His name was Tenji.
He was seventeen.
He had never been chosen.
Never awakened a soulflame.
Never even passed the first forge test.
But last night, he dreamed of a voice that asked:
"Would you light a world with no memory of flame?"
And when he woke up—
He couldn't remember his old path.
Or his teachers.
Or his family name.
Or even why he wanted fire in the first place.
Just this:
"Begin."
He walked out of his village at dawn.
No pack.
No scroll.
No symbol.
Only a small fragment of coal wrapped in cloth, still warm.
And one word whispered in his mind:
"Unbound."
Far away, the Soul Flame School's archive flared for the first time in days.
Not because of a registered spark.
But because something unregistered passed through its sensing lattice.
Wei Lin stood on the terrace as the forge slate updated on its own:
🔹 Path Detected: Unknown Origin
🔹 Soul Signature: No prior cycle
🔹 Nameholder: Tenji
🔹 Path Status: No memory, no lineage, no encoded core
🔹 Classification: Primordial Attempt
Lao Yun stared at the update.
"Primordial?"
Shen Tai turned slowly.
"Someone's answering the fire."
Wei Lin whispered:
"Not with a legacy."
"With nothing."
Somewhere in the southern valley, Tenji paused beside a dried tree.
The wind howled.
There were no watchers.
No instructions.
No expectations.
So he gathered dry twigs.
Cut his palm.
Smeared blood and ash.
And for no reason he could name—
He struck stone.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then, it lit.
Not bright.
Not hot.
But alive.
And it didn't echo any path.
It didn't follow any flame law.
Because it had none.
It was fire that knew nothing.
And chose to be anyway.
In the dark beneath the Old Court ruins…
The ash throne pulsed once more.
And the Fire That Waits whispered:
"He begins."