Prince never expected to die crossing a street.
One moment, the evening air of his city in India smelled faintly of smoke and rain; the next, metal screeched, tires burned rubber, and the world ended.
Then nothing.
No pain. No light. No sound.
And yet, he was breathing.
Awakening in a New Vessel
When Prince opened his eyes, the room was unfamiliar. Cold stone under his palms, dim lamps flickering, walls carved with symbols that pulsed faintly. Candles had burned long ago, leaving blackened pools.
He raised his hands. Longer, thinner, stronger than before. He touched his face. Sharp jawline, dark hair, unfamiliar eyes.
The vessel belonged to someone else.
But the mind—the consciousness that had survived death—was his own.
Prince's soul had entered this body. And with it, a new name pressed naturally into his mind: Nasir.
"…Nasir," he murmured. Not the name of the body, but the name of the vessel he now occupied. Calm. Precise. The soul that had always measured, calculated, and observed was intact.
Death had not destroyed him. It had transplanted him.
The Chamber and the Masked Man
The room was in ruin: broken mirrors, scattered books, half-burnt candles. At the center lay a book, leather-bound, blackened at the edges.
Prince picked it up carefully.
The Twelve Veils — Records of Ascension
Not raw power, but progression. Transformation. Observed. Tested.
Veil I — Sleeper
Veil II — Listener
Veil III — Candle of Knowing…
Veil XII — Crown of Silence
The pull was subtle but undeniable. He could feel the threads of the Veil stirring around him. Not responding to the body. Not responding to Nasir. Responding to him.
A soft scrape behind him. Footsteps.
A man entered. Masked. Metal, blank, featureless. Coat stained, sleeves rolled. He froze at the sight of Nasir awake.
"You… you're conscious?" The voice trembled.
"You weren't supposed to survive," the man stammered. "The vessel—"
"Yet I am here," Prince interrupted, calm. The words were his own. The logic his own. Not Nasir's.
The masked man lunged with a dagger. Prince didn't flinch. He didn't move. Shadows thickened. The dagger crumbled into rust and powder as it passed his hand.
The man screamed and fled, leaving only the echo of his panic behind.
Prince examined the chamber, calm. The body was Nasir's. The mind was his own. The city of Sira awaited.
And the game had already begun.