It had been a few days since the Memory Awakening Ceremony, and things at the Academy were no longer the same.
Arin and Kai had both unlocked their memories — but what they had discovered was not comforting. They had been heroes and villains, saviors and destroyers. Their roles had switched in each life they had lived, a never-ending cycle that tied them to the Abyss and the light.
Kai struggled to focus on anything other than the whispers in his mind. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw visions of the past: a time when he had been the Prince of Darkness, commanding legions of shadows and burning entire civilizations to the ground.
But there were also glimpses of Arin, his light, his true companion, the one person who had tried to pull him from the Abyss — and failed.
He knew that the only way to stop the cycle was to destroy the Abyss once and for all. But how could he do that when the Abyss was part of him? He was the Abyss. The Abyssal sigil was not just a power — it was a curse that fed on him.
Arin, on the other hand, had been haunted by her memories. She had once been a hero, a shining beacon of light. But the truth of her past was far darker than she had ever imagined. The Heroic System, the one that had once felt like a blessing, now seemed like a burden — a force that kept her bound to the ideals of her family, even though she could see the flaws in them.
The Academy had grown colder, the lines between light and dark becoming sharper every day. There was distrust among the students. Those with pureblood systems looked down on those with half-bloods or demonic systems, calling them "tainted" or "unworthy." But now, Arin and Kai knew the truth — they were both tainted, both broken in their own ways.
"We need to stop the war," Arin said one evening, looking at Kai. They had been training together, but there was a distance between them now. "The prophecy, the systems — it's all part of something bigger. We can't let the world tear itself apart because of what we were in the past."
Kai looked at her, his eyes darkened by the weight of the Abyss. "But what if it's already too late? What if the Abyss has already won?"
"Then we fight." Arin's voice was steady. "We fight, no matter the cost."
"And if I fail?" Kai asked, a flicker of doubt in his eyes. "What if I become the monster they want me to be?"
"Then we face that together," Arin replied, her voice filled with determination.