The past.
Before the palace of mirrors.
Before the ocean of corruption.
Before crimson eyes stared into forbidden truths.
Back when Kai was still only thirteen standing at the edge of childhood, trembling beneath expectations he never asked to inherit.
A realm unfolded.
A boundless sea of black flames, stretching in all directions like an ocean made from the ashes of stars. No wind. No sky. No sound except the slow, steady hiss of shifting embers.
At the center of that impossible inferno stood a statue of Kai.
Perfectly carved.
Still.
Emotionless.
A reflection of him without the fragility of being alive.
And far away so distant the horizon warped around it lay another statue.
Collapsed.
Broken.
Face shattered, arms fallen, half of its chest missing.
The realm was quiet… until the broken statue spoke.
Its voice was gravel dragged across ancient stone, a sound that wasn't made to comfort mortal ears.
BROKEN STATUE:
"Vile human… begin your trial of awakening."
The world rippled.
Reality folded.
Kai fell.
He plummeted not through air, but through planes of existence, through layers of dream and nightmare, through a void so vast it made his body feel like a mistake.
Then
He landed.
A weightless impact.
A soundless thud.
And he found himself standing in another world.
Nothing surrounded him.
Just emptiness.
A blank, infinite plain of white mist.
He had barely drawn breath when fire erupted from the ground.
Black fire cold, furious, hungry.
The flames rose, coiling, gathering, shaping themselves into something solid.
A figure stepped out.
His exact height.
His exact frame.
His exact face.
A thirteen-year-old Kai… but wrong.
Where Kai's eyes were human tired, frightened, struggling
the figure's eyes were glowing red, sharp as molten glass.
A flaming dagger dripped embers in its hand, each falling spark burning tiny holes through the fabric of this world.
The two Kaises stared at each other.
The silence stretched and then the ground detonated.
A massive explosion tore the world apart beneath Kai's feet.
He didn't even manage to raise his arms.
The shockwave hurled him upward, flinging him like a ragdoll across the white void.
Then impact.
Blackness.
When his vision steadied, the world had changed.
A greenish forest spread out around him.
Ancient, endless, filled with towering trees whose leaves shimmered like oxidized copper. Strange birds flitted between glowing branches. Unknown beasts moved in the bushes, their outlines blurred like half-forgotten dreams.
And floating above him, untouched by gravity or mercy, was the other Kai.
He hovered effortlessly, arms crossed, dagger lazy in his grip, expression flat with disgust.
The real Kai barely had time to inhale.
Another sonic boom split the air.
Then—
Something slammed into his stomach.
A kick.
A single, casual kick.
It sent him flying backward, smashing through brush, dirt, and finally slamming into a massive tree trunk with a deafening BANG.
Pain exploded through Kai's body. His lungs seized. The world spun. He collapsed, coughing blood.
Above him, the false Kai descended slightly, expression carved from disappointment.
"Pathetic."
His voice was his own, yet twisted too smooth, too cold, too cruel.
"You want power to protect your people, right? You want strength so you wouldn't fail again?"
He snorted. "Look at you. Shaking. Bleeding. Collapsing from one hit."
Kai tried to stand.
His legs trembled.
His ribs screamed.
His palms dug into the dirt, nails breaking, trying to anchor him upright.
The other Kai appeared in front of him.
No wind. No sound.
Just appeared.
Then the fist came.
One.
Two.
Three.
Punch after punch hammered into Kai's face.
Bruises blossomed instantly, deep purples and blacks spreading like ink beneath his skin. Blood splattered the ground. His mind shook, vision flickering.
"Go down, you pathetic waste of time."
Kai sagged, but didn't fall.
So the fake one leaned back, twisted, and delivered a spinning kick that struck Kai's ribs with the sound of snapping branches.
Kai flew again
crashing into another tree.
This time there was a crack.
A real one.
Bone.
Kai screamed a hoarse, broken sound ripped from his lungs.
His body was a ruin.
His legs bent in impossible angles.
His spine seared with agony.
One eye blurred with blood.
Still… he crawled.
Breathing sharp.
Heart racing.
Hands trembling violently.
He clawed at the forest floor, dragging himself forward one inch at a time. His fingers left streaks of blood in the moss.
Hot.
Cold.
Sweat mixing with tears.
Then a shadow fell over him.
The false Kai stepped on his left hand.
Hard.
There was no warning.
Just the crunch.
Bones shattered beneath that single footstep.
Kai screamed again no, not screamed
he howled, voice cracking, throat tearing, a sound no child should ever have to make.
"You can't even crawl properly. How do you plan to protect anyone?"
Tears streamed down Kai's face.
Desperation twisted his breath.
Pain blurred his mind.
The fake Kai pressed harder, grinding shattered bones into the earth.
Kai begged, sobbed, begged again but the foot didn't lift.
Finally, with another cruel motion, the false Kai kicked him in the face.
Kai flew backward, smashed against a tree trunk and something deep inside his spine cracked.
His cry echoed across the forest.
He collapsed, limp, broken, barely able to breathe.
Every nerve in his body burned.
Every heartbeat hurt.
His limbs twitched involuntarily.
And then he screamed upward, voice torn and desperate:
"WHY? WHY SEND ME HERE JUST TO DIE?"
His voice shook the leaves.
"Who… who am I to you?"
He sobbed, breath ragged, words slipping through clenched teeth.
"I'm nothing but a thirteen-year-old… I never asked for any of this… I never wanted power…"
His thoughts spiraled.
House Valeria had fallen.
Rebellion had slaughtered its members.
His parents had died shielding him when he was only seven.
Their blood had soaked his childhood.
The survivors whispered behind closed doors:
Because of him… the house fell.
Because of him… fate twisted.
Because of him… Valeria's light dimmed.
He was the last.
The burden.
The weight.
So he screamed.
"Is it too much to ask for power? JUST ENOUGH TO PROTECT MY SISTER? To protect what's left of my family?!"
His voice cracked.
He pointed upward with quivering fingers.
And that's when the flaming sword appeared.
It materialized beside him
silent, elegant, burning with black fire.
Before Kai could lower his hand.
before he could even blink.
The blade flashed.
One quick, merciless motion.
Kai's raised hand split apart—
cleanly, brutally—
falling into two severed halves.
The forest filled with a sound that didn't sound human.
A scream that wasn't a scream.
A cry torn from the deepest part of fear, pain, and helplessness.
The Trial of Awakening had only begun.