Everything I wanted... It was a world of peace.

  A simple, almost na?ve desire. But in an era broken by war, with magic and technology in eternal conflict, even hope seemed like a luxury. Everywhere, millions of people were suffering. Entire nations crumbled under the weight of hatred. The cities were falling. Families were shattered. I, who had lost everything, had made a choice: to use both forces—magic and science—to protect what was left. I had created a neutral organization, a refuge for the disillusioned. A home for the survivors.

  I thought I had a mission.

  But it all ended the moment I met him.

  It was night, and the city in front of me looked like a lifeless body.

  I walked through the rubble with my cloak wrapped tightly around my body, my boots sinking into the dust and fragments. The air was still, broken only by a distant crackle of fire. The sky was dark, devoid of stars, and the moon seemed to have hidden itself in shame.

  A distant moan made me turn around.

  Among the piles of debris, I saw something moving. Or someone.

  I ran up to it, my heart pounding. There, in the middle of nowhere, there was a man. Bleeding, barely conscious, he dragged himself towards me.

  "Hmm?" I murmured, bending down. "Hey! Do you hear me? Talk to me!"

  His eyes opened with difficulty. "Help... please..."

  Without wasting a second, I raised my hand and tracing a luminous symbol in the air, I summoned a portal. A blue gap opened in the void and with an effort I let the man pass, holding him on my shoulders. I followed him immediately after, closing him behind me.

  We appeared in a hidden and safe pce: our cndestine hospital, one of the st remaining shelters.

  "Boss."

  I turned around. Masamune stared at me, leaning against a door with his arms folded. His face was tense.

  "He shouldn't be walking around. She is still wanted."

  I sighed. He was right.

  Yes, I was a wanted person. To those who supported science, I was a witch. For those who supported magic, an aberration that desecrated the art of God with technology. Every government saw me as a danger. A loose cannon. The idea of a world where magic and technology coexisted was seen as heresy by everyone. Nevertheless... There were still people who had chosen to follow me. Few, but courageous.

  "Take care of it," I said dryly, walking away.

  I crossed the corridor, where dozens of wounded filled every corner. Bandaged bodies, muffled cries. People of all ethnicities, united only by suffering. I swore to myself that I wouldn't let this be in vain.

  Meanwhile, in the room, Masamune set to work.

  "What's your name?" he asked, starting to disinfect the wounds of the newcomer. "I am Masamune. I'll take care of you."

  "Amon," the man replied, in a hoarse voice.

  Masamune raised an eyebrow. "Amon, huh? A rare name around here."

  Amon remained silent, carefully observing the surroundings. Then, he whispered: "That girl..."

  "Her name is Sato," Masamune replied with a half-smile. "For us... she is a Goddess. She was the first to stand up against the war. She formed this organization on her own."

  "a Goddess, you say...?"

  Amon's gaze deepened. But no one paid attention to it.

  A few days passed. Amon recovered quickly, too quickly perhaps, but in those days those who had strength were welcome. No one would have imagined that the poison was already creeping into our shelter.

  One evening I turned on the TV. The usual propaganda news... until I saw myself on the screen.

  A correspondent was speaking live: "Anonymous sources have confirmed the presence of the wanted Sato, leader of the terrorist group known as 'Legion', inside an underground hospital west of the Red Zone. The police are already surrounding the area."

  Panic exploded in my chest. I tried to summon a portal. Nothing. Again. Still. Nothing.

  Something was blocking me.

  A barrier.

  It was a trap.

  Seconds ter, an explosion devastated part of the shelter. The floor shook. The walls cracked. People screaming, smoke everywhere. Then the door flew open. An armed squad burst in. In front of them... Amon.

  But he was no longer the man I had saved.

  He was standing, perfectly healthy, his body emanating an icy light. His eyes shone with power.

  "I find you in trouble, oh Goddess," he said with an eerie smile. "Now I'm going to show you what the gods really are."

  My heart stopped.

  He knew how to use magic. To heal himself. To fight. And he had kept it hidden. He had worked with governments to find me, to destroy everything I had built.

  A perfect betrayal.

  He pointed a finger at me. A spear of light formed in front of him. I couldn't move. I was injured, trapped under some rubble. My power was blocked.

  A fsh. A sharp blow.

  Then... silence.

  "Do you want another chance?" said a voice. Suave, but ruthless.

  I was in a void without form. There was no time, no space. Just that voice, like the song of a child in a broken dream. A whisper that seemed to come from every direction, yet from none.

  "If you wish, I can give it to you. You just have to ask me. I... I am God."

  God?

  Amun had said something about the gods. And now... Was it him? Was it all a game? A divine joke? Or a punishment? Was someone offering me what another had snatched from me?

  I tried to look around, but nothingness enveloped me like a dense sea. I had no body, no weight. Only conscience. Just thought. And that voice... that voice that cut the soul like gss.

  Who was I, to receive such a gift? A survivor? A defeat? A pawn?

  But in the silence, among a thousand questions and memories, only one certainty emerged: I didn't want it to end like this.

  Then, finally... Decided.

  "God, please... give me another chance."

  Something moved. A gash in the eternal night. An old man emerged out of nowhere, dressed in white. But it wasn't pure white: it looked like a white that had forgotten what light was. His eyes were not eyes, but abysses dotted with stars. And when he walked, the space bent as if he feared his presence.

  Behind him a gigantic mirror materialized, set between columns of broken light. But the mirror... it reflected nothing. Neither does he. Not even me. Only darkness. A bck and liquid surface, which seemed to breathe. And inside... Something was stirring. Slow. Familiar distorted shadows. As if the past and the future chased each other in there, caught in a dance that no one could stop.

