Fire Mage

Zephyr slowly opened his eyes and soon found himself lying on a luxurious bed.

"******** ******* ******, ******* *******!" A woman's voice echoed from the left side, causing him to frown.

'Who is it? What language is she speaking?'

At that moment, he noticed that his chest felt heavy and placed his hand on it.

No, it wasn't his chest!

"B**bs? What the hell?" He lowered his gaze and noticed he had two large melons bouncing!

His shout startled the maid standing near his bed.

"**** ********?" As she was asking something, a large amount of information flooded his mind.

Memories of a certain person. The memories contained information about an ancient Arcane Language, culture, political instability, Magic, and everything.

He… No, the person he possessed was a princess of the Radiant Empire.

Her name was Lina Kar, Second Princess of the Radiant Empire.

"Ancient Era… She is the daughter of Emperor Leone Kar…"

Zephyr sat frozen on the edge of the bed, the weight of the foreign memories pressing on his mind like iron chains.

"Lina Kar… Second Princess of the Radiant Empire…?"

He glanced at his reflection in the ornate mirror across the room. It was an adult woman of around 30 years old. Long, silver hair flowed down her shoulders, and those deep, amethyst eyes shimmered with confusion and remnants of forgotten grief.

But it wasn't her grief.

It was the fragments of obsession, betrayal, and despair of Nira Kar's.

"So, the body I now possess belongs to her younger sister…"

Zephyr's thoughts grew darker as the memories continued to unravel like a cursed tapestry.

Two hundred years ago, Nira Kar was destined to inherit the throne. Beautiful, wise, and magically gifted—many believed her to be the jewel of the Radiant Empire. Her engagement to the Elven Prince had symbolized peace, unity, and prosperity between humans and elves.

Until it all burned to ash.

The war against the Syreni had changed everything.

The Syreni Queen, gravely injured in a border skirmish, had been rescued—not by humans, not by her own kin—but by the very man meant to marry Nira.

The Elven Prince, bound by honor and gratitude, crossed enemy lines to protect the Syreni Queen. That act, seemingly noble, shattered the fragile balance.

The elves, once allies, now stood with the Syreni.

"The humans lost the war because their allies betrayed them… because of a woman."

The Emperor, already old, had grown sick—his health deteriorating from the emotional and magical curse. His once-proud Empire was now fractured, its power waning, its people caught between hatred and humiliation.

And Nira Kar?

She couldn't bear the betrayal. Her obsession twisted into something horrifying. Only Lina—the girl whose body Zephyr now inhabited—had known the truth.

"She used forbidden rituals... sacrifices… abducted elves and Syreni alike."

Rituals drawn from moon-blessed ruins and sun-etched stones, calling on divine forces that should never be awakened.

Dozens went missing. Then hundreds. No one could trace them.

But the elves and Syreni didn't need proof. They had a cause for revenge.

The Great War began.

It lasted twenty years.

A war bathed in sorrow and fire. A war where no side truly won, only bled.

At its end, the Elven Prince and the Syreni Queen had become lovers. Their tale, whispered across the continents, had become a symbol of impossible love, healing, and defiance.

For Nira, it was the final blow.

She vanished after a heated argument with the old Emperor.

No one saw her again.

The people said she died of heartbreak. Others whispered that she'd transcended humanity and ascended.

"Ha, what am I doing in this place?" The current Radiant Empire was on the verge of breaking into countless pieces.

The only thing that held this empire was the dying soul of the Empire.

"But his health is in worse condition." If he ended up dead, Lina would be the one who needed to take the throne. But she was sick from birth and had only the strength of Rank-3.

'She is a Rank-3 Light Mage…' An average lifespan of a Rank-3 Ancient Mage was around 800 years. Considering her age, she was only around 30 years in normal human standards.

'But this palace has too many strong people. Of course, she would feel weak and afraid.' Even the Royal Guards were around Rank-4 Knights.

Zephyr suddenly thought of something and checked his mind.

'Oh? Those spell models are mine. I thought even my soul would've been swapped.' He breathed out a sigh of relief and pondered what to do next.

