I remember the first time I died.
I remember the hospital room.
I remember my mother’s hands trembling as she held mine.
I remember the pain in my chest as I took my last breath.
I struggled to keep my eyes open. I thought, once I close them here, I’ll never open them again.
But then…
“Hey, human. Open your eyes. I got a deal for you.”
...
I failed. I died again.
The pain in my chest had returned—but this time, it was from a blade piercing straight through my heart.
“One more chance to get it right. I believe you can do it.”
In that instant, they reversed time—back to the day I first arrived in Elgraad.
I won't make the same mistakes twice.
“Get up, runt.”
A deep voice growled.
A sharp boot pressed into my ribs, dragging me out of memory like cold water thrown on a dream.
“Didn’t you hear me?” he barked again. “Training starts now. Wake the hell up.”
I rolled over, wincing as pain shot up my side. I wasn’t in that hospital bed anymore. I was back in the dusty barracks of the Royal Training Ground. The scent of iron, sweat, and cheap wood filled my nose.
I sat up slowly.
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, brushing dirt off the tattered cloak I’d been issued.
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I recognized this moment.
This was the day I met him.
A shadow loomed over me.
“You’re Logan?”
He was taller than most of the other trainees. A scar traced his jaw, and his eyes were far too serious for someone his age.
In my last life, he’d been one of the few people I trusted.
I was a fool.
“Yeah,” I said, squinting up at him.
He extended a hand.
“Talon. You’re in my squad.”
I took it and let him pull me up.
In my first life, I was too open. Too trusting.
This time, I’d keep people at arm’s length—where they belonged.
“Let’s not waste time,” I said, dusting myself off. “We’ve got work to do.”
He blinked in surprise, then grinned.
“I like you already.”
This is the first correction I’ll make: killing you before you could kill me.
The first stitch in a tapestry I was determined to weave differently.
The training grounds were unforgiving.
Rows of recruits were lined up, pushed through drills by captains who didn’t care who we were—just how long we could last.
But I’d already survived worse.
I was born weak. A glass body.
Doctors once said I wouldn’t make it to ten.
My mother said otherwise. She held my hand when I screamed from bone pain, when I vomited blood, when I cried through IV needles.
Her voice was my lullaby.
Her warmth, my sun.
Now I had the body of a soldier. Strong. Capable.
But strength alone wouldn’t save me.
I knew that now.
“You hold that sword like a goddamn broom!” one of the instructors shouted.
I adjusted my stance. Again. And again.
Muscle memory kicked in—not from Earth, but from here. From the years I’d already lived…
…until I died again.
“Logan, right?”
A girl approached during our midday break. Blonde. Blue-eyed. Suspiciously polite.
Her name was Clara, and she was dangerous.
In my last life, I had no problem keeping her at arm’s length. But now I knew who my enemies were. Or at least... I thought I did.
Isn’t that right, Selphira?
“I remember you,” I said carefully.
She blinked.
“We just met.”
I smiled.
“Just a feeling.”
I won’t make the same mistake twice.
I won’t let them take you away from me.
That night, I sat alone beneath the moonlight.
A second chance to fix everything.
To find the truth behind this broken world.
To burn down the lie it was built on.
And when it was all over...
She promised I could see my mother again.
I lay back and stared at the stars above Elgraad.
This sky was unfamiliar—two moons, and a jagged scar of violet light running across the heavens like a wound on reality.
But it wasn’t the sky I was searching for.
I closed my eyes.
“Wait for me, Mom. Just a little longer.”