Night fell like a curtain soaked in ink. And somewhere deep within the twisting dorm halls of Solvyr Academy, Kaien Virell dreamt again.
Not of his sister.
Not of fire or Monoliths.
But of a mirror.
And the boy behind it wasn't him.
He had Kaien's face—yes. His bones, his stare.
But in the reflection, the eyes were molten gold, and in his palms spun ribbons of living light, weaving words Kaien couldn't read.
And then the reflection moved.
Spoke.
"You don't belong to this world anymore."
Kaien woke with a start—sweat cold, chest burning.
He didn't sleep again that night.
Dawn: The Echo Arena
They called it a sparring event.
But the crowd, the stakes, and the silver-blooded instructors in the stands made it clear—this was a trial in all but name.
Each low-tier cadet was matched randomly with a partner. A high-stress performance test. Supposedly "for training evaluation." In truth: spectacle. A chance for the elite houses to watch the "lesser" ranks clash like animals.
Kaien was already tightening his gloves when Ayari appeared beside him.
"You're up second," she said.
"You already looked at the brackets?"
"I hacked them."
"…How?"
She didn't answer. Just passed him a flask of chilled root-water and nodded toward the stands.
"You'll want to be awake for this one."
Kaien stepped onto the sparring platform as his name was announced. The floor hummed with reactive glyphs, and shimmering boundaries rose to trap the arena in a cube of reinforced nullglass.
Then his opponent stepped forward—
Rynn Halvek.
One of the cadets Kaien had fought in the first week—and lost to. Rynn grinned like a butcher spotting fresh meat.
"Oh, this'll be fun," he sneered.
Ayari tensed in the stands.
So did another.
A hooded student whose face was familiar—but Kaien couldn't place it yet.
The First Round
Rynn moved first—agile, aggressive, all confidence. His blade was ringed with minor augmentation runes. Standard protocol-level boosts. Speed. Grip. Edge.
Kaien dodged.
No counterattack.
He dodged again. And again.
The crowd booed.
Kaien heard none of it.
Because the whispers had returned.
Not like before—not a command.
A question.
"Why do you fight like them?"
"You are not like them."
Kaien blocked a downward slash—and for a moment, saw the move before it happened. Just a flicker. A ripple in air.
He moved sideways, faster than he knew he could.
The blade missed. Rynn stumbled.
Kaien didn't press.
Not yet.
He was listening now.
To himself.
The third round began. Rynn was furious—sloppy. Kaien waited. Watched. Until—
There.
A gap.
Kaien surged forward, blade flat, elbow pivoted—
Rynn dropped. Flattened. His blade skittered across the floor.
The crowd was dead silent.
The referee called it.
Kaien won.
Aftermath
Ayari didn't speak, but her eyes flickered with something sharp.
And in the crowd, the hooded figure who had watched stood and left.
Trailing a faint scent of ash.
Final Scene: The Whisper Deepens
In the dark, Kaien sat alone again.
A voice—not in his ears but in his blood—spoke gently.
"Not Protocol. Not Chosen. Not Forged by Rite."
"You are the Zeroth Flame."
And Kaien whispered back:
"Then let me burn."