The bell rang just as Lumen reached the classroom door.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
He grabbed the handle and pushed it open.
Every sound in the room stopped.
The professor stood at the front, chalk in hand, midway through a sentence.
The board behind him was already half-filled with notes and diagrams.
All eyes turned toward the door.
And toward him.
Lumen froze.
For half a second, he considered closing the door and pretending this never happened.
"S–Sorry, Professor," he said instead, bowing slightly out of habit.
"I'm late."
The professor adjusted his glasses and glanced at the clock.
"Eight minutes," he said calmly.
"Yes, sir."
"You ran here, didn't you?"
Lumen nodded, still catching his breath.
The professor sighed. "This is a classroom, Mr. Mystique Not a sprint track."
A few students chuckled.
"Take a seat," the professor added. "Before you collapse and turn this into a medical emergency."
"Thank you, sir!"
Lumen hurried inside, nearly tripping over a chair, and slid into his seat.
The boy next to him leaned over. "Nice entrance."
"Please don't remind me," Lumen whispered back.
The lecture resumed as if nothing had happened.
"…as I was saying," the professor continued, chalk moving across the board, "history is shaped less by heroes and more by people making poor decisions repeatedly."
Lumen opened his notebook.
Blank page.
He stared at it for a few seconds, then wrote the date.
The lecture continued.
"…and that decision ultimately led to the collapse of the alliance," the professor said, chalk tapping the board lightly.
Lumen stared at the notes.
He understood the words.
They just didn't stay in his head.
His pen moved slowly across the page, copying what was written on the board, but his thoughts had already drifted elsewhere.
Yesterday was strange.
That thought slipped in before he could stop it.
The old woman.
The street.
That book.
MYSTIQUE.
He paused mid-word, pen hovering above the page.
"…tique."
He frowned.
"Why did I even bring that thing?" he wondered.
"He did not even buy it...that women left it on the ground and dissapeared...i could have even left it there...why...why did i bring it to my home..."
He'd told himself it was curiosity. Or maybe pity.
Or maybe he just didn't want to miss something free of cost,or something familiar he felt.
Still—
Normal books didn't feel like that.
He shook his head slightly.
I'm overthinking it.
The professor cleared his throat loudly.
Lumen straightened instinctively.
"…as some of you seem to be doing right now," the professor added, eyes sweeping the room.
A few students snorted.
Lumen lowered his gaze to his notebook.
Focus.
He wrote another line.
Treaty failures often repeat patterns.
But still the book's title and the women's mysterious dissapearance did not made any sense for him.
He was deep in thought.
Then, without realizing it, his pen scribbled
just below it.
Mystique
He stared at the word.
That wasn't from the lecture.
He quietly crossed it out.
The image of the book with his surname as title.
flashed in his mind again—too clean, too untouched, sitting in his cramped room like it didn't belong there.
The way the title had caught the light.
The way the old woman had smiled.
"It follows you."
The old womens words were still in his mind.
He swallowed.
She was just messing with me, he told himself.
Old people like saying creepy things.
The boy beside him leaned over.
"You okay? You look like you haven't slept."
"I slept," Lumen replied quietly.
"Doesn't look like it." Said the boy.
"Trust me," Lumen muttered.
"I did."
The boy shrugged and turned back to his notes.
Lumen rested his chin on his palm.
Then why does it feel like something's unfinished?
The professor turned another page of his notes.
"Mr. Mystique."
Lumen flinched.
"Yes, sir?"
"You seem distracted today," the professor said, not unkindly. "Something on your mind?"
For a second, Lumen almost laughed.
If I told you, he thought, you'd think I'm crazy.
"No, sir," he said instead.
"Just tired."
The professor studied him for a moment, then nodded.
"Get some rest. History won't disappear if you blink."
A few students laughed.
Lumen gave a weak smile and nodded.
As the lecture resumed, he leaned back slightly in his chair.
After school, he decided.
I'll look at that book properly.
Just to confirm it was nothing special.
Just paper.
Just ink.
Just another strange thing in a life already full of them.