  A shape looked at me. It wasn't my reflection.

  Around us grew a bright temple, made of marble and glow, but too perfect, too still, like a dream built by someone who didn't really know humanity.

  God stretched out His hand to me. His fingers looked like fiments of gaxies. A smile crossed him, and it was there that I saw him: a shadow, thin and sharp, hidden at the edge of his form. A crack in perfection. Or maybe... a mask that was about to slip off.

  And from the bottom of the mirror, like a whisper in my heart, I heard a second voice. Freezing. Intimate. Fierce.

  "Every possibility... it has a price."

  I touched his hand.

  And everything vanished.

  "Aw, how cute!"" My lord, come, come closer."" They are splendid..."

  Entries. Many. But muffled, far away. I felt strange. Small. Light.

  When I finally opened my eyes, I was in the arms of a woman with a pale but serene face, lying on a bed, in a room that seemed to have come out of a distant era. The walls were of polished stone. The wooden floor.

  I tried to speak. To ask where I was.

  But... only a sharp sound came out of my mouth. A cry. A cry.

  Terror enveloped me for an instant. Then I understood.

  I had been reincarnated. In a different world. In a new life.

  The woman held me close to her. One man lifted another infant and smiled. Maybe after a long time, I could have had a life too.

  "Welcome, Sato... Albert... in the Mikoto cn."

  13 years ter...

  Thirteen years have passed since I was reincarnated in this world. I was reincarnated as the second daughter of the head of the Mikoto cn, one of the 5 oldest and most powerful cns in the world, and the only one where there were other races than humans.

  Four years after my birth, Lily, our little sister, came into the world. A small ray of sunshine in a house that, at times, can be too cold and severe. Growing up as the children of the cn chief is never easy, but for Lily I have always tried to be a refuge.

  Even if I try to leave my previous life behind, I can't ignore what I know. My knowledge of the past world has become a valuable resource here. This is why many consider me a genius. But... There is always a "but" in stories like mine.

  "Sato onee-san!" A shrill voice reached me as I walked through the inner gardens of the Mikoto residence. The air was scented with cherry blossoms, even though the season was almost over. Lily ran toward me, her cheeks flushed with the effort, her braids ruffled by the wind.

  "Albert onii-san is bullying again!" he excimed, pnting himself in front of me like a little warrior looking for help.

  I sighed. It was not the first time it had happened. In fact, it was practically routine. It didn't take long for him to tick off too.

  "It's you who won't listen to me," Albert said, crossing his arms and assuming that superior air he had learned from who knows who. "One day I'll lead the cn. It's my duty to teach Lily at least the basics of magic. I just want to help her understand her potential."

  She stared at me, then added with a sharp smile: "Instead she... always buzzes around those who don't even know how to use magic, despite having studied it for years."

  I stopped for a moment, but kept my smile. Every time he reproached me with that truth, something inside me contracted. In this world, magic is everything. It is prestige, it is power, it is destiny. And I, despite my age, have not yet been able to awaken my mana core.

  In this world, every individual is born with a dormant core. When it awakens, the tent power manifests: the affinity with one or more elements, the level of strength, the ability to manipute the mana within us or around us. A transition that for many takes pce at an early age. For me, however, the nucleus has remained dormant, and at this rate, I will not be able to realize my new dream.

  But I have other resources. I still remember the magic circles and their functions, even if in this world enchantments are needed, rituals work.

  "Don't worry, Lily," I said, stroking her head gently. "Don't listen too much to those who get their heads up already at thirteen."

  I looked at Albert with a serene but pungent expression. I knew it irritated him. The truth? It was my little revenge. Although he was the eldest, our parents did not always approve of his authoritarian attitudes, and if I compined about anything, he would risk serious trouble. It was the only way I had to keep him under control at all.

  "Gentlemen," said a female voice, interrupting our little dispute.

  A maid had approached with a composed step, her hands csped in front of her immacute white apron. "The master wishes to see you in his office. Both."

  Albert raised an eyebrow, while Lily looked confused. I, on the other hand, felt a slight knot in my stomach.

  Our father's office was as always maniacally tidy. Every parchment, every book, every object was in its pce, as if the environment itself reflected his way of being: impeccable. He was sitting behind the rge mahogany desk, his hands intertwined in front of him. Next to him, our mother, with a serene but also a little worried look.

  "You are here," said our father, "Good."

  Albert stiffened next to me, as if waiting for a reprimand. I, on the other hand, kept neutral. Lily partially hid behind me, grabbing the hem of my tunic.

  "We've made up our minds," our father said, after a moment's silence. "Sato. Albert. You will both attend Radia's academy."

  For a moment time seemed to stand still.

  Albert seemed frozen, but I could hardly hold back a smile of triumph.

  The Academy of Radia. One of the most prestigious magical institutions on the continent, the Royal Academy.

  "Only Albert should have gone, but we have decided that you will both attend the academy," our mother continued.

  I opened my mouth a little, then I shut up.

  If they really wanted to send me to Radia, there had to be a reason. Maybe they believed that my core would awaken there.

  Albert suddenly blurted out.

  "It's not possible, you're without magic, you're the shame of the cn, you're...", he stopped... "I challenge you. If you haven't awakened your power within 1 year, you'll leave the academy alone."

  It seemed absurd to me that he was opposing a decision of our parents, but the fact that no one stopped him meant that it could be a test, so I accepted without thinking.