The blade was still slicing through my chest when I opened my eyes.
Pain exploded through every nerve, phantom agony from wounds that no longer existed. My hands flew to my torso, expecting to find the jagged tear where Cedric's enchanted steel had carved through bone and sinew. Instead, smooth skin stretched beneath trembling fingers. Young skin. Unmarked by battle scars or betrayal's kiss.
"What in the seven hells..." The voice that escaped my throat cracked like a boy's.
Sunlight streamed through tall windows I hadn't seen in decades. The dormitory of Jade Crane Academy. Stone walls carved with protective runes. The scent of morning bread drifting from kitchens below. Everything exactly as it had been twenty-five years ago, when I was nothing more than a naive fifteen-year-old dreaming of glory.
My reflection stared back from the mirror across the room. Eryndor Thorne at fifteen – lean where I'd been broad, unmarked where scars had told stories of countless battles. The same storm-gray eyes, but without the weight of betrayal clouding them. Without the knowledge of how thoroughly I'd been destroyed.
"You're not supposed to remember."
The voice came from shadows near my bed. A figure materialized, tall and draped in midnight robes that seemed to drink the light. Ancient power radiated from him like heat from a forge. His face was ageless, neither young nor old, with eyes like chips of starlight.
"The Eternal Court decided your punishment was complete," he continued, circling my bed like a predator. "Twenty-five years of torment in the void. They thought that sufficient payment for your... ambitions."
"Who are you?" My voice cracked again, betraying the fear crawling up my spine.
"I am the Keeper of Debts, boy. The one who collects what is owed." His smile was sharp enough to cut glass. "But it seems someone has interfered with the natural order. Someone has given you back your memories, your knowledge of what's to come."
The memories crashed over me like a tidal wave. Lysandra's face as she plunged the poisoned dagger into my back. Cedric's laughter as my empire crumbled. The Grand Council's decree that stripped me of title, lands, everything I'd built. Then darkness. Endless, screaming darkness until...
"I died." The words tasted like ash. "They executed me for treason I never committed."
"You died a fool," the Keeper corrected, his voice dripping disdain. "Trusting those who plotted your downfall from the beginning. But death, it seems, was not enough to satisfy certain... parties."
He leaned closer, and I caught the scent of sulfur and old blood. "Lord Marvyn sends his regards. He's quite looking forward to destroying you again. This time, he plans to make it last centuries."
My blood turned to ice. Marvyn. The puppet master who'd orchestrated everything, who'd turned my closest allies against me through lies and magical compulsion. If he knew I'd returned...
"You have perhaps six months before he realizes what's happened," the Keeper said, reading my expression. "Six months to become strong enough to survive what's coming. Though I doubt even divine intervention could save you this time."
"Why are you telling me this?"
His laugh was like breaking glass. "Because watching you fail again will be exquisite. The hope in your eyes as you struggle, the desperation as you realize nothing has changed. You're still the same weak, trusting fool who believed in honor and justice."
Rage exploded through my chest, hot and fierce. "I won't make the same mistakes."
"Won't you?" The Keeper's form began to fade. "Lysandra Varien will arrive at the academy tomorrow. Cedric Ravenwood is already here, playing the concerned friend. Your mentor, Master Huo, still believes in your potential. All the same pieces, boy. All the same betrayals waiting to unfold."
"This time will be different," I snarled, power crackling around my fists. Power that shouldn't exist in a fifteen-year-old body.
"Will it?" The Keeper's voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. "When Lysandra smiles at you, will you remember how she felt when that dagger went in? When Cedric offers friendship, will you see the satisfaction in his eyes as your empire burned? Or will you be the same pathetic romantic who believed love could conquer political necessity?"
The shadows swallowed him completely, leaving only his final words hanging in the air: "Six months, little prince. Make them count."
Silence crashed over the room like a physical weight. My hands shook as I stared at the mirror, at this young face that had once looked at the world with such damned optimism. The face of someone who'd believed that doing right would be rewarded, that loyalty would be returned, that love could survive the poison of ambition.
That boy had died screaming in a dungeon cell. What sat here now was something else entirely.
A knock echoed through the door, sharp and commanding. "Thorne! Assembly in five minutes. Don't make me drag you out."
Cedric's voice. The same warm tone he'd used when we were children, before I knew he was already planning my destruction. Before I understood that every kindness was calculated, every friendship a weapon being sharpened for my back.
"Coming," I called, surprised by how steady my voice sounded.
I stood slowly, testing legs that felt both familiar and foreign. Muscle memory from decades of training warred with the reality of this younger body. But underneath the confusion, something else stirred. Something dark and hungry that had been forged in the crucible of ultimate betrayal.
Power hummed through my veins, raw and barely contained. The second Qi meridian I'd unlocked in my previous life pulsed with energy no fifteen-year-old should possess. Techniques that had taken years to master whispered at the edges of my consciousness, waiting to be unleashed.
