The Academy of Heroes stood as a shining beacon of hope,
its towering spires gleaming under the sun's golden light.
A place where only the strongest, the brightest, and the purest could rise.
And in that shining world,
two students stood at the forefront of everything.
Arin Veyla,
the descendant of the Hero of Light,
was the pride of the Academy.
She wore her title with grace —
the perfect image of a protector.
She was brilliant in every class.
A natural leader.
She had the golden sigil of the Hero etched into her palm —
it pulsed with warmth and light.
Arin was exalted.
Her every word was followed.
Her every decision was final.
She was the number one student —
the best, the brightest, the purest.
But then there was Kai.
Kai, the half-blood,
the one who had no memories of his past life,
the one who carried the dark sigil of the Prince of Darkness —
the Abyssal sigil that marked him.
Kai stood as the number two student,
but the gap between him and Arin was more than just in grades.
Kai was hated.
Not by all, but by many.
He had never asked for the mark that burned his skin,
never asked to be treated as lesser.
But that was how they saw him.
Whispers followed him.
"He doesn't deserve to be here."
"His blood is tainted."
"The sigil marks him as a demon."
He had nothing to prove,
but everyone believed he needed to.
Because he carried the Prince of Darkness's sigil,
because his blood was mixed,
because he was born from the wrong side of history.
And yet, every day,
he trained harder than anyone else.
In the training halls, the students worshipped Arin.
They looked at her as if she were their savior.
But Kai?
They turned their backs.
And there was a reason for it.
An awakened reason.
At the age of 16, every student at the Academy was called upon for the Awakening Ceremony.
It was a sacred day,
a day where the students' true powers —
the powers they had inherited —
were revealed to the world.
The Awakening Ceremony was the moment when their potential was unlocked.
For most students, it was a simple ceremony, a bright light,
and a power they had always known was there.
But for some, like Arin,
it was a declaration to the world —
a sign that they were born to lead.
Arin's powers flared brightly during her awakening —
a burst of pure golden light,
and the Hero's sigil flared to life,
as brilliant and pure as the sun.
The crowd erupted into cheers.
Her power was unstoppable.
But Kai's awakening was different.
As he stood at the altar,
he felt the darkness within him stir.
His Abyssal sigil burned, but it wasn't light.
It was shadow.
A twisting, dark power that spread through the room like smoke.
Cold, suffocating.
The crowd recoiled.
The air turned bitter.
People turned their faces away from him.
"The Abyssal power."
"He's cursed."
"He can never be a Hero."
His powers were twisted,
his sigil a mark of shame.
Kai's true awakening was not celebrated,
not praised.
It was feared.
He was treated as an outcast,
hated by those who once stood beside him.
And yet,
he could feel the power thrumming beneath his skin,
the darkness was his,
it called to him.
But no one saw it.
No one wanted to see it.
Arin stood at the top of the world,
her light so bright it hurt the eyes.
She could do no wrong.
But Kai —
he was the shadow.
The mistake.
As the Awakening Ceremony came to a close,
the students gathered into their dormitories.
But Kai, standing alone outside the gates,
felt something stir in the air.
A dangerous kind of power.
A familiar kind of power.
And for the first time,
his sigil pulsed.
It was not a curse.
It was a promise.
In the heart of the Academy,
the true war was about to begin.