Pain.
Blinding, all-consuming pain radiated through Adam's body as his consciousness spiraled through darkness. Memories collided—his death at Marcus's hands, his six years as James Williams' son, and now this new agony.
He was being compressed, squeezed, forced through a space too small for his being. And then...
Light. Harsh and unwelcome.
Cold air on wet skin.
A woman's exhausted cry of triumph.
"It's a boy!" A voice announced. "The first twin is here."
Twin. The word triggered a flood of hatred in Adam. If he was the first twin, then—
A second cry of pain from the woman, followed minutes later by another infant's wail.
"Another boy!" The same voice declared. "Two healthy sons, Your Highness."
Adam's vision gradually cleared as someone cleaned his tiny body. He squinted, trying to make sense of his surroundings. A stone chamber. People in robes moving urgently around a bed where a pale woman lay, sweat-drenched and trembling.
Queen Elara of House Morningstar. His mother. His original mother, from the world of the Arkmage Chronicles.
This couldn't be happening. He had died twenty-three years after this moment. Then he had lived and died again in that strange other world. Now he was back at the beginning?
A robed figure approached, peering down at him. The Royal Seer, Magister Orren. Adam remembered him—remembered ordering his execution years later when the old man discovered his forbidden research into Void energy.
"Let me see the children," Orren said, his voice grave.
The midwife brought Adam closer, and the old seer's eyes widened.
"By the Spectrum..." he whispered. "This one has the Crossmark."
Queen Elara struggled to sit up. "What? What's wrong with my son?"
"His eyes, Your Highness. Red, with a cross-shaped pupil." The seer backed away slightly. "The mark of the Crimson Heresy."
"No," the queen protested weakly. "That's just a superstition. Bring him to me."
As the midwife carried Adam to his mother, he caught a glimpse of the second baby—Marcus, with his perfectly normal green eyes, already drawing admiring coos from the attendants.
It was happening again. Already, before he had even taken his first willing breath in this world, he was being marked as different. As wrong.
[GENESIS SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
[WELCOME TO YOUR SECOND CYCLE]
[ALL PRIOR MEMORIES RETAINED]
[SCANNING HOST BODY...]
The ethereal blue text flashed across Adam's vision, visible only to him. Then came a status panel:
Name: Adam Morningstar
Age: Newborn (0 days)
Cycle: 2 of 9
Status: Physically Undeveloped
ABILITIES:
- Memory Retention (Complete)
- Physical Enhancement (Locked - Requires Development)
- Death Imprinting (Locked - Requires First Death)
- Fate Perception (Locked - Requires Divergence)
- Soul Fragmentation (Locked - Requires Multiple Imprints)
CURRENT IMPRINTS: None
The Genesis System. It was real, and it had followed him back to his original world. Back to the beginning of his story.
Queen Elara took him in her arms, studying his face with an expression of fierce love that Adam had forgotten. In his previous life, that love had gradually transformed into wary caution, then fearful distance, and finally resigned hostility as his powers and ambitions grew.
"He's perfect," she whispered, defying the murmurs of the attendants. "Both my sons are perfect."
The king entered then, his imposing figure filling the doorway. King Tiberius Morningstar, Radiant Arkmage of the Seventh Circle, ruler of Solaris Kingdom.
"My sons," he said, voice thick with emotion. He approached the bed, looking first at Marcus, nodding approvingly, then turning to Adam.
The king's expression changed subtly—a momentary widening of the eyes, a tightening of the jaw. Reactions Adam had been too young to recognize in his first life, but now understood perfectly.
Disappointment. Concern. The first seeds of fear.
"The elder has the Crossmark," Magister Orren informed the king quietly.
"I can see that," King Tiberius replied, his voice carefully neutral. "It means nothing. He is a prince of House Morningstar, and he will be raised as such."
Lies. Adam knew how his story unfolded. While Marcus would receive personal training from the king, Adam would be relegated to distant tutors. While Marcus would be celebrated at court, Adam would be kept away from public eyes. While Marcus would be groomed for the throne, Adam would be watched for signs of the darkness his eyes supposedly foretold.
And eventually, those expectations would become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But now, with his adult mind intact and the Genesis System at his disposal, Adam could change everything. He could make different choices. He could rise above the fate that had been written for him.
Or he could use his foreknowledge to destroy his enemies more thoroughly than before. To claim the power that should have been his. To ensure that this time, it would be Marcus who died at his feet.
The question that James Williams had posed at that dinner table echoed in his mind: Can someone fundamentally broken be fixed? Can evil be redeemed?
Adam didn't know. But he had eight more lives to find out.
As he was placed in a cradle beside his brother, Adam felt a strange sensation—a pull toward the infant who would one day kill him. Marcus's tiny hand brushed against his, and for a moment, Adam considered his first divergence from fate. He could kill Marcus now. One sharp burst of pressure to his fragile newborn skull, and his greatest enemy would be eliminated before he ever became a threat.
The nurses would blame it on natural causes. No one would suspect an infant of murder.
Adam's tiny fingers twitched toward his brother's throat.
[WARNING: MAJOR FATE DIVERGENCE DETECTED]
[PROCEED WITH CAUTION]
[CHOICES MADE NOW WILL AFFECT ALL FUTURE CYCLES]
Adam hesitated. If he killed Marcus now, what would he become? What would he learn? Would the Genesis System even allow him to continue to the next cycle, or would this act of ultimate vengeance end his journey before it began?
With enormous effort, Adam pulled his hand back.
Not yet. He needed to understand the rules of this game before making his move.
For now, he would watch. Learn. Grow stronger.
And when the time came, he would make his choice—redemption or revenge—with the full knowledge of what either path would cost him.