The Villain Professor's Second Chance

Aurelia, predictably, was the first to break the silence. She leaned back in her chair, her long fiery red hair catching the low light, and crossed her arms over her chest. Her fiery eyes narrowed slightly as she regarded Lyan, an edge of curiosity and suspicion evident in her voice.

"So, Lyan…" she started, her voice sharp but casual, like someone asking about the weather. "What's your story? You don't exactly seem like you belong in the demon world."

Lyan's hand froze briefly over his drink. His eyes flicked toward me for a split second before settling back on Aurelia. It was subtle, but I caught it. He was gauging whether to share his truth, deciding just how much to reveal. I stayed silent, watching him, waiting. He finally put his drink down, the liquid inside rippling slightly from the motion, and exhaled quietly.

"I wasn't born in this world," he admitted, his voice calm, almost nostalgic. "I'm from Earth. Like you."

The statement landed with weight. I felt my muscles tense slightly, though I didn't let it show. Beside me, Aurelia raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised. Her usual cocky demeanor faltered for just a second as she leaned forward, studying Lyan more closely.

"What?" she asked, her voice sharp with disbelief. "You're from Earth?"

Anastasia, sitting across from us, looked equally stunned. Her eyes widened, her mouth slightly open, as if struggling to process what she'd just heard.

I didn't react outwardly, though my mind was racing. I allowed myself the briefest flicker of surprise, just enough to widen my eyes a fraction, before settling back into my usual unreadable expression. Aurelia, of course, didn't know my origins. She assumed I had been part of the magical world my entire life. But the truth was more complicated than that, something I had kept carefully buried.

Lyan glanced at me again, as if searching for some sign of recognition. I gave him nothing, but internally, I was already piecing things together. If he came from Earth, and I did as well... then we might share more than just this strange, chaotic world. His next words would be critical.

"Back on Earth," Lyan continued, his voice quieter now, "there was something called the Cleansing. A catastrophic event. Most of humanity… gone, in an instant. The sky tore open, the cities crumbled, and the few of us who survived were… chosen."

Aurelia's eyes flicked back and forth between us, her usual sharpness momentarily replaced by genuine confusion. "Chosen for what?" she asked, frowning.

Lyan's jaw tightened, his gaze dropping to the table for a moment. "Chosen to fight. To survive. We didn't get a choice." He paused, his eyes darkening as if the memory still clung to him like a heavy shadow. "I was just a bookkeeper back then. I had a niece… I tried to save her, but...

I took her place in the selection. When I woke up, I was here—in the demon world. Along with the rest of the survivors."

His voice grew colder, his eyes hardening. "But one by one, they all died. Everyone who was chosen… all of them. I'm the last one."

Silence settled over the table, the weight of his words pressing down on us. Aurelia, for once, seemed at a loss for words, her usual fiery attitude dimming slightly. Anastasia looked down at her hands, her fingers trembling as she processed Lyan's story. But I didn't waver.

Lyan wasn't finished. His voice dropped lower, almost a whisper. "I wasn't the strongest. Not at first. But after centuries of fighting, after watching humans fall to the demons, to the gods… I realized our strength was limited. Humans are weak."

At that, I felt something stir within me, a cold fire that I hadn't felt in a long time. "Weak?" I echoed, my voice sharp and cold. "You believe that?"

Lyan met my gaze, his eyes hard and unyielding. "You don't accept that, Dravis? After everything you've seen, after everything we've been through?"

I narrowed my eyes, my mind racing. He was wrong. Human weakness wasn't the issue—lack of understanding was. I had seen human potential firsthand, seen it blossom and wither depending on the choices made. My own journey had been proof of that.

"Humanity isn't weak," I said, my voice cutting through the tension like a blade. "Humans adapt. They learn. You may have given up on your humanity, but that doesn't make it weak."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Lyan's jaw clenched, his eyes narrowing. "And yet, look where you are. In a world ruled by demons. Are you so blind to the truth?"

The air between us grew colder, our words like knives cutting through the dim light. For a moment, it seemed like the conversation would escalate further, but then Aurelia, clearly tired of the growing tension, threw her hands up in the air.

"Okay, okay, stop there, you bastards!" she said, her voice cutting through the icy atmosphere. She glared at both of us, though there was a hint of amusement in her eyes. "If I wanted a pissing contest, I would've brought a scoreboard."

I shot her a brief glance, but the tension between Lyan and me lingered. His story mirrored too much of my own, too many buried memories that I had long since locked away. Earth. The Cleansing. We might not have come from the same version of Earth, but there were undeniable parallels.

Lyan's gaze remained on me, and for the first time, I could see a flicker of something beyond the cold facade—recognition, perhaps. He knew. And so did I.

Before either of us could speak again, a server arrived, setting down several plates of food on the table. The smell hit me first—pungent, unfamiliar, and not particularly pleasant. The dishes were a bizarre assortment of demon cuisine, all twisted meats and strange spices, none of which looked remotely appetizing.

Aurelia wrinkled her nose, leaning back in her chair. "What the hell is that?" she muttered, eyeing the food with disgust. "It looks like something that crawled out of a cursed swamp."

Anastasia gingerly poked at one of the dishes with her fork, her face pale. "I… don't think I can eat this," she said quietly.

Lyan, however, didn't hesitate. He reached for one of the plates and began eating, his movements calm and unbothered by the strange appearance of the food. He chewed for a moment, then glanced at me. "It's actually quite delicious," he said simply, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

I eyed the food warily, my appetite nonexistent. I had no desire to consume whatever twisted creation had been set in front of me. But Lyan, noticing my hesitation, spoke again, his tone more serious this time.

"You'll need to eat, Dravis," he said, his voice low. "If you really have a purpose here, replenishing food will be difficult. You won't survive long without it."

I didn't respond immediately, my mind turning over his words. He was right, of course. The demon realm was hostile in every way, and maintaining my strength would be crucial. My eyes lingered on the food for a moment longer before I finally reached for one of the plates. I took a bite, the taste as strange and foreign as I expected, but I forced myself to continue.

As I chewed, my thoughts shifted back to Lyan's story, to the strange connection between us. I, too, had been on Earth before the Cleansing. My journey had taken me to places I hadn't anticipated, thrusting me into worlds of magic and demons, forcing me to adapt, to evolve. The connection between Lyan and me wasn't coincidence.

We had both been through the same catastrophic event, though our paths had diverged.

I glanced at him, my eyes meeting his. For a moment, there was a quiet understanding between us. We didn't need to speak to know what the other had endured. We had both faced the same horrors, though we had emerged from them differently.

I, now a cold and calculating figure in the magical world, and Lyan, a demon warrior bent on killing a dragon god.

"We'll survive," I muttered, the words slipping out before I realized it.

Lyan gave me a brief nod, his eyes still dark with memory, but there was something else there too—agreement, perhaps.

"That's a must," he replied, his voice low. Explore more adventures at empire

And with that, the tension between us settled.