There are three things you should never do in Aether City:
1.) Eat street kebabs from Zone 9 unless you enjoy summoning fire demons from your toilet.
2.) Challenge the Hero of Light™ unless you want to be legally declared "villain-coded."
3.) Trust anyone with over two million followers and a golden aura filter.
I did all three, in one day.
Now, apparently, I'm dead.
#DanteIsDead is trending #1 on AetherNet.
Candle emojis are flooding the feed.
"He was a bit much, but he didn't deserve this." The Hero is crying in a livestream, holding my Academy photo like it's his dead goldfish.
I sip my iced dark roast and raise an eyebrow.
"Damn," I mutter. "They used the pic with the bad lighting."
The barista across from me nearly drops her wandphone.
She stares at me like I just crawled out of a grave.
Which, technically isn't far from the truth.
I'm sitting in a corner booth at Beans & Sigils, a painfully overpriced café in Upper City, surrounded by influencers with pastel familiars and enchanted laptops.
I'm wearing a hoodie, dark glasses, and anti-scrying earrings. Nobody recognizes me—except the girl now frantically texting under the table.
"OMG he's ALIVE???"
"Didn't he die in that Grayed Zone explosion???"
"Or was that staged too like his 'apology video' in Year 5?"
"Let them spiral," I say with a lazy grin.
Because in this moment, five years after the world exiled me, the real Dante Vale is back.
…And I am not here to make amends.
Five Years Ago
Let's rewind to the worst day of my life:
Graduation Day at Arcana High.
Top of my class.
Captain of Spell Debate.
Engaged to Rhea Valestra, the Empire's sweetheart and part-time shampoo ambassador.
Then boom: a hacked video hits the net. Shows me allegedly casting a kill spell at Elios Fenbright, the Hero of Light™ and my former best bro. It's edited so badly you can hear a TikTok sound under it. But the world doesn't care.
I'm declared a public threat.
My family cuts me off.
Rhea blocks me on all platforms and posts a selfie crying with the caption: "I trusted you, Dante."
I'm thrown into the Dead Zone—a wasteland of broken spells and haunted vending machines.
Spoiler alert:I survive.
Present Day
Operation Petty Resurrection
Back at Beans & Sigils, I open my magical contacts lens and scroll through my Kingmaker System feed.
K1NG: Welcome back, Boss. Shall I leak a cryptic message to stir the masses?
DANTE: Something subtle. Oh! And mysterious too, just enough to make the Hero poop his pants.
K1NG: Drafting tweet… "Hell has great WiFi. Be back soon."
"Perfect," I whisper.
Post.
Within five seconds, my name hits the algorithm like a meteor.
"WAIT… WAS THAT DANTE?!"
"He's alive?!?!"
"Bro faked his death just to make a comeback diss track?"
"I KNEW the Hero was shady!!!"
My favorite comment so far?
"Dante coming back with main character energy and CEO lighting. I'm scared and also a little turned on."
As I leave the café, my enchanted card slips through the scanner.
Thank you, Mr. Vale. Your next meeting at Ashvale Tower is in 30 minutes.
Yes, Ashvale. As in the tech-magic conglomerate that's been eating corporations like candy.
The CEO is a shadow figure. Rich, dangerous, and untouchable.
Another spoiler alert:It's me.
I built it from nothing in the Dead Zone with nothing but spite, leftover ramen and one ancient vending machine AI that thinks it's better than me.
I step outside into the neon glow of the city, hoodie blowing back with the wind.
The Hero has everything! The famr, followers and eurgh those fake smiles.
But I have something better.
A reason to burn it all down.