The city looked peaceful again.
Monsters were gone.
The academy was safe.
People laughed, trained, and moved on.
But deep underground… something had started.
Something old.
Something forgotten.
---
Eiden stood in the sword garden behind the academy.
It was night.
The moon was full. The wind was cold.
He gripped his training sword, eyes closed.
Slow breath in. Slow breath out.
His mind drifted back to the battle.
That monster… It wasn't normal.
It had moved like something from long ago.
It had smelled like magic corruption.
---
"They're using forbidden mana again…" Eiden whispered.
He opened his eyes.
They were calm—but sharp.
He had felt it.
The pulse of ancient magic. Old and wild.
He knew that feeling well.
It was his kind of magic.
---
Later that night, Eiden sat in the school library.
Not the main one.
A hidden room behind the third floor wall.
He had found it by accident… or maybe by instinct.
Books about old mana systems.
Books with missing pages.
Books no one should read.
One name kept coming up: The Crimson Library.
A secret archive. Buried deep below the capital.
Locked away.
But…
One rumor said there was a map hidden inside this school.
---
Eiden closed the book and stood up.
He had a goal now.
If the monsters were changing…
If the world was shaking…
Then he needed his old knowledge.
He couldn't fight as just Eiden anymore.
He had to return as Arkanos.
---
For the next few days, Eiden moved carefully.
He went to class. He trained. He kept quiet.
But at night?
He moved like a shadow.
Through old hallways.
Through storage rooms.
Behind walls that no one touched.
He found hidden stairs. Old doors. Dead ends.
But he also found mana traces.
Soft. Weak. Ancient.
Like someone used magic a long time ago—and the air still remembered.
---
One night, he found an old room under the north tower.
Dust. Cobwebs. Rusted tools.
But in the middle of the floor… was a symbol.
Faint. Worn. But he knew it.
It was his own rune.
His original work from centuries ago.
He knelt down and touched it.
A warm light pulsed under his hand.
---
Suddenly—
Creeeaaak.
A door opened in the back wall.
A hallway appeared.
Dark. Narrow. Silent.
"Found you," Eiden whispered.
He stepped inside.
---
The air smelled old.
Like stone and ink.
There were strange sounds in the distance—like whispers.
The walls were covered in carvings.
Spell diagrams.
Sword forms.
Old teachings.
His teachings.
But the weird part?
Some had been changed.
Someone had been down here before.
And they were studying his work.
---
He followed the hallway until he reached a locked iron door.
He placed his hand on it.
His mana flowed in.
Click.
It opened.
Inside was a round chamber.
Books.
Scrolls.
Broken staves.
Dusty robes.
And on the center table…
A journal.
Brown leather. Gold markings.
Eiden's eyes widened.
That was his journal.
The one he burned long ago.
"How…?"
---
He opened it.
Page 1: "Notes on Circle Theory—Arkanos."
His hand shook.
This wasn't just memory.
This was real.
Someone had brought pieces of his past into this world.
But who?
And why?
---
Back in the dorms…
Elara sat at her desk.
She looked at her notebook.
Inside were records.
All about Eiden.
His training.
His battles.
His walking paths.
"Why are you always gone at night?" she whispered.
She stood up and grabbed her sword.
"If you're hiding something… I'll find out."
---
The next day, Kai walked past Eiden and laughed.
"Still acting mysterious, huh, ghost boy?"
Eiden didn't answer.
He just walked to the back of the class and sat.
But inside his coat pocket?
That journal was glowing.
---
That night, Eiden returned to the secret room.
He lit a small fire and read page after page.
Old spells. Lost theories. Hybrid techniques.
He felt it all coming back.
Slowly.
Piece by piece.
The power.
The knowledge.
The flame inside him.
He smiled.
Not like a boy.
But like an archmage who had waited too long.
---
"I'll rise again," he whispered.
"Not as Arkanos the Mad…"
He closed the book and stood.
"But as Eiden Valtz—the one who hides his flame."