Another knock, more insistent. "Eryndor? You all right in there, brother?"
Brother. The word that had once filled me with warmth now tasted like poison. But I forced my expression into something resembling the old Eryndor's eager smile as I opened the door.
Cedric Ravenwood stood in the hallway, tall and handsome with that easy charm that had fooled everyone, including me. His dark hair was perfectly styled, his academy robes immaculate. The face of someone destined for greatness, unmarked by the cruelty I now knew lurked beneath.
"There you are," he said, clapping me on the shoulder with false warmth. "You look terrible. Bad dreams?"
"Something like that." I studied his face, searching for any sign of the monster I'd learned he truly was. Nothing. Just concern and friendship, perfectly performed. "What's this assembly about?"
"New student orientation. Some noble brat from House Varien is transferring in." His lips curved in what might have been anticipation. "Father says we should make... favorable impressions on the right people."
Lysandra. She was coming today, just as the Keeper had said. My heart clenched with phantom pain, remembering how her eyes had looked in those final moments. Not regretful. Not sorrowful. Just... determined.
"House Varien," I repeated carefully. "Anyone important?"
"The daughter. Lysandra, I think?" Cedric's shrug was perfectly casual. "Supposed to be quite the beauty. And her father controls three duchies, so..."
So she was already a target. Already marked for whatever game Cedric and his father were playing. The same game that would eventually consume us all.
"We should get going," I said, stepping into the hallway.
As we walked toward the Great Hall, Cedric kept up a stream of casual conversation. Academy gossip, speculation about the new martial arts instructor, complaints about Master Huo's increasingly difficult assignments. Normal things that normal friends would discuss.
But I could see it now, the subtle probing hidden within his words. Questions designed to map my ambitions, my weaknesses, my connections. Information that would later be weaponized against me with surgical precision.
"You've been quiet lately," he observed as we joined the stream of students flowing toward the assembly. "Everything all right at home?"
Home. The Thorne estate where my parents had already begun the slow decline that would leave me isolated and vulnerable when the first attacks came. Where servants were already being bought and letters intercepted and loyal retainers slowly replaced with spies.
"Just thinking about the future," I said. "About what I want to accomplish here."
"Ambitious as always." Cedric's smile had an edge I'd never noticed before. "Just remember what they say about flying too close to the sun, brother."
The threat was so subtle, so perfectly disguised as friendly concern, that my fifteen-year-old self would never have caught it. But I wasn't that boy anymore. I was something else. Something forged in betrayal and tempered in loss.
"Good thing I'm not afraid of burning," I replied softly.
For just an instant, something flickered behind Cedric's eyes. Something cold and calculating that vanished so quickly I almost thought I'd imagined it. Almost.
We entered the Great Hall, a vast space dominated by soaring columns and floating crystals that bathed everything in soft blue light. Hundreds of students filled the tiered seating, their conversations creating a steady buzz of anticipation.
At the front of the hall, Master Huo stood at the podium. Ancient even by cultivator standards, his presence commanded instant respect. White beard flowing to his waist, eyes sharp as winter stars. The man who would become my mentor, my guide... and eventually, another victim of the conspiracy that destroyed everything I touched.
"Settle down," his voice carried easily through the hall without apparent effort. "We have a new addition to our academy family today."
The great doors opened, and she walked in.
Lysandra Varien at sixteen was everything I remembered and nothing like I'd expected. Golden hair that caught the crystal light like spun sunbeams. Eyes the color of spring grass, bright with intelligence and hidden depths. She moved with the unconscious grace of nobility, but there was steel beneath the silk.
Beautiful. Dangerous. The woman who would put a dagger in my back and tell herself it was for the greater good.
My chest tightened as memories crashed over me. Her laugh in quiet moments. The way she'd looked at me when she thought no one was watching. The night she'd whispered promises of forever while poison spread through my wine.
"Lady Lysandra Varien," Master Huo announced. "Daughter of Duke Aldric Varien, heir to three duchies, and a prodigy in both magical theory and practical application."
Polite applause filled the hall. I noticed how every young man sat a little straighter, while the women evaluated her with careful eyes. Politics and attraction tangling together in the way that made royal courts so treacherous.
Lysandra's gaze swept the assembled students, pausing briefly on faces she found interesting. When her eyes met mine, something sparked between us. Recognition? Attraction? Or just the first move in a game that would eventually destroy us both?
She smiled, and for a moment I was fifteen again, struck breathless by the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. Then reality crashed back, bringing with it the memory of how that same smile had looked in my dungeon cell.
"I look forward to studying with all of you," she said, her voice carrying clearly through the hall. "I hope we can become... close friends."
The words were innocent enough, but there was something in her tone. A promise, perhaps. Or a threat.
Master Huo gestured toward the seating area. "Please, find a place among your new classmates."
