The morning sun was just a pale glow through the thin curtains of Lu Fan's small room. Outside, the city stirred to life—cars honking, distant voices, and the hum of daily routine. But inside, everything was quiet except for the steady thump of his heartbeat.
Today was his eighteenth birthday.
Lu Fan lay still, the pendant warm against his chest beneath his shirt. It pulsed softly, like a living thing.
His phone buzzed with birthday messages — a few from distant relatives, some from classmates he barely knew. None of them felt real. None of them mattered.
He dressed slowly and glanced at the cracked mirror on his wall. His reflection showed a handsome boy with dark hair and kind eyes that held too many unanswered questions.
Downstairs, the scent of weak coffee and fried dough floated up from the kitchen. His father was already up, humming a tune under his breath—a rare sound.
"Happy birthday, Lu Fan," his father said quietly as they ate breakfast. The words were simple, but in their own way, they held weight.
Lu Fan nodded, not knowing what else to say.
The pendant grew warmer as the day went on. At school, he felt a strange energy coursing through his veins — a humming sensation that made his senses sharper, his thoughts clearer.
In the afternoon, during a history class he usually found dull, a sudden heat flared in his chest. The pendant shone beneath his shirt, casting faint symbols of ancient script across his skin before fading away.
Panic fluttered in his chest.
He rushed outside to the quiet courtyard, clutching the pendant tightly.
Suddenly, the world around him blurred. Colors deepened. Sounds sharpened. The ground beneath his feet seemed to pulse with hidden life.
A voice echoed in his mind—soft, ancient, and powerful:
"Vein Singer… awaken."
His body surged with energy, limbs light and strong, his vision piercing the veils between the ordinary and the extraordinary.
Lu Fan gasped.
The journey had begun.