The bell rang for the start of the first class inside Resonance Academy, and students began flooding into the hall amidst the usual noise of chatter.
Spectral screens moved across the walls like translucent entities, energy schematics rotated slowly near the ceiling, and quantum analysis devices emitted a low hum, resembling the breathing of a giant machine sleeping beneath the academy.
Everything seemed normal.
Normal… to an artificial degree.
But Sami…
He was the only one who felt that something did not belong in this scene.
From the moment he entered the hall, that sensation returned.
The feeling that the world itself did not know how to deal with him.
A student bumped into his shoulder while passing by.
“Sorry—”
The student stopped suddenly.
He blinked, confused.
Then, he looked around as if he had forgotten who he was talking to in the first place.
A female student looked up toward him for a brief moment… then immediately returned to writing, as if her mind had erased his image before her perception of him was complete.
Even the automated attendance devices at the door…
They stopped when he passed by them.
A short red message appeared on the screen:
ERROR: SUBJECT NOT REGISTERED
Then, it vanished on its own.
As if the system itself was ashamed to acknowledge what it had seen.
As for Sami…
He remained silent.
He sat near the window as usual, resting his head on his hand while watching the hall with calm eyes.
But inside…
He was exhausted.
Because the worst kind of loneliness…
Is to exist, while the world refuses to retain you.
In the next moment…
Selene Arctis entered.
Silence fell immediately.
Not out of fear of her, but because her presence automatically imposed order on the place.
Her footsteps were inhumanly precise, as if every movement were calculated by a pre-existing physical equation.
Her long black coat trailed behind her with cold fluidity, while light reflected off the small metal lens mounted near her left eye.
But what was different today…
Was that her gaze did not pass over him.
From the very first moment…
She saw him directly.
Without hesitation.
Without distortion.
Without him disappearing from her perception after two seconds.
Sami felt something freeze inside him.
Because this… was the first time that had ever happened.
Selene stood before the spectral board.
Then she said quietly:
“Today’s lesson is about the stability of perception.”
Behind her, complex energy circles appeared, intertwining with physical equations that moved through the air like miniature galaxies.
“Reality is not just matter.”
The symbols behind her moved slowly.
“It is an agreement.”
Some students blinked in confusion.
She continued in a steady tone:
“Gravity… time… light…”
She waved her finger.
Lines of spacetime curvature appeared within the hall.
“These are all stable laws because the universe agreed upon them.”
She paused for a moment.
And looked directly at Sami.
“And when the world rejects something… it begins to erase it.”
Sami felt a faint shiver.
Because she wasn’t explaining a lesson.
She was talking about him.
In the background, Lira Noct was lying on the top cabinet, swaying in boredom.
Of course… no one saw her but him.
She smiled wickedly and whispered:
“Oh… this woman is looking at you a lot.”
Seraphine was sitting on one of the tables, watching Selene with narrowed eyes.
“She doesn’t forget him,” she said, with a different tone this time.
Vaeldrak crossed his arms in silence, while Elysion’s gaze remained fixed on the metal lens near Selene’s eye.
Then he said quietly:
“So… she built a tool that resists cognitive correction.”
Selene continued the lecture.
“Human perception is limited.”
She raised her hand, and a 3D hologram of a human brain surrounded by disturbed quantum waves appeared.
“When the mind encounters something that exceeds its ability to interpret…”
The image began to distort.
“It automatically deletes it.”
She pressed her finger on a point within the model.
A phrase appeared: COGNITIVE CORRECTION.
A student raised his hand nervously.
“Do you mean a person might forget something just because its existence is impossible?”
She answered immediately:
“Yes.”
Then she added in a more dangerous tone:
“Even if it is standing right in front of them.”
Half the class felt a shiver for no understandable reason.
But Sami…
He was just staring at her.
The more she spoke…
The more his heart felt at ease.
Because she was the only one in front of whom he did not disappear.
Selene began to move between the rows while lecturing.
Her steps were quiet, but they carried the confidence of someone who knew more than they should.
And when she reached Sami…
She stopped.
She didn’t look at his notebook.
Or the table screen.
But directly at him.
Then she said in a low voice that no one else could hear:
“So, you are still stable.”
Sami’s eyes widened slightly.
He whispered:
She answered without changing her expression:
“Clearly.”
Time stopped inside his head for a moment.
Something very simple…
But for him, it was like a miracle.
Inside his mind, questions began to collide.
How?
Even the systems failed to remember him.
So how did she succeed?
As if she read his thoughts…
She returned to the front of the hall and said:
“Years ago, I worked on a project regarding impossible perception.”
The equations behind her moved rapidly.
“I was looking for a way to prevent the mind from losing inexplicable information.”
Then she raised her hand toward her left eye.
The metal lens emitted a faint blue glow.
“And that is why I built this.”
Silence fell.
“An analytical eye linked directly to the Royal Archive.”
Huge and extremely complex data appeared behind her.
“It does not rely on human perception.”
Then she looked at Sami.
“That is why… reality cannot force it to forget you.”
In the background, Seraphine smiled slowly.
“Ah… now I understand.”
As for Sami…
He felt something very strange.
Every word Selene said…
Made him attach to her more.
Not direct love, but a feeling of safety.
