Lazarus Peak
When Alrick wakes in a gilded chamber beneath vaulted ceilings and velvet drapes, he knows two things are wrong: he cannot see—and he is no longer himself.
Forcefully pulled into the body of Prince Lucien of Aetherion, Alrick inherits the life of a disgraced royal rumored to be cruel, unstable, and weak. Worse still, Lucien is a mudblood, incapable of wielding magic in a world where power is measured by Aether. The truth behind Lucien’s condition is far darker: born with an abnormally vast Aether capacity, Lucien was deemed a rival to the throne as an infant. Kidnapped and mutilated, his eyes were destroyed, and in a desperate, uncontrolled act of self-healing, he burned through all his Aether—rendering himself permanently magicless.
Yet Lucien did not heal completely.
Aether continued to gather in the ruined remains of his eyes, crystallizing into something unprecedented: Aether Vision, a power unseen in history—one that allows him to perceive magic, truth, and forces hidden even from purebloods.
As Alrick struggles to survive court politics, assassination attempts, and the suffocating expectations of royalty, he discovers he is not merely reborn—he is chosen. Bound to a mysterious entity known as the Codex, the residual consciousness of the original Lucien preserved by a malfunctioning System, Alrick is subjected to a series of immutable Rules and punishing Tasks. He must not speak in an alien tongue. He must not reveal his true identity. And he must climb the steps to reach the Peak, completing the unseen Lord’s trials to earn a single wish promised only to survivors.