I was jolted awake by the presence of a bright purple light. I sat up on my throne, scanning my surroundings. Standing in the entrance to the room was a winged man. A faint purple light radiated from him, surrounding his white armor and wings. He had long white hair, tied back in a high ponytail, that contrasted perfectly with his golden-brown skin. 

"Who are you?" I asked. 

"Archangel Uriel Cherubim," he responded. "This is an act of divine intervention. Too many variables have appeared, and so we must take action. They have meddled far too much in the mortal realm."

"What? Who's they?" I asked, my eyes darting around wildly, looking for any potential threats. I crouched slightly, wary of any attacks from the stranger.

"You needn't concern yourself with that. The balance of this realm has been compromised. You will be the variable on our side."

"What? Variable? What do you mean?"

"Humans were never meant to manipulate aura, nor mana. Phoenixes were meant to be immortal. The loss of the Aspect of war has weakened the Aesir." Uriel shook his head. "Apologies for this."

He unsheathed a sword from the scabbard hanging at his waist. If not for the tense situation I was in, I would most likely have found myself admiring the beauty of the weapon. It glowed with a brilliant white light, purple energy radiating from the centerpiece of the hilt. The man spun the weapon around in an arc. I could hear the sword cut through the air with a strangely satisfying sound.

He leapt at me faster than I could react, and before I knew it, he had plunged it deep in my chest. Blood sprayed out of my mouth, and through my fading vision, I could see small golden particles rising.

"This is not the end for you. Thank you, our warrior."

I wanted nothing more than to tear this man apart. He had come into my chambers unannounced, spun this crazy tale about divine intervention and the balance of the world, and then impaled me. I clenched my jaw and noticed mana leaking out of me, and that's when I realized: I wasn't in Dralossle anymore.

I was surrounded by buildings that looked extremely familiar. It took me a while to realize that these designs looked like more detailed versions of the buildings within the imperial Heiguang palace. I turned in the direction of where Dralossle should have been. The familiar peaks of the twin mountains from where the sun would rise were nowhere to be seen. Engrossed in trying to figure out where I was, I barely registered the argument happening a few feet away from me.

"Why should I serve him?" The loud high-pitched voice of a child rang.

"He is the heir to the throne, and as members of the Lin family, we must be loyal to the throne." A woman's voice said. 

"I agree with Huotian." A quiet voice whispered. "There's no reason we should serve an empty husk."

"Xiaolong. Watch how you address him. He may be unresponsive, but he is alive; the doctors have confirmed that multiple times." the woman said.

"I'm a second class mage already! Mom, you weren't even awakened at my age! Why should I bow to someone who has no life in their eyes?" the other boy roared.

"Huotian! We are descendants of the dragons, and have been royal guards to the Wang family for three thousand years. I will not hear any more of this!"

"I'll show you that there's no point serving him!" The boy charged towards me, which finally snapped me out of my trance. I saw him out of the corner of my eye at the last moment. Disoriented, I assumed he was another angel. I stepped out of the way and grabbed him by the neck.

"You dare attack me?" I said. I pushed my fingers deep into his left eye, and tore it out, dropping it on the floor along with him. He screamed in pain, which finally snapped me out of my thoughts. I took a good look at the people around me.

The boy on the floor looked to be about four or five years old. He had dark purple hair, and glared at me through a red eye while clutching his eye socket. Beside him was who I assumed to be his younger brother, who had the same red eyes, and blue hair so dark that it could be mistaken for black. Their mother rushed over, calling for a medic.

Realizing that I had just done near-fatal damage to an innocent child, I stepped to the side, allowing the medics to reattach his eye using some form of unknown energy. 

"What are you doing?" I asked. I reeled back in confusion. My usually baritone voice was gone, and in its place, was the voice of a child. I clutched at my throat in a panic, and that's when I noticed. Looking down at my hands, I saw that they were tiny and underdeveloped. I was stuck in the body of a child.

"I'm healing his eye, Prince Xuefeng." the medic answered.

