Reborn With A Wizard System

The summons came at dusk.

A scroll tucked under Lyle's pillow, sealed with the symbol of Instructor Veil.

No messenger. No fanfare.

Just silent intent.

Juno read it over his shoulder, expression hardening.

"'Recon mission to Zone 3-C, suspected resurgence of hostile glyphspawn. High risk, limited escort.'"

Lyle folded the scroll. "They're testing me."

"Or isolating you."

"Same thing."

---

Zone 3-C was more wilderness than warzone.

Thirty kilometers east of the Academy perimeter, flanked by mountain ridges and the wreckage of an old pre-Seal town, its glyphs had been inert for years.

But then again, so had the Seal itself—until recently.

Juno packed without a word, checking her blades, resetting her gear.

Lyle slid the Codex into his belt-pouch and stared at the ring.

> [Gate Progress: 39%]

Dimensional instability rising in current region.

It hadn't pulsed like this before.

But it hummed now… like it recognized where they were going.

---

They left before sunrise.

No escort.

No briefing.

Just a silent drop into Zone 3-C by glider, wind biting at their faces as the mountains loomed larger beneath them.

Juno scanned the ridgelines. "No contact yet."

Lyle closed his eyes.

He could feel it.

Thread remnants.

Faint. Broken. But familiar.

"Something happened here."

Juno nodded. "You think they knew that when they sent us?"

"Definitely."

---

They touched down near the ruins of the old glyphforge town.

Dead vines strangled shattered buildings.

The air felt too still.

Too… watched.

Lyle reached for the Codex—

But the ring pulsed first.

A soft tug.

Not down.

Inward.

"There's something buried here," he said aloud.

Juno drew both blades. "Buried, or waiting?"

---

Inside the remains of a crumbled temple, they found it.

A slab of red-black stone, half-cracked, buried beneath glyph-marked debris.

And etched across its face…

The same sigil as the ring.

A second anchor point.

> [Anchor 2 Activated – 43% Gate Stabilization Reached]

Lyle's breath caught.

Juno touched the edge of the sigil and hissed. "It's not magic."

"It's older."

She frowned. "It's hungry."

---

And then the wind stopped.

Not slowed.

Stopped.

Completely.

The silence was wrong.

The shadows too still.

And from beyond the crumbled doorway, a figure stepped into the temple light.

Not a soldier.

Not an instructor.

Not even human.

A twisted mockery of a man, skin like runed bark, eyes bleeding static—

> "The ring does not belong to you," it hissed.

"Return it, or be unmade."

---

Lyle stepped in front of Juno.

His voice was calm.

His pulse steady.

And the Codex burned with unwritten words behind his eyes.

> "Come take it."