Ash crouched low, hiding beneath the half-collapsed wooden beams of the ruined smithy. His lungs burned, but he kept his breathing shallow. Outside, the bandit patrol passed, boots crunching on broken stone. One wrong move, one careless breath, and they'd drag him back to Lord Varren's black tower—or worse.
[Voidflame System: Inert mode activated. Scanning for ambient threat...]
The message flickered briefly across his vision, pale orange in the corner of his eye. Since awakening in the wasteland ruins, the system had become part of him. A strange fire burned in his blood now—a quiet, constant hum.
Ash hated how much he liked it.
He waited another ten seconds. Then another. Only when he was sure the patrol had passed did he slip out from under the wreckage and into the alley, boots muffled on ash-coated stone.
This was Ember Row, once a thriving forge district. Now, its alleys ran red with blood, the buildings hollowed out by fire and war. The resistance had died here. Ash was one of the few left.
And the only one with the Mark.
---
He moved fast, weaving between collapsed carts and rubble. His destination: the old bathhouse. It was one of the few places the bandits avoided. They said it was haunted, but Ash knew better.
It was where the shards pulsed strongest.
[Voidflame Level: 1. Progress to next level: 68%]
The system was always whispering now, flashing bits of data in the edges of his sight. Ash didn't know where it came from—only that it had chosen him when the Mark branded itself onto his chest three nights ago. A searing pain, a pillar of flame, and then silence.
When he first used it, he'd reduced a fully armored mercenary into melted iron and ash.
But it came at a cost.
---
He slipped through the bathhouse's broken archway, crouching beside a collapsed wall. The interior was dark, but his eyes adjusted quickly. The tiled floor glowed faintly, veins of emberstone tracing ancient sigils.
The shards pulsed beneath them.
He dropped to one knee and placed a hand on the stone.
[Voidflame Shard detected. Extracting...] +12% Progress to Level 2]
The warmth surged through his arm like lightning. His veins lit up for a heartbeat, and his breath caught.
**[New Ability Unlocked: Ember Lash]
Medium-range flame whip
Heat-based restraint, can ignite flammable materials]**
Ash flexed his fingers. A hiss of heat sparked at his palm.
"I need more," he muttered. "I can't fight them all with just tricks."
---
A faint clatter echoed from the hall.
Ash froze.
Then he heard it again—not boots, not metal.
Footsteps. Light. Bare.
He turned the corner slowly.
A boy stood in the hallway. No older than ten. Covered in soot. Eyes wide with terror. A brand on his neck.
Ash swore under his breath. "You're one of the marked workers. From the mines?"
The boy flinched but nodded.
"They left me," the boy said. "Locked me in here. They said the ghosts would take me."
Ash stepped closer, voice low. "You hear any ghosts yet?"
The boy hesitated. Then shook his head.
"Good. That means we have time. Can you walk?"
---
The escape wasn't clean. Two bandits returned while they were slipping through the alleys. Ash had no choice.
He activated Ember Lash.
The whip snapped from his palm, coiling through the air like a serpent. It caught the first man across the throat, searing cloth and flesh. He screamed as the flames ignited his armor.
Ash yanked.
The man dropped, twitching.
The second reached for a horn.
Ash didn't think. He dashed forward and drove his fist into the man's chest, Ember Pulse flashing with each impact.
**[Voidflame: Level 2 achieved.]
Vital Core Stabilized.
New Passive: Ashskin (Minor resistance to fire and physical damage)]**
He stood there, panting, flames flickering along his arms. The boy stared.
"You're... one of them," the boy whispered. "The cursed ones."
Ash didn't reply. He couldn't. The truth burned too close.
---
They camped in the ruins of a temple that night. Ash built a fire from scrap wood. The boy—he said his name was Kien—curled up in a corner, eyes flickering with fear and exhaustion.
Ash stared into the flames.
He'd saved one. Just one. But the mark on his chest still pulsed, and the system whispered of more.
[Shards remaining in region: 5] [Threat Level: Moderate. Bandit reinforcements inbound in 36 hours]
They would come.
They always came.
Ash closed his eyes.
---
In the dream, he stood in a field of blackened bones. Ember trees burned around him. In the center: a throne of obsidian.
A voice spoke from within.
"You carry my flame, boy. But you don't yet understand it."
Ash turned. A figure emerged from the smoke. Tall. Shrouded in armor that cracked with heat.
The Mark flared.
"Who are you?" Ash asked.
"The first. The failed. But not the last."
Ash tried to reach for his Ember Lash, but his limbs wouldn't move.
The figure raised a hand.
A pillar of fire erupted beneath Ash's feet.
---
He woke with a gasp, sweat slick on his skin.
Kien was watching him.
"You were screaming," the boy said.
Ash nodded, wiping his brow. "Nightmares."
But he could still feel the fire. Still hear the voice.
[Voidflame Warning: Dream Echoes Detected. Unknown origin. Recommend caution.]
---
The next morning, they moved fast. Ash avoided main roads, choosing the old sewer paths under Ember Row. The map burned in his mind—an unexpected perk of the system.
They reached the outer ruins by midday.
Ash crouched at the edge of a broken wall, overlooking a makeshift camp of raiders. Dozens. Armed. Laughing around a fire.
In the center, caged in a pit of metal spikes, was a cluster of Voidflame shards.
The system pulsed wildly.
[Voidflame Cluster detected. +40% if acquired. Warning: Threat Level High]
Ash exhaled slowly.
He looked at Kien. The boy looked up at him, scared, but trusting.
He couldn't walk away. Not now.
---
Ash moved like smoke. Swift. Silent. The Ember Lash flickered at his fingertips.
The first sentry never saw him. Ash silenced him with a blade of flame to the throat.
He slipped through tents, weaving past guards.
But then someone shouted.
"Intruder!"
The camp exploded into chaos.
Ash ran straight for the pit.
Bullets and arrows whistled past him.
He dropped, slid, and landed beside the shard cage.
**[Emergency Override: Ember Chains Unlocked]
Bind multiple enemies with heat-forged chains
Immobilize for 5 seconds]**
Ash gritted his teeth. He slammed both hands into the metal.
Chains of molten fire erupted from his wrists, lashing out in every direction.
Bandits screamed as they were bound in glowing links.
Ash grabbed the shards.
**[+40% Progress] [Voidflame Level 3 achieved]
New Skill: Flame Step (Short-range teleport)
Passive Upgrade: Ashskin II]
He vanished in a burst of fire.
Reappearing atop the northern ridge, he looked down as the bandits struggled below.
Kien stood beside him, eyes wide.
"That was... insane."
Ash turned away.
"We're not done yet. This is just the start."
Behind him, the flames spread.
The rebellion had been crushed.
But in Ash, something new had risen.
Something cursed. Something unstoppable.
The Mark of Ember.
And the world would burn before he let them take it again.