The history class was over.Next was maths class.
Lumen hated maths class.he gave a deep sigh.
The chalk screeched against the board.
"—and if you substitute the value here," the Professor continued, pushing his spectacles up his nose, "you'll notice that the equation collapses into something very simple."
Simple was a lie.
Lumen stared at his notebook like it had personally betrayed him.
The words were there. The numbers were there.
Understanding?, It was Nowhere to be found.
His mind drifted.
"Yesterday… the book… The old lady… The grin…mystique…"
He was in deep thought that he ignored the class.
The boy besides him whispered near him.
"Lumen!Wake up."
"Yes, Professor!" he shot upright instantly.
The Professor turned slowly, unimpressed.
"I haven't called your name yet."
"…Oh."
A few snickers echoed.
"Glad to see you're participating in the future lesson," the Professor said dryly.
"Perhaps you'd like to explain what I just wrote on the board?"
Lumen looked back.
The board looked back.
They shared a mutual understanding of helplessness.
"…It's… numbers?"
The class laughed.
The Professor sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Sit. Quietly. Please."
Lumen sank into his chair, face burning.
"Why am I even alive today…" he thought.
That was when—
Knock. Knock.
Two soft taps.
The chalk stopped mid-air.
The Professor frowned.
"We're in the middle of—"
The door opened.
And the atmosphere changed.
Light poured in from the hallway, and within it stood a girl who didn't just enter the room—
she claimed it.
Sophia Aurelia.
For a single heartbeat, no one moved.
Then—
Gasps.
Whispers.
A stunned, collective inhale.
"Whoa…" "She's here…" "No way…" "Is that really her?"
Sophia stepped inside, her movements graceful, effortless.
Her blonde hair shimmered under the light, tied neatly yet somehow impossibly perfect.
Her uniform was worn exactly like everyone else's,and yet, on her, it looked like it had been designed exclusively for her body.
Her posture was straight, her expression calm, confident.
Not arrogant.
Not smug.
Simply certain.
Boys froze mid-breath.
Some turned red instantly.Others were in awe,completely shocked and drooling over her like a goddess.
One guy dropped his pen and didn't even notice.
Another straightened his back like his spine suddenly remembered its purpose.
A few were openly staring, mouths slightly open, eyes sparkling with something dangerously close to devotion.
"Good morning," Sophia said softly.
Her voice wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
The classroom leaned toward it.
The Professor blinked twice.
"…M..Miss Sophia!?"
"Yes," Sophia replied with a polite nod.
"Sorry for interrupting the lecture."
The Professor immediately stood straighter.
"No, no of course not!. Please, is something wrong?"
"One student in your class,forgot something.."
Sophia's eyes swept across the room.
Not randomly.
Not hurriedly.
She looked—
and people felt seen.
Girls whispered excitedly, some with admiration, some with envy.
"She's so beautiful…" "She looks like a princess…" "How can someone be that perfect?"
Everyone were nervous and shocked.
Then her gaze stopped on Lumen.
The temperature around his desk dropped.
"Lumen," she said.
The name echoed.
Every head snapped toward him like synchronized machinery.
Everyone were shocked.
"…Huh?" Lumen croaked.
His brain short-circuited.
"Why....why....why why why why is she seeing me!?."
Sophia walked forward.
Each step felt like it was measured by the room itself.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Her presence grew heavier with every step, like gravity had chosen her as its center.
Lumen stood up instinctively, legs stiff, heart pounding.
She stopped in front of him.
Up close, she was even worse.
Too close.
Too bright.
Too unreal.
She held something out.
His school ID.
"You dropped this," she said calmly.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
"…Oh," Lumen muttered, taking it with both hands like a sacred artifact. "Th–Thank you!."
A few boys clenched their fists.
Why is she talking to him?
Who is that guy?
Why does he get to stand that close?
Sophia looked at him for a brief moment longer.
"You should be more careful," she added.
"This isn't the first time you've almost disappeared."
The words were gentle.
But something about them felt sharp.
Lumen swallowed.
"…I'll be careful."
