Ares's steps felt heavier the moment he entered the main library building. The air inside was cold and still, carrying that familiar scent of old books the kind that always stirred a quiet sense of nostalgia. But for Ares, today the place wasn't just a study sanctuary it was the safest spot to think without interruption.
He took a seat at a corner table near a wide window. Sunlight filtered through the dusty glass, scattering thin flecks of gold across the floor. The soft rustle of turning pages from other students echoed rhythmically through the room, yet all of it felt distant muted beneath the weight of his thoughts.
Ares opened his laptop, not to type or search for information… but to craft the illusion of normalcy so no one would question him. From the outside, he looked like a diligent student diving into coursework.
But his mind was replaying the incident from earlier.
The student in the black jacket wasn't normal. No pattern. No body rhythm. No "inner direction." Every human had a faint psychic imprint formed by their emotions, ambitions, fears.
But he… had nothing.
Ares tightened his fingers along the edge of the table.
"Who is he?" he whispered.
As if responding to the question, the voice returned cold, flat, precise.
> [Pattern search… failed.]
[No data for unidentified subject.]
[Recommendation: avoid contact until minimum data is obtained.]
Ares exhaled quietly.
"Why show up now?"
> [Activation triggered by critical variable: user's survival.]
[System awakening: not optional. Automatic response.]
Ares straightened.
So it was true the system awakened because he almost died. That motorcycle incident wasn't just an accident… it was a catalyst.
But something bothered him more:
"If this system wakes to protect me… then someone was already targeting me?"
No answer.
Yet the silence felt like a quiet confirmation.
Ares closed his eyes, trying to sort through the scattered information. He had always been good at reading people, mapping patterns, spotting fault lines. But this… this was something else entirely.
"Why me?"
> [Access denied.]
[Insufficient data.]
Ares opened his eyes slowly.
That wasn't just mysterious it felt like a puzzle locked on purpose.
He shut his laptop, stood up, and walked toward the psychology shelves. Part of him was trying to slip back into "normal," to cling to something that made him feel human again. His fingers grazed the spines of neatly lined books: Cognitive Psychology, Personality Theory, Neurobehavior, and more.
Then his hand paused on a thin, gray volume something he didn't recall ever seeing.
The system flickered to life.
> [Anomalous object detected.]
[Relevance level: 72%.]
Ares frowned.
The book had no title.
No author.
Just a plain cover with a faint horizontal scratch like a symbol partially erased.
He opened the first page.
Blank.
Second page.
Blank.
Third page.
Still blank.
Yet every sheet felt… strange. As if something had once been written there but wiped away through a method far older and far more severe than ink or machines. As though meaning itself had been cut out at the roots.
Then the system spoke again:
> [Fragmented data detected.]
[Regeneration attempt… failed.]
Ares narrowed his eyes. "Do you know what this is?"
> [Unavailable.]
[However, this object]
[is connected to the unidentified subject.]
Ares's breath halted for a split second.
So the boy in the black jacket… had touched something deeper than just pattern disruption?
"So he has another system?"
> [Unknown.]
[But previous psionic interference did not originate from a standard human.]
Ares closed the book softly.
And as he did, footsteps echoed from the far side of the aisle.
Light steps. A girl's. Not hurried, but not fully relaxed either.
Ares glanced over the shelf.
A girl stood there shoulder-length hair, fair skin, a blue sweater, her expression soft but tired. She held several books, one of them thick and overflowing with sticky notes.
She glanced at Ares for a second… then quickly looked away, cheeks tinting pink.
Ares blinked.
He didn't recognize her. But something felt off not with her, but with how the system responded.
A strange notification appeared.
> [New subject detected.]
[Pattern stability: 97%.]
[Cognitive waveform compatibility with user: high.]
Ares froze.
"Sistem… what does that mean?"
No further reply.
The girl stepped closer, hesitant but smiling politely.
"Um… you're Ares Valentine, right?" Her voice was soft but sure.
Ares nodded.
He prepared himself for anything: a classmate, someone needing help, or a coincidence.
But what she said was far more unexpected.
"I think… I've met you before."
She looked at him, confused, almost searching his face for confirmation.
"But… I don't remember when or where."
Ares stared at her sharply.
And the system surged stronger than before.
> [High alert.]
[Memory incoherence detected in subject.]
[Possible link to 'initial incident.']
Ares exhaled slowly.
The game had just shifted.
And for some reason… this girl was standing at the very center of it.