"I see. Are you a mage?" I asked, pushing aside my inner turmoil, curious to see whether this was the same world I lived in.

"No, sir. I'm an aura user. I'm of the priest class, which is why I can heal."

I scowled for a moment at the mention of aura. I quickly wiped the anger off my face, smiling as innocently as I could. Even if I was supposedly a prince, I knew from experience I could still be reprimanded. I fidgeted with my hands and tried to look nervous.

The medic let go of Huotian's face, and I could see that the eye had been reattached. Strangely, the eye that I had violently ripped out was purple. A large jagged scar ran down his left eye socket, highlighting the asymmetry of his eye colors.

"Can you see? Follow my finger with your eyes." the medic instructed. The boy did as he was told, and nodded when the medic was finished.

"Son!" A man's deep voice boomed. I turned in the direction of the voice. A man with long black hair drawn into a ponytail was charging at me. I tried to channel mana into my hands and the man stopped.

"Scared?" I taunted. 

"Xuefeng! My son!" The man yelled. "You can use aura!" 

Wait, what? I looked down at my hands, and sure enough, the usual brilliant blue lightning that I would use to enhance myself with was nowhere to be found. Instead, a translucent dark purple energy resonated in my hand.

Before I could say anything else, the man crushed me in a suffocating hug. Tears streamed down his face as he laughed. 

"You... You have a heartbeat!" he exclaimed. "The ghost prince is no more!"

It was only when he pulled himself off of me that he remembered why he had originally rushed to the scene. He turned to the mother of the two kids, brushed himself off and apologized.

"Meili, I'm very sorry for my son's behavior. Please forgive him." he said while bowing. 

"My liege," she said. "You need not apologize. The Lin family has served the royal family for thousands of years. If anything, I should apologize for not disciplining Huotian better." She pushed the boy's head down into a bow. Her crimson eyes glinted angrily. "It's good to see the young prince is responsive now though."

I marched up to the two boys, crossing my arms. "Any more problems?"

"No, sir." Huotian said. His younger brother nodded in agreement.

I hesitated, before sticking out my hand. "Nice to meet you, Huotian, Xiaolong. I'll be in your care." I didn't want to treat these two like the attendants I had in my past life. What I needed were equals, not cowering fools who agreed blindly with everything I said.

The man who was apparently the father of this body grinned. "Xuefeng, would you like to begin training? It's not common for four year olds to awaken aura capabilities. Huotian's only a year older than you but he's begun magic training."

I silently pondered for a moment. I had seen firsthand that I was able to use aura, but I had mistaken it for mana because I could still feel the mana core within my heart. For whatever reason, I couldn't manipulate my own mana, nor the ambient mana surrounding me. 

"Yes, I think I'd like that." I said. "Would it be possible for me to practice magic with Huotian too?"

The man pursed his lips. "I suppose the additional knowledge would be fine, but I don't think you'll be able to do any magic. It's already a miracle that your heart has begun beating. Do you have any memories of before today?"

"No, I-" I began to say, before I was cut off by a bout of pain in my head, rendering me unconscious.

***

I opened my eyes wearily. Pulling the blanket covering me off, I looked around my surroundings. I was in a room illuminated by moonlight fluttering in from three large windows. In a plush chair in the corner of a room sat a girl about the same age as this body. 

"Xiaoyue?" I said, somehow instinctively knowing her name.

The girl gasped, walking into the light. Her long silver hair glittered under the moonlight, and her green eyes sparkled like emeralds. "You spoke!" she exclaimed. 

She quickly picked up a bowl filled with an opaque, viscous liquid of some sort. My eyes widened in surprise as she shoved a spoonful of it into my mouth. I coughed and sputtered, pushing the spoon away, my eyes beginning to water. It was as if liquid fire had been forced into me, if said fire happened to be the most bitter thing any living being could possibly produce.

"What is that?" I complained, still gagging from the repulsive taste.

She tilted her head to the side as if she didn't understand. "Nutrients." she said with a blank expression. "Is something wrong?"

I shook my head. "N-no, it's nothing. Can't I just eat normal food?"

