The Experimental Wing's laboratory was supposed to be sealed after dusk.
Naturally, I broke in.
The lock was arcane, bound to voice recognition and mana signature—neither of which I possessed.
But the door was old.
And like many old things, it had memory.
Using Script Sight, I traced the faded remnants of past chants carved into the frame. Dozens of students had spoken the word "Solentra" to open it over the years. The syllables hung in the aether like scars.
I whispered them backwards.
"Artnelos."
The lock hissed open.
[Truthweaver Passive: Linguistic Reversal Activated]Effect: Seal breached. Spell logic inverted.
Simple.
Inversion theory had always been a theoretical branch—too unstable to test under standard Academy rules. Which was exactly why Class B-1's chaos clause gave me freedom.
Now, I had access to a forgotten lab.
A forge for broken ideas.
And I intended to break a few more.
Inside, shelves sagged under dust-covered runes and rusted coils of spell-thread. A single chalkboard filled the far wall—still marked with unfinished calculations from two years ago. A glyph of containment glowed faintly at the center of the floor, damaged but functional.
I dragged a chair into the middle and sat down.
Then, I began.
Experiment Name: Spellform Null-A3Objective: Create a shadow-based structure that absorbs hostile magic using semantic contradiction.Theory: If a spell defines what is, then its inverse defines what cannot be. Therefore, a sufficiently reinforced "false" spell could unravel a true one—without casting anything at all.
It was dangerous. Conceptually illegal. And narratively impossible.
But that was the point.
I dipped a quill into powdered blackroot and drew a symbol: three intersecting lines around an empty center. The glyph for nonexistence.
Next, I whispered its name. Not in mana—but in meaning.
"The space between spells."
The chalk around the circle flared.
A pulse of cold ran through my spine.
It had heard me.
[System Notice]Prototype Spell Created: Shadow Glyph – Voidphrase: "Unmake."Passive Effect: Nullifies tier-1 structured magic when inscribed.Duration: 12 seconds.Warning: High instability. Do not stack.
I sat back.
That… shouldn't have worked.
There was no mana involved. No elemental affinity. Just contradiction layered with intention. I had created a shadow spell—not by following the laws of the world, but by writing around them.
This was what it meant to be a truthweaver.
I didn't bend rules.
I made new ones.
Footsteps echoed from the corridor.
I froze.
The door creaked open a moment later.
A girl stepped in—red-eyed, cloak fluttering.
Not Sylva.
Someone I didn't recognize.
"Caelum Veritas," she said without introduction. "Truthweaver. Unauthorized."
She stepped over the broken glyphs like they meant nothing.
"Who are you?" I asked.
She didn't smile. Didn't blink.
"I'm from the Audit Division."
That wasn't possible.
There was no Audit Division in the original world.
Not this early.
[WARNING: Narrative Deviation Detected]New Entity Identified: Kieran Voss (System Enforcer - Tier 2)Status: Unknown Origin. Possibly Unwritten.Entropy Surge: +3.1%
My blood ran cold.
This wasn't just a new character.
She wasn't supposed to exist.
"You're not part of the story," I said carefully.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Neither are you."
She flicked her wrist. A pulse of golden energy expanded toward me—like a detection net laced with judgment.
I slammed my hand onto the shadow glyph.
Voidphrase: UNMAKE
The spell shattered her scan mid-air, dissolving the golden threads.
Her eyes widened.
"You created a negation field without casting?"
I stood slowly. "You should leave."
She studied me a moment longer, then stepped back.
"Noted."
As she reached the door, she said, "This Academy has rules. Even for people like us."
Then she was gone.
The lab fell silent.
I stared at the fading glyph.
This wasn't just about surviving anymore.
Someone—or something—had noticed.
The world was starting to fight back.
The next morning, I submitted my research log to Professor Varin.
He flipped through the pages absently.
"Unmake, huh?" he muttered. "Sounds dangerous."
"It is."
He scratched his beard. "You're not the first student to try and invent a new form of magic, you know."
"I might be the last."
He looked at me for a long second. Then tossed the pages onto his desk.
"Just make sure it doesn't kill you first."
At lunch, Sylva cornered me in the eastern courtyard. She looked annoyed.
"I heard someone from Audit came to see you."
"You heard fast."
"I asked."
"And?"
She hesitated. "They're not supposed to appear until graduation year. They're plot auditors—they purge anomalies from unstable timelines. Usually quietly."
"So I'm flagged."
"Probably."
I smiled.
"Good."
She frowned. "How is that good?"
"Because if they're reacting this early," I said, standing, "it means I'm ahead of schedule."
[System Notification]Narrative Control Shift: 4.7% ReclaimedNew Ability: Thread Awareness – Detect nearby character role alignments and archetypes.
Sylva blinked as my eyes glowed faintly.
"You just unlocked something again, didn't you?"
"Just a little cheat."
She exhaled. "You're insane."
"No," I corrected. "I'm rewriting."