The light of the Merlin Moon still glinted faintly through the dome glass above.

  “Wake up.”

  The teacher’s voice cracked like a whip.

  The boy jolted upright, rubbing his eyes.

  “Good of you to join us,” the teacher said, arms crossed. “I’d ask what part of the end of history put you to sleep, but I’m afraid the answer might embarrass us both.”

  Laughter rippled through the classroom.

  Taryn blinked, sat up slowly, and yawned. “Sorry, Professor. Must’ve slipped through a dimensional crack.”

  More laughter followed.

  The professor did not laugh.

  “If only your studies had the same timing as your wit.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “You’re failing every subject at the academy, and you still find time to nap?”

  “Guess I’m just leaning into my strengths,” Taryn said dryly.

  The class cracked up again—part mockery, part awe. The teacher turned red.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he barked as Taryn stood and headed toward the door.

  “You said I’m failing, and I take that very seriously,” Taryn replied, walking backward. “Gotta focus on my true calling: horizontal meditation.”

  Another wave of laughter chased him into the corridor.

  Outside, the air was clean and strangely warm. The academy gardens stretched wide across terraced hills, lush with greenery and glittering petals that shimmered beneath the distant light of the Merlin Moon.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Three suns.

  That was normal now.

  Nine hundred years after the Collapse, the world had been reshaped—not only by nature, but by the cursed children once feared as omens of extinction. Now, their awakened powers had rewritten everything: weather, terrain, even the sky.

  Taryn wandered toward a quiet corner of the grounds, where rose bushes swayed in the breeze. This was his sanctuary. A place no one else disturbed.

  He lay back in the grass, staring upward, and raised his right hand. A mark shimmered faintly across it—a complex imprint, dark and cold. Beautiful in a way that made people uncomfortable.

  A Dimensional Cosmic Imprint.

  His wasn’t just rare. It was S-Class.

  Only two secretly existed at the academy.

  “Still staring at that thing like it owes you an explanation?”

  Taryn didn’t move. “Hey, Xara.”

  The girl stepped into view, arms folded. Long hair. Calm eyes. Confident without trying. She sat beside him, brushing her uniform smooth with practiced grace.

  “Any progress?” she asked, nodding at the mark.

  Taryn exhaled. “It’s like trying to solve a puzzle with invisible pieces.”

  “Well, you’re not alone,” she said, holding up her hand. Her imprint glowed with a gentler hue—similar in pattern, lighter in tone. “Similar… yet so different.”

  “I know,” Taryn said flatly.

  She didn’t take offense.

  “According to Yoni’s theory, Dimensional Imprints awaken when you encounter something that resonates with the dimension you’re linked to. You need a trigger.”

  “I’ve been chasing that ‘trigger’ since I was ten,” he muttered. “I’ve studied ancient records, sect scrolls, even heretic nonsense. Nothing.”

  “You’re trying too hard,” she said, bumping his shoulder lightly. “Sometimes the answers find you when you stop forcing them.”

  Taryn stayed silent.

  Xara sighed. “Anyway. Try not to get expelled before exams. Our families already think we’re planning the apocalypse.”

  “I’m not getting expelled,” he said. “They’re bluffing. I’m still the elder’s son.”

  “You’re also a ‘cripple’ with a mark that hasn’t activated. If your last name wasn’t what it is—”

  “I know.”

  A pause stretched between them.

  Then she softened.

  “You’re not dumb, Taryn. You’re just… obsessed. And maybe that’s what scares them.”

  He looked at her.

  “Do I scare you?”

  “No,” she said instantly. “You fascinate me.”

  He blinked.

  She stood, brushing grass from her skirt. “Now come on. I want to show you something.”

  “What, another lecture?”

  “Since you clearly gave up on class,” Xara said with a smirk, “let’s visit my dimension. Maybe this time you’ll find the inspiration you’re looking for.”

  Despite his brooding nature, he never turned down a trip to Xara’s world. It wasn’t just her calm or their bond—it was the dimension itself.

  Her paradise was nothing like the real world.

  He followed.

  A soft mist coiled around them—white silk that wrapped the air.

  In a blink, they vanished.

  Then—light.