As if the presence of one person who could see him clearly inside this distorted world… had become something he did not want to lose.
A student raised his hand nervously.
“Doctor… exactly who are you talking about?”
Silence fell.
For one second…
Selene looked as if she were going to say his name.
But suddenly—
All the screens in the hall flickered.
The words distorted.
The data shattered.
The lights went out for a moment.
Then, a massive phrase appeared on the main wall:
AUTHORITY INTERFERENCE DETECTED
The students’ eyes widened.
But Selene…
She stared at the message without fear.
Then she whispered:
“Even now… it is trying to hide him.”
The lights returned.
But most of the students seemed confused.
One of them forgot the question entirely.
Another returned to writing as if nothing had happened.
But Sami…
He remembered.
And so did Selene.
The class finally ended.
Everyone began to leave amidst the sounds of chairs and laughter.
But Selene stayed near the window.
Watching him.
And when he passed by her…
She said quietly:
“Sami.”
He stopped immediately.
Then she added, looking directly into his eyes:
“Stay after class.”
He felt his heart skip a beat for no logical reason.
“I need you for something important.”
Then she said the sentence that made even the Four Knights turn toward her:
“I want to become your guardian.”
After the school day ended…
Sami returned to his room in the dormitory.
He closed the door behind him wearily, then threw his bag near the bed.
As usual…
The four were there.
Vaeldrak sat in the corner like an ancient war king.
Seraphine was lying on the ceiling.
Elysion was near the window.
And Lira…
Was lying on his bed as if it were her personal property.
Sami sat down slowly and said:
“I need something from you.”
Silence fell.
Vaeldrak raised his gaze toward him.
“Speak.”
Sami sighed.
Then he said in a calm voice:
“I want a tool that makes people remember me.”
Silence.
Then he added:
“I want to live a normal academic life like the rest of the humans.”
Seraphine suddenly laughed.
“The Emperor who wants a student life.”
She placed her hand over her heart mockingly.
“That is the funniest thing I have heard in centuries.”
But Sami didn’t laugh.
He said sincerely:
“I am serious.”
“I want to belong to at least one place.”
Silence fell.
Even Seraphine stopped joking.
But suddenly—
Lira jumped off the bed violently.
Then she approached him, pointing at him in dramatic accusation.
“That woman has corrupted you.”
Sami blinked.
“…What?”
She screamed:
“Selene!”
Then she put her hand over her heart as if she had suffered an emotional betrayal.
“Ever since she said: ‘Stay after class’… you have changed.”
Seraphine burst out laughing.
Vaeldrak closed his eyes silently as if he were used to this madness.
But Lira didn’t stop.
She began walking around the room with genuine agitation.
“First, she looks at you throughout the whole class.”
“Then she calls your name.”
“Then she wants to become your guardian?!”
She opened a black rift inside the void.
“No. This is too much.”
Then she said with terrifying seriousness:
“I am going now to bring her corpse.”
Sami’s eyes widened.
“…What?!”
But Lira was already on the verge of entering the portal.
“I will make it look like a lab accident.”
And at that moment…
Sami felt something explode inside him.
A massive pressure.
An ancient authority.
A feeling that made the world bend without resistance.
Then he said, without consciousness:
“Stop.”
The room shook entirely.
The air collapsed suddenly.
The glass cracked.
The shadows flattened onto the floor.
Even the light itself seemed to have submitted to something higher than itself.
Lira froze in place immediately.
Her body trembled.
Then she lowered her head directly.
“…Sorry.”
A heavy silence reigned.
As for Sami…
He looked around in shock.
“What did I do?”
Elysion finally answered with his deep voice:
“You have unleashed the Will of Kings.”
Sami raised his eyes toward him.
The Four Knights…
They all felt that presence.
That thing that does not issue orders…
But makes existence itself obey.
Vaeldrak breathed slowly.
“He used it without awareness.”
Seraphine smiled slowly, but tension was visible behind her smile.
“This is too early.”
As for Lira…
She was still bowing her head, unable to even oppose him.
Elysion finally moved from his place near the window.
Just one step…
And the temperature of the room dropped.
Then he raised his hand.
A black rift opened inside the void.
But this thing seemed older than the world itself.
And from inside it…
A faint golden light appeared.
Then a simple black ring emerged.
It carried no decoration.
But the moment it appeared…
Sami felt that reality itself had become aware of him.
Elysion said quietly:
“Since you asked for it yourself…”
Then he extended the ring toward him.
“You have the right to use one of the Imperial Instruments.”
Sami’s eyes widened slightly.
“What is this?”
Vaeldrak answered:
“An Imperial Instrument.”
And Seraphine added with a smile:
“The Ring of Existence.”
Sami took the ring slowly.
It was strangely warm.
Elysion said:
“This ring forces the world to acknowledge your existence.”
Then he added:
“As long as you wear it… your presence will become fixed.”
Sami looked at the ring for a long time.
Then…
He smiled a very slight smile.
“So… I can finally live like everyone else.”
Seraphine laughed softly.
As for Lira…
She stared at him for a long silence.
Then whispered:
“The Emperor… just wants to be a normal student.”
Elysion finally raised his gaze toward him.
Then he said with terrifying calmness:
“And that is exactly… what makes it dangerous.”