep an eye on you than let you run loose."
"Fine by me," Lucien said. "I'm not picky about motives."
The man gave a brief nod. "Rest for now. You'll need it."
As they left, Lucien leaned back slowly in thought.
The Soulbinder System.
A game-like path in a world of magic.
And an Academy waiting for him.
He looked at his hand, steady, warm with new life and whispered—
"This time… I won't waste it."