"Remember when we stood together."
The voice pierced Kael's consciousness as his body rose from the bunker into sky. Ancient memory flooded his mind - scenes that belonged to people he'd never met but whose blood flowed through his veins.
Images cascaded like breaking dam. Common Blood and Pure Blood working side by side in vast libraries. Sharing cultivation techniques openly across marble tables. Teaching each other forbidden arts that made both factions stronger than either could achieve alone.
"Your fire complements my ice," a Common Blood woman said to her Pure Blood partner. "Together we can forge steel that neither flame nor frost can break."
"Knowledge shared is knowledge multiplied," the Pure Blood man replied, rolling up sleeves to reveal intricate scarification that matched hers perfectly. "My family's wind techniques with your earth mastery - we could move mountains."
