Chapter 2: Who were you before the darkness?
When I stepped into the classroom, it was too quiet for a room filled with people.
Rows of desks were already taken, each student seated with perfect posture, some reading holographic textbooks, others chatting softly in polished tones.
I took a seat by the window, second row from the back.
Eyes followed me. They didn’t speak, but I felt their calculations. Like they were checking a database in their head.
“Who's that girl?”
“Oh, she's new.”
“Must be Fehu.”
That last word caught my attention, even though I had no clue what it meant.
Just then, someone slid into the seat beside me like she’d been doing it for years.
“Yo. You look like you just woke up in a new world.”
A girl, confident stride and messy blonde hair. Tanned skin. She looked like a gangster, but not the type to start fights more like the one who’d break them up and then light a cigarette in the ruins, dropped into the seat beside Hera.
“I’m Paloma Leventis. You?” the girl asked, tilting her head. Her accent was warm, a little lazy.
“Hera,” I replied slowly. “Hera Albrecht.”
“Ahh,” she nodded. “Albrecht. That explains the gold.”
She gestured to my pin.
“This gold pin that looks like an f means Fehu, top of the pyramid. You're rich rich, huh?”
“Mine’s gold too, royalty peeps.”
So that was it.
Before I could ask more, the classroom shifted.
The door opened, and the air changed like someone had cracked a window to a storm.
He walked in.
Black hair. Tall frame. Sharp features. He wore the same uniform but managed to make it look like custom tailoring. His gold pin gleamed against his collar like it belonged to royalty.
Some students sat straighter. Others lowered their eyes.
He didn’t spare a glance at anyone, just walked to the last row and took a seat.
I knew his face.
Not from memory, but something deeper.
The moment our eyes met, just briefly, it felt like my stomach dropped off a ledge.
Like I’d seen him in a dream before.
“That’s Lev Belyaev,” Paloma whispered. “Good looking bastard right?”
I didn’t say anything. But I felt the pin at my collar again, cold and unfamiliar.
Later, during our break, I slipped away.
The library was quiet and massive, three stories tall, with sunbeams pouring through the green-glass dome.
Digital catalogs hovered in the air, awaiting commands.
I typed in "school rankings" and "Fehu".
School Rankings: Determined by wealth, bloodline, political influence, and legacy impact.
Fehu: The top social and academic ranking of students at Sol Invictus Academy. Reserved for the twenty most influential heirs and heiresses from around the globe.
Wearing the Fehu pin grants access to restricted parts of the academy, including executive lounges, private study domes, and first-tier internships.
Gold: Fehu legacy
Silver: Fehu standard.
Cornucopia (silver): Second to the top. Half of the student population belongs to the cornucopia branch.
The Dove and Olive Branch (White): Here belongs the normal students, in between rich and poverty.
4 Clove (Green): Only the scholars wear this pins.
So this wasn’t just some school club ranking. This was a caste system.
My family name had bought me into this top layer… and yet, it still felt like I didn’t belong.
“Who even am I?”
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
I tapped into other records city news logs, old student rosters, alumni databases. Some access was locked.
But I found old images of Fehu students, including ones from years ago.
And that’s when I saw it, my name.
Hera Albrecht. Listed under "Fehu Transfer - Term XXIII".
And next to it:
“Previously enrolled at Aurea International (abroad), repatriated after recovery.”
“So I really did study abroad… then came back after…?”
But that’s where the public record stopped. No accident logs. No news.
Like it had all been cleaned up.
As I leaned back in the library booth, one phrase repeated in my head:
“The real Her might have died.”
And now I’m wearing her face.
I let out a shaky breath and rested my head against the cool table.
Then I looked down at the golden Fehu pin, reflecting the library’s light.
“Who were you before the darkness?”
[End of Chapter 2]