Xiaoyue leaned in close, carefully observing my face. "Hm," she mused. "The ghost prince has life in his eyes."

I leaned back uncomfortably. I could feel heat rising up to my cheeks, sweat dripping down my back. I silently cursed this body, thinking it would be great if it had no memories left over. Even if I had already lived for hundreds of years, four years of memories entering my head at once still took its toll on me. 

"Say, Prince Xuefeng, do you remember anything from before?"

I gulped, not knowing how much I should say. "A little bit," I said. "I remember that you and your mom have been taking care of me for the past year."

Xiaoyue beamed. "Yep!" she said.

I sighed in relief. Although the memories were foggy, I knew most of the names of the people serving me. 

"Is Miss Zhang alright? You aren't usually the one feeding me, right?"  

Xiaoyue hesitated. "U-um, Uncle Yichen said he thought it would be better for you to interact with someone your own age." 

I stared at her blankly. "Who's Yichen?"

The girl quickly lowered her head. "I'm sorry! I meant King Yichen! Please don't throw me in jail!"

My blank stare remained. "Why would I do that? It's not like you committed a crime or anything."

Before she could respond, the door slammed open loudly. Both Xiaoyue and I flinched. My father came barrelling in with his arms stretched wide. He grabbed me and nearly squeezed the life out of me with a hug.

"You're awake!" he exclaimed.

"F-father," I said shakily. I could barely get the words out. I averted my eyes, careful not to meet his. In my past life, Iadra would have harshly reprimanded me if I called him that. Yichen seemed caring enough, but I wasn't willing to take any chances.

"Why are you shaking?" he demanded. "Look up when you're talking to people, son."

I looked up, expecting him to be furious. Instead, he was smiling. Against my will, tears started streaming from my eyes. I tried blinking them out of my eyes, then wiped them away. I had seen that exact smile before. 

Suddenly, I was lost in my old memories. I saw Donghai leaning over a balcony, the warm summer breeze rustling his hair. I opened the door and stepped out on the terrace. I stopped next to him, leaning my back against the balcony. While I was wondering how to comfort him on the loss of his father, he smiled at me and said he was okay. His smile was like a beam of sunlight illuminating a dark room, radiating kindness. 

"You alright, kiddo?" Yichen's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. This is terrible!"

Xiaoyue flinched a little when Yichen raised his voice and grabbed the bowl of strange liquid by the bed. Tears streamed from her eyes as she apologized frantically. 

"I'm sorry! I'll do better next time! Please don't hurt me!" she wailed, curling up into a ball. 

"Oh no, Yueyue, it's not your fault, sweetheart. I'm sorry for raising my voice. I should have remembered that this stuff tastes awful." Yichen picked her up and put her on his lap, embracing her. "It's alright. Nobody's gonna hurt you, okay? Uncle Yichen's here for you."

"R-really? You a-aren't going to throw me out?"

"What? Why would I do that?" he questioned.

"Huotian s-said you di-didn't need us anymore now that Xuefeng was awake."

"He said WHAT?" Yichen yelled, causing Xiaoyue to flinch again. "Huotian, Xiaolong, get your butts in here!"

He yelled loudly enough for the entire palace to hear— because the brothers came near instantly. 

"Lord Iadra, Uncle, could you be any louder? I could hear you from the room next door." Huotian complained.

"What did you say to Yueyue?" he angrily demanded. 

Huotian's face reddened. "Nothing," he muttered with his head hung.

"Why am I here?" the younger brother asked. 

"Why didn't you stop him, Xiaolong? You two are always together. I'm considering you an accomplice." Yichen said matter-of-factly. 

"I'm only three. Uncle, it's not my fault." he said innocently, tugging at Yichen's leg.

"Don't give me that crap. We both know who's more mature between you and Huotian."

Xiaolong looked up at Yichen with pleading eyes. His eyes were beginning to water, so Yichen begrudgingly let him go.

"Thanks, Uncle. See you later, Huotian." 

"Wait, don't leave me!" Huotian screamed, before being tugged back by the collar.