He knew that this was nothing but an illusion created by someone for the second trial.

'But what do I have to do?' Zephyr woke up from the bed, freshened himself up with the help of palace maids, and went to the Royal Library.

'I highly suspect the one who made this trial is none other than Lina Kar.' Zephyr picked up the books and started reading.

As he was reading, the time moved in a blink, and soon darkness came.

He returned to his bedroom and looked at the night sky.

A single white moon hung up in the eastern sky, radiating brightly.

'It's beautiful…' His face froze.

'Single moon?' There was no single moon in Edhen but three moons!

They always appear close to each other and give an ominous feeling whenever someone looks at them.

And what was more shocking was that the moon appeared bright white color!

'The moons in Edhen always look like they were soaked in blood, though.' He sighed deeply and thought this might be a completely new world.

'Like the one Myl came from.'

Zephyr spent the next two months inside the palace walls, rarely stepping out of the Royal Library. From dawn until midnight, he read, observed, and memorized everything from the Empire's history to its most obscure political treaties.

The empire's fall wasn't a sudden collapse, but it was a slow rot, spreading from the core.

'First are the nobles… They are wolves in sheep's clothing.'

The Radiant Empire's noble houses had grown fat with power and pride after the Great War. While some remained loyal to the throne, such as House Yven, House Morlin, and House Delcroix, many others only offered allegiance in words, not in action.

'When the Royal Family sent a decree to noble Houses to send aid to Count Levi to fend off the northern barbarians, they only sent ten fragile soldiers…'

House Revan and House Ulthor were notorious schemers, building private armies in the shadows. House Fenaril, once a border guardian clan, now funds rebellion under the guise of "protection taxes."

In the court, fake smiles and poisoned wine were more common than honest oaths.

Zephyr noted down each name carefully. "Ally or enemy. These labels will matter when the throne begins to quake."

The second problematic matter was the Royal Family itself.

Lina Kar, the second princess, was born with an illness and plagued by fragile health. She also lacked motivation to grow stronger, or cared little about politics. Most dismissed her as a sickly and foolish noble girl unfit to rule.

The Emperor, Leone Kar, once hailed as the 'Sunlight Sovereign,' now lay in a golden chamber, coughing up blood and dreams alike.

As for the princes and princesses of concubines and distant relatives, they circled the dying Emperor like vultures for the past two centuries.

'He is still a Legendary powerhouse after all. Even with blood curse and wound, he is still alive and kicking.'

Many believed the throne would fall to one of the ambitious dukes or one of the emperor's bastard sons.

Only a few still hoped for a miracle, but it was nothing but a fantasy thought.

'If the Emperor dies, I will be forced to ascend to the throne. Either I will become a puppet of Dukes or I might get assassinated beforehand.' A frown appeared on his forehead.

But what worried him more was the current condition of his original body.

'If too much time has passed in the real world, won't I die of starvation?' Unfortunately, he had no other way but to live as Lina Kar.

Shaking his head, he focused on the next problem.

'Commoners… Growing anger and resentment among the people.'

The common folk no longer sang ballads of the royal family. Taxes had tripled in the past decade, and when crops failed, no compensation ever came.

'Financial situation is a total mess.'

The streets of eastern provinces were filled with orphans, limping veterans, and starving artists.

"To be born human in the Empire is to be born cursed," one book read.

'People are dying of hunger… In border regions, there is constant harassment from Elves and Syreni… In the northern and Southern borders, the Barbarians are constantly raiding and plundering the villages…'

Zephyr felt that if no measures were taken, the Empire would crumble into pieces in a year or two!

'How am I going to save this Empire in this situation?' In truth, Lina's strength was the main problem.

'I'm nothing more than a Rank-2 Mage, while Lina is a Rank-3 Light Mage.' He also skimmed through all the information about Light Magic and even memorized the best Rank-3 spell models.

'But I need to break the soul shackle to rank up.' Unfortunately, it was easier said than done.

'But from what I read in Lina's memories, the Royal Mages can help me break through the rank by performing some kind of ritual.'