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The subtle sound of water rang throughout an unknown alley in the backstreets of Ornare City. Not a single sign hinted at the miracle that was about to occur there.
A human form could be seen bundled into one of the damp corners. A spot that would take weeks to see another human visit.
At that moment, as if simply waking up after a long night's sleep, the body began to move, breaking the serenity of the alleyway.
A boy's eyes fluttered as a single ray of light pierced through his world of darkness filling him with indescribable joy.
The boy felt as if he had been trapped in darkness forever and could finally feel and see again. A hoarse voice croaked out of the cracked lips of the figure.
"Impossible."
Jolting his body upright despite his head lurching in discomfort, the panicked boy began to think his brain working at an impossible rate.
Yet, as if it was a rusted machine that had spent years in disuse the thick haze that clouded his thoughts prevailed.
'Regulus, my name was Regulus.'
Finally able to reaffirm some sense of self to his soul, it felt like the floodgates had opened and memories trickled back into his head in an unyielding tide.
'A blood-soaked peak, crying faces, a final sacrifice and then. Nothing.'
Recalling his last moments, the impossibility of his situation only seemed to grow by the moment.
'It should all be gone, down to my very soul.'
And yet, the pounding of an adrenaline-filled heart, reaching even his ears and the subtle springiness of his cheeks when he lifted his fingers to them proved otherwise.
'And yet the body my soul resides in is entirely different. The answer isn't as simple as just surviving the battle.'
Glancing down on his skeletal, trembling hands in front of his face, Regulus began to note the discrepancies of the situation.
Calming himself down in a way only a King could do in such a situation, Regulus used every part of his brain, which earned him the title of genius in his youth, to calculate.
"I'm in a different body. By the looks of it and the foreign sounds coming from my voice, a teenager for that matter."
Regulus could feel the grime clinging to his skin, the biting cold on his extremities. Glancing down at his sullied clothes, he began to think.
"Hmmm, fancy but not decadent. Judging by the quality of his clothes, this body appears to belong to a noble of lower rank."
Despite his body screaming in protest at his sudden action, gritting his teeth Regulus continued his search.
"Beaten and robbed before having his soul taken over, almost makes me feel bad for the guy."
Yet these words didn't reach Regulus's face or suppress the creeping feeling of excitement swelling inside at the second chance he was blessed with.
Checking his pockets one by one, Regulus found nothing of note or give him any hints. It was clear the ones who robbed him were thorough with their work.
Staggering as he adjusted to the unfamiliar feeling of his body, which was of slightly smaller stature, Regulus headed towards the light at the end of the alley.
Regulus quickly paused, frowning as he did so, and noticed a dragging weight in part of his trousers, an inconspicuous area with no noticeable slit.
Coming to an abrupt halt, Regulus' hands stroked across the dirt-clad fabrics of the trousers, attempting to identify the peculiarity. Pausing at a certain point, Regulus felt his hand disappear inside.
'A secret compartment of some kind. What kind of item would warrant such treatment.'
Frowning at the lengths his body's former host went to and unable to think of what a lowly noble could be concealing, Regulus dug deeper.
A moment passed and Regulus's hand brushed against a cold, hard surface as he revealed a golden token.
Raising it to catch the fleeting rays of sunlight, two inscribed words in a grand font were displayed, 'Karta Academy.'
A playing card that Regulus seemed to recall from a foreign war camp was printed behind these two words. The meaning of the card Regulus could only guess at.
"What value could such an item hold that it was prioritised over money."
Despite not understanding the medallion's value, Regulus felt it subtly pulling him in a specific direction his instincts told him to follow.
'There seems to be some mystical property to it that guides its wielder to the intended destination.'
Grasping a medallion unlike anything he'd seen in his past life Regulus's croaked laugh could be heard spreading throughout the alley.
"Hahaha, to think that I would be reborn. It looks like fate has more in store for this King."
His balance and control over his new body increasing with every step Regulus forged towards the distant sunlight.
Just as he was about to reach the exit, however, Regulus stopped in confusion. It was not that he had noticed something; instead, Regulus could clearly feel an absence.
The celestial energy that had accompanied Regulus throughout his journey and moulded him into the great King he became had vanished.
"This sheer absence of celestial energy in the air would be impossible even in the most barren of lands; it's practically zero."
Regulus's brain started going haywire as he realised the situation differed from his initial thought.
"That could only mean that instead of being reincarnated..."
Rushing to the end of the alley to confirm his theory, he was met with a scene so foreign it caused the King's composure to break and his jaw to drop slightly.
"Instead, I'm in a different world entirely."
The scene Regulus was met with was something so fantastical even the storytellers from his past would bow their heads.
'To think that a city could be this bright.'
Despite the numerous impossible elements Regulus was currently seeing before him this was his first thought.
A world of black and white, that was Regulus's former reality. Politics and war, battlefields and blood, a life clogged by these factors had prevented him from seeing a world of colour.
And yet the lively town he was seeing before him blew that conception away with its sheer vibrance and energy that seemed to carry life.
Savage beasts from great wolves to mighty lizards appeared docile as sheep as they dragged carts carrying masses of people.
Ships that seemed to be suspended in the sky by some intangible source floated along without a single person lifting their heads in surprise.
'What kind of madness is this?'
Regulus exhaled, his breathing quickening as he felt like a child making new encounters in a previously bland life.
Coming from a land of martial arts that lacked magic and instead focused on perfection and body tempering. The contrasting cities of martial and magic appeared like night and day to Regulus.
However, what shocked Regulus further was the presence of other seemingly humanoid races mixed throughout the crowd. People with animal ears seemingly glued to their hair and men who remained short despite their advanced age.
Coming from a world of solely humans, this information was problematic for even Regulus to compute.
'Tamed beasts, Flying boats, and different species. It would appear this King is getting old.'
Regulus felt nothing but excitement from this new world despite the reasonable emotion in this situation being fear.
Walking towards the nearest person, a middle-aged woman with honey-brown hair, Regulus called out to her.
"Excuse me, Ma'am, but could you enlighten me on why those boats are flying?"
Regulus asked an innocent question like a starstruck child encountering magic for the first time.
Regulus's curiosity earned him a look as if he were a monkey that had just clambered out of the tree.
The confused woman forced a polite smile onto her face before responding motherly to the handsome boy in front of her.
"Although I'm not an expert on the topic, it's commonly known that magic is used as the power source."
"Ahhhh- I see"
Regulus nodded despite still not having any true understanding on what magic was.
Upon seeing she was understood, the woman began to turn around but froze upon hearing a curious voice.
"And, if you don't mind me asking, what is magic?"
Thinking that the handsome young man in front of her was messing with her, the lady clenched her fists.
"Well, if you want all your questions to be answered, Karta Academy is your best bet."
The woman maintained her polite smile as she turned around and quickly hurried away from the ignorant young man.
"The Academy. All roads seem to lead there."
Regulus nodded in satisfaction as he considered the medallion he held and the woman's advice.
As time passed, the attraction force coming from the token seemed to grow steadily but consistently as if counting down to something.
"Well then, the Academy it is."
Regulus proclaimed, ignoring the weird gazes he received from onlookers due to his mud-caked clothes.
Despite not truly understanding his situation, Regulus' pride as a king refused to back down from the new challenge before him. Each pride-filled step took him closer to Karta Academy, a place known to forge legends. And yet, despite its reputation as the birthplace of legends, its status as a death-trap far outweighed it.
***
-Author's Note-
Hello, this is my first novel :). Please support in any way you can (power stones or something I don't know) and leave a review to increase exposure to the novel.
-FindingNessie