Chapter 1 – Ash and Ember

⸻

[Kaliyun Village – Morning After the Storm]

The scent of wet earth and smoke lingered in the air, hanging low over the small, forest-bound village of Kaliyun. Roosters crowed. Water dripped from curled banana leaves. Farmers cursed under their breath as they cleared broken fences and thatched roofs, remnants of last night’s storm. But amidst the mundane rhythm of recovery, one house stood untouched — as though the storm had bent around it.

Inside, Kael sat cross-legged on a mat woven from moon-reed grass. A bamboo fan rested beside him. His eyes, the same violet as the early dawn mist, stared silently at the small black lotus on the floor in front of him.

It hadn’t withered.

It hadn’t dried.

It hadn’t… changed.

“Still here,” he murmured, voice barely above a whisper.

His hand hovered over it, then pulled back. Again.

He didn’t know what he feared more — that it would vanish… or that it wouldn’t.

He had found it after the lightning struck the hill just behind his house. Or rather, it had appeared where he collapsed, moments before he lost consciousness. A dream? A vision? Yet here it was, blooming quietly in a room untouched by fire or ash.

[Status Window – Rechecked at Dawn]

> Name: Kael ???

Age: 17 / ???

Origin: Kaliyun Village, Azure Sector

Cultivation Realm:

– Realm Category: 1st – Mortal Path

– Major Realm: Ember Vein Realm

– Minor Realm: Kindling Root [44%]

– Segment: Early

– Level: 9

Bloodline: ???

Physique: ???

Affinity: None Detected

Cultivation Manuals: None

Techniques: None

Status: Stable | Anomaly Detected (Lotus-type Energy Signature)

"Still no change..." he muttered.

Most seventeen-year-olds in the surrounding villages had reached Level 10 by now, completing their Kindling Root realm and moving toward the Ash Stem Minor Realm. Many had already awakened their affinities. Some even joined outer sect branches from the nearby cities.

But Kael?

He lived alone.

No sect. No family. No instruction.

Just the whisper of dreams and a feeling of waiting for something he couldn’t name.

[Flashback – Four Years Ago]

He was thirteen the first time the nightmares began — flames devouring golden halls, screaming voices echoing his name, a feeling of falling through galaxies. He’d wake choking on grief and tears he didn’t understand.

But no one believed him.

There were no missing nobles.

No lost heirs.

No trace of the surname Virelan in any records.

It was as if the world itself had forgotten his origin.

[Present – Morning Visit]

“KAEL!” a gruff voice called from outside. “You dead in there?!”

Old Bai, the village apothecary, slammed his cane on the doorframe. Kael opened the door before the old man broke it.

“I’m alive, Old Bai.”

“Hmph. Barely.” Bai grunted. “I saw the damn hill. Thought you were fried into charcoal last night.”

Kael shrugged. “Storm passed.”

“Hmph. And what’s this energy I smell? Your house feels like a beast’s den! You hiding some forbidden pill? Or did you finally break through to Level 10?”

Kael smiled faintly. “Neither.”

Old Bai squinted. His eyes, milky with age, still carried sharp instinct. “Something changed. You’re not leaking Qi like before. Your foundation’s… tighter.”

“...I feel more clear today,” Kael offered vaguely.

The old man sighed. “Boy… the world’s about to shift. You can feel it, can’t you? Even the trees whisper more than usual. This year’s Grand Awakening Ceremony at the White Embers Sect — it’ll open portals far beyond this province. If you miss it again…”

“I won’t,” Kael replied. For once, his voice held certainty.

He wasn’t sure where it came from.

Only that last night had carved something new inside him — a sense of inevitability.

[Later – Kaliyun Hilltop Shrine]

Kael stood again where the lightning struck. The earth had scorched into a perfect circle, and at its center now lay… nothing.

No lotus.

No ash.

Just silence.

His hand subconsciously touched the jade hairpin at his temple. It pulsed once — a soft thrum of warmth — and then quieted.

> “You are not yet ready to remember.”

“But the seed has awakened.”

The voice again. Fainter than before. Female. Sad.