Reincarnated as the Last Villain

Setting: Erelith Academy of Chronoscience

Status: Abandoned, Time-DistortedTimeline Layer: Staggered

Once, it was the most advanced school in the Fivefold Kingdoms.

It studied time like a language—wrote futures like stories,and locked away moments in clock-sealed vaults.

But then… something went wrong.

The last lesson never ended.

And now, the academy's halls shift:

Some rooms move faster than light.

Others stay frozen.

Some replay the same ten seconds forever.

Kael arrives at the shattered gates.Ashendawn glows uneasily.

Time here rejects him.

First Encounter: Echo-Classroom

Kael steps into a room filled with children—laughing, learning, breathing.

Then he blinks—

And they're all ashes.

A chalkboard repeats the same phrase every five seconds:

"She was never born, yet still she waits."

Kael hears humming.

He follows it.

She Who Fled Time

In the library, amidst floating books and ticking gears,a girl stands.

No older than thirteen.

Silver hair.

Eyes like broken hourglasses.

She turns to Kael and says:

"You're not supposed to be here.I haven't finished dying yet."

The Second Child: Caelia

Caelia.A name never recorded.

A girl who stopped her own birth through chronoweaving,trapping herself in the academy before existence could catch up.

She's the second Child of Flame—but unlike Lyra, her flame is inverted.

She controls time—but is terrified of forward motion.

"I know what happens when I grow.I've seen what I become.I refuse it."

Kael steps closer.

"And if you do nothing… the Pale Sovereign finds you."

She hesitates.

"I know."

The Test

Caelia offers Kael a challenge:

"I'll join you…if you can pass one hour with me,without losing a single memory."

Then time fractures.

Trial: The Hour That Bites

Kael is pulled into a recursive time-loop simulation.

He relives:

His first betrayal.

His first mercy.

His first death.

His first lie.

The day he chose to pick up Ashendawn.

Every time he questions it—he forgets something.

A name.A face.A reason.

Until only one truth anchors him:

"My name is Kael Valen.I am not perfect.But I am whole."

The Flame Accepts

Caelia watches.

Smiles.

Her hourglass eyes begin to glow—

Not with time—

But with emberlight.

[Child of Flame 2/7 Located: Caelia]

Role: Flame of Remembrance

Power: Clockburn – Can rewind small moments for allies or erase enemy actions

Status: Awakened

Connection: Balanced trust — She tests everything before belief

Parting the School

As they leave, Caelia speaks:

"One more thing, Kael."

She hands him a device:

A watch with seven hands.Each one ticks to a different future.

"Only one leads to your survival.One leads to hers.One leads to the Pale Sovereign winning."

Kael asks:

"Which one is real?"

She answers:

"Whichever you believe first."