Sweat dripped down my neck, cold and slow.
High vaulted ceilings of the disciplinary hall made my small frame feel even more insignificant.
Dean Alistair stared at me from behind his massive obsidian desk. His eyes, sharp and icy blue, cut through the dim light of the chamber like shards of glass.
Silence stretched between us, thick with accusation.
"Let us review the facts once more, Isaac," Alistair said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble that vibrated through the floorboards.
"Damian was found in the eastern courtyard at dawn. He was completely catatonic. Drool was spilling onto the cobblestones, and his eyes were rolled back into his skull."
My throat felt dry, like sand. I squeezed my hands into tight fists behind my back to hide their trembling.
"I told you, Dean," I stammered, trying to keep my voice steady. "It was an adverse reaction to a mana potion."
Alistair leaned forward, resting his elbows on the polished dark stone. The scent of ozone and crushed mint filled the air, a subtle threat of his high-tier wind magic.
"A potion," Alistair repeated. The word carried a heavy weight of disbelief. "A simple potion caused a third-tier noble scion to lose his mind?"
I nodded rapidly, desperately hoping my face didn't betray the sheer terror clawing at my chest.
He tapped a long, pale finger against the desk. The sound echoed like a ticking clock counting down my final seconds.
"And you just happened to be there," Alistair murmured. "A zero-tier reject, standing over the ruined body of one of our most promising students."
Fear clawed at my throat. If they discovered Aurelius had possessed Damian, they would execute me on the spot.
"I was trying to help him," I lied, my voice cracking slightly. "But the residual mana backlash blew me back. I barely survived myself."
Alistair didn't look convinced. His gaze remained fixed on me, calculating and cold.
An ancient scroll was tossed onto the desk between us, landing with a dull thud.
"A trial-by-combat has been scheduled," Alistair declared. "If your hands are truly clean, the heavens will grant you victory. If you are harboring a dark, forbidden magic, it will be stripped from your corpse."
My heart stopped. My chest felt tight, suffocating.
"You will face our academy's champion, Leon, in three days," Alistair said, his smile devoid of any warmth. "Prepare yourself."
"Dismissed," the dean added, turning his attention back to his paperwork.
Stumbling out of the disciplinary hall, my legs felt like lead. The stone corridors of the academy seemed to close in on me, whispering threats of my impending doom.
---
Shame burned hot in my chest as I hurried back to my room.
Loneliness pressed down on me, heavy and suffocating.
Locking the heavy wooden door of my dusty dorm, I slid down to the cold floor.
I buried my face in my hands, groaning at my own sheer, unadulterated stupidity.
How did I get into this mess?
Only hours ago, I had cornered a literal god in the abandoned bell tower.
Armed with nothing but my newly discovered beast-taming cheat, I had tried to force Aurelius to submit.
In this world, everyone possesses a unique magic, and mine was supposed to be absolute.
Focusing all my meager mana, I gritted my teeth and yanked on the invisible, metaphysical leash binding us.
Believing I could make a calamity-class dragon cower was my first mistake.
Instead, Aurelius had merely blinked.
Amusement had flickered in his golden, reptilian eyes. The golden chain of my taming magic had shattered like cheap glass against his ancient soul.
"You dare pull my leash, little master?" his voice had echoed in my mind, hot as a furnace.
Panic had seized me then. The air had grown so hot my skin felt blistered, and the ancient stone of the tower had begun to melt under the pressure of his aura.
Terrified he would incinerate the entire academy—and my soul along with it—I had screamed the first thing that came to my mind.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I had shrieked, tears streaming down my face. "We can... we can do it later! We can have sex later! Just please don't kill me!"
Memories of my desperation made me want to dissolve into the floorboards.
I had actually offered my body to a possessive, ancient dragon just to keep from being vaporized.
Even worse, the trick had worked.
Aurelius had immediately ceased his terrifying display, a wicked, unbearably pleased grin spreading across his face before he vanished back into my shadow.
Now, I was paying the price for my cowardice.
I was scheduled to fight Leon, the strongest student in the entire academy, and my only "weapon" was a possessive dragon who wanted to ravish me.
---
Desperation forced me to my feet.
I crossed the tiny room and sat cross-legged on my thin mattress.
Closing my eyes, I tried to locate my mana core.
Solaris's magic system was governed by nine distinct cores, but mine felt like a cold, empty void.
Focusing inward, I searched for even a single thread of energy to manipulate.
Nothing.
Only a dry, hollow sensation scraped against my ribs.
Being a zero-tier outcast was a harsh reality. My body simply couldn't hold mana the way others did.
"Please," I whispered to the empty room. "Just a spark. Anything."
Squeezing my eyes shut, I imagined a flame, a gust of wind, a pebble lifting off the ground.
My forehead throbbed with a dull, aching pressure.
A single, pathetic wisp of grey mist rose from my fingertips, only to dissolve into nothingness a second later.
It was useless.
Learning enough magic in three days was an impossible task.
Leon was a prodigy of the fifth tier, a master of physical reinforcement and lightning magic.
He could move faster than the human eye could track and shatter solid iron with his fists.
Destiny had marked me as a sheep being led to the slaughter.
And the only being who could help me was a manipulative, body-snatching dragon who viewed me as a prize to be conquered.
---
Cold wind rattled the loose window pane of my small dorm room.
Crawling onto my narrow bed, I pulled the thin, scratchy blanket up to my chin.
Tears slipped hot and fast down my cheeks, soaking into the rough fabric of my pillow.
An overwhelming sense of isolation pressed down on me.
In my past life, I had been overlooked and unloved, a ghost drifting through a crowded world.
Transmigrating to Solaris was supposed to be a second chance, but it had only brought a different kind of nightmare.
Here, I was still nothing. A zero-tier joke destined to be crushed under the boots of arrogant mages.
How was I supposed to survive a duel against Leon?
If I fought, I would die.
Refusing meant Alistair would brand me a traitor and execute me anyway.
"Why me?" I whispered into the dark, silent room.
No answer came. Only the steady, mocking tick of the clock on the wall.
Clutching my pillow tighter, I wished for a warmth that would never come.
My chest ached with a deep, hollow longing.
Eventually, exhaustion claimed my battered mind, dragging me down into a restless, dreamless sleep.
---
Warmth woke me first.
It wasn't the chilly, damp cold of the early morning.
Instead, a thick, radiant heat wrapped around my entire body, melting away the lingering aches in my bones.
My arms were wrapped tightly around something solid.
Squeezing gently, my fingers sank into a soft, expensive cotton shirt.
Beneath the fabric, I could feel the distinct, rising and falling rhythm of a broad, muscular chest.
A steady, rhythmic heartbeat thudded against my cheek.
Inhaling deeply, my nose brushed against a collarbone that radiated a scent of fresh cedar, ozone, and a faint, unmistakable hint of sulfur.
Sulfur.
My eyes snapped open, my heart instantly leaping into my throat.
Morning light filtered through the dusty window, illuminating the room in pale gold.
Slowly tilting my head back, my breath hitched as I realized I was tangled in the sheets with someone else.
Sleeping peacefully right beside me was none other than the academy's golden-boy champion.
Leon's sharp, handsome features were relaxed in sleep, his messy blonde hair spilling across my pillow.
My gaze drifted down to his neck, where the collar of his shirt had fallen open.
Isaac looks up to see the academy's champion, Leon, sleeping peacefully beside him, a dark violet mark of draconic possession branded onto Leon's collarbone.