She nodded once, satisfied.
Then turned toward the Professor.
"Sorry for the disturbance."
"No—no problem at all," the Professor said immediately. "Please proceed."
Sophia turned to leave.
Everyone was seeing Lumen some in shock some in jealousy.
As she reached the door, she paused.
"And Lumen?"
"Yes?" he replied, too fast.
She glanced back over her shoulder.
Her smile was faint.
Controlled.
Dangerous.
"Try to stay awake today."
The door closed behind her.
For three seconds—
no one spoke.
Then—
"WHO IS THAT GUY?!"
"WHY DOES THE SCHOOL GODDESS KNOW HIM?"
"IS HE A SECRET RICH KID?"
"DID HE SAVE THE WORLD OR SOMETHING?!"
The Professor slammed the desk.
"QUIET!"
The room snapped back to order.
He looked at Lumen, eyes narrowed.
"…You're going to be in trouble." He thought.
Everyone were watching lumen closely.
"Why are everyone watching me like this?!."
Lumen muttered, sinking into his seat.
But it was too late.
The damage was done.
Because from that moment—
Lumen wasn't just invisible anymore.
He was the boy Sophia Aurelia noticed.
Outside the class,in the corridor Sophia was walking.
Lockers slammed,students and teachers passed by closing their lockers.
Footsteps echoed against tiled floors.
Sophia walked calmly through it all, her presence still drawing glances, whispers following her like an invisible trail.
Yet her expression remained unchanged—composed, distant, thoughtful.
Her mind, however, was elsewhere.
"Strange…" she thought.
"He doesn't stand out at all." She thought.
Lumen's face surfaced in her memory—awkward posture, hesitant voice, eyes that always seemed half a step away from the world around him.
"Introverted,Quiet and Almost...invisible." she thought walking.
She slowed her pace slightly.
"Do you really think he has a divine gift?"
She said in her mind,almost like telepathy.
The corridor lights flickered.
No one else noticed.
Sophia stopped near a window, the sunlight pouring in—and then bending.
A small sphere of emerald light materialized before her.
Hovering silently at eye level. It glowed softly, runes faintly circling its surface like slow-moving stars.
Students walked past.
None of them saw it.
None of them felt it.
Sophia's expression didn't change, but her eyes sharpened.
"So?" she asked quietly, lips barely moving.
The sphere pulsed once.
A voice emerged from it—neither male nor female, ancient yet clear, resonating directly within her mind rather than the air.
Yes...
The single word carried certainty.
Sophia's fingers tightened slightly at her side.
"I couldn't sense it clearly," she replied. "He feels… empty."
The green light dimmed, then flared again.
But i can feel it...
A pause.
A shred of divinity resides within him....
The voice replied.
Sophia's eyes narrowed.
"So he is awakened."
Yes
Another pause—longer this time.
The light around the sphere wavered, its glow turning uneven.
The the light continued.
But the divinity he carries is… strange....
Sophia frowned.
"Strange how?"
The voice lowered, its tone no longer neutral.
It is not radiant...Not aligned...But instead It is dark....
Sophia frowned.
Sophia'sreath stilled.
"Dark?"
She asked.
And unfamiliar...
the voice continued.
Unliketheothers....
Images flickered faintly within the green glow—distorted symbols, fractured shadows, something vast pressing against unseen boundaries.
He is diffrent and...strange....
Sophia looked out the window, watching ordinary students cross the courtyard below, laughing, unaware.
Different.
That word lingered.
"…Is he dangerous?" she asked.
The sphere hovered silently for a moment.
"I do not know."
That answer unsettled her more than any warning.
But whatever sleeps within him....
the voice added,
does not belong to the same order as the rest...
Sophia closed her eyes briefly and let out a sigh.
When she opened them again, the emerald sphere faded, dissolving into nothing as if it had never existed.
The corridor lights steadied.
Noise returned.
Life continued.
Sophia resumed walking, her steps measured, her posture flawless.
But her thoughts were no longer calm.
"Lumen msytique...What exactly are you?"