She moved through the rows with careful grace, declining several obvious invitations to sit with prominent students. Her path curved through the hall with seeming randomness until she reached our section.
"Is this seat taken?" she asked, looking directly at me.
Every instinct screamed danger. This was how it had started before – the chance meeting, the innocent question, the slow build of trust and attraction that would eventually destroy everything I held dear.
But I also remembered the Keeper's mocking words. Would I be the same pathetic romantic who believed love could conquer political necessity?
"It's yours if you want it," I said, standing to offer her the seat beside me.
She settled gracefully, close enough that I caught her scent – roses and something sharper, like steel wrapped in silk. Close enough that I could see the calculation hidden behind her smile.
"I'm Lysandra," she said, extending a perfectly manicured hand.
"Eryndor Thorne." I took her hand, noting the calluses that marked a serious swordsman. "Welcome to Jade Crane Academy."
Her grip was firm, confident. The handshake lingered just a moment too long, long enough for heat to build between us. Long enough for attraction to spark despite everything I knew about how this story ended.
"Thorne," she repeated thoughtfully. "From the northern provinces? I think I've heard my father mention your family."
Of course she had. Duke Varien had been one of the architects of my downfall, though I'd never learned whether his daughter had been complicit from the beginning or recruited later.
"Nothing too scandalous, I hope," I said lightly.
Her laugh was silver bells and hidden knives. "On the contrary. He speaks quite highly of your family's honor and integrity."
The emphasis she placed on those words sent ice through my veins. Honor. Integrity. The same qualities that had made me such an easy target. The same blind spots that had let my enemies position themselves perfectly for the killing blow.
"How flattering," I managed.
Master Huo had begun the formal welcome ceremony, but I barely heard the words. All my attention was focused on the girl beside me, on the way she sat just close enough to be provocative, on how her presence seemed to fill the air with electricity.
She was exactly as I remembered. Exactly as dangerous. And despite everything I knew, despite every betrayal that lay ahead, part of me still responded to her like a moth to flame.
But I wasn't the same man who'd burned before. This time, I'd be ready for the fire.
"Tell me, Eryndor," she whispered, leaning close enough that her breath tickled my ear. "What are your ambitions here? What do you hope to accomplish?"
The same question Cedric had asked. The same subtle probing disguised as friendly interest. They were already working together, already positioning themselves to map my weaknesses.
"I want to become strong enough to protect what matters to me," I said softly. "Strong enough that no one can take it away."
Something flickered in her eyes – surprise, perhaps, at the steel in my voice. "And what matters to you?"
I turned to meet her gaze directly, letting her see just a hint of the darkness that now lived behind my fifteen-year-old features. "Everything I've lost."
For a heartbeat, her composure cracked. Just slightly, but enough to confirm what I'd suspected. She knew more than she was letting on. Much more.
"That's... an interesting way to put it," she said carefully.
"I've learned that interesting times require interesting perspectives." I smiled, but there was nothing warm in it. "Don't you think, Lady Varien?"
The formal ceremony concluded around us, students beginning to file out of the hall in chattering groups. But Lysandra remained seated, studying me with those devastating green eyes.
"You're not what I expected," she said finally.
"What did you expect?"
"Someone... simpler." She stood gracefully, smoothing her skirts. "I look forward to getting to know the real you, Eryndor Thorne."
She walked away without another word, leaving me alone with the certainty that the game had already begun. The same players, the same stakes, but this time I wouldn't be playing blind.
Cedric appeared at my shoulder, watching Lysandra's retreating form with appreciation. "Well, well. Looks like someone made an impression."
"She's interesting," I said neutrally.
"Interesting." Cedric chuckled. "Brother, she's a weapon wrapped in silk. A girl like that could make a man's fortune... or destroy him completely."
His words carried the weight of prophecy. Or perhaps just experience – maybe he already knew exactly how this story was supposed to end.
"Then it's good I'm not afraid of sharp edges," I replied.
As we left the Great Hall, I caught sight of Master Huo watching me with those penetrating eyes. There was something in his expression – concern, perhaps, or recognition. As if he sensed the change in me, the darkness that now lived where naive optimism used to reside.
The old man had been the closest thing to a father I'd ever known. He'd also died trying to defend me when the charges of treason were brought. Another casualty of my trusting nature, another price paid for my weakness.
Not this time. This time, I'd be strong enough to protect those who mattered. Strong enough to destroy those who'd destroyed me.
The Keeper was wrong. This wouldn't be the same story with the same ending. I'd make sure of that.
Even if I had to burn down everything I once believed in to do it.
The academy bells chimed the hour, their bronze voices echoing off stone walls. Six months, the Keeper had said. Six months before Marvyn realized I'd returned.
I smiled, and for the first time since awakening, it was genuine. Let him come. Let them all come.
This time, I'd be ready.
This time, I'd be the one doing the destroying.