The air trembled as the statue finished reciting the fragments of Kai's status, its voice smooth but hollow, like a chisel dragged across the soul of the world.
"Name: Kai Valeria
Stage: Awakening
(Will you like to proceed to evolve into an Awakening?)
Element: Fire
Blood Lineage: Crimson Eyes of Truth
(Will you like me to read you the details?)"
Kai's first reaction was simply—to freeze.
Not for the status.
Not for the strange contradiction in the "Awakening" line.
Not even for the bloodline name pulsing red at the edge of his vision.
No.
He froze because the word details echoed too cleanly for something this ancient, this oppressive, this… wrong.
He held up a hand.
"Stop. Just—stop for a moment."
The statue stilled instantly. Even the black flames crawling along the ground seemed to listen.
Kai breathed in.
He was only thirteen, but the weight of everything pressing on him—the Trial, the new arm, the fake version of himself burning him alive—had aged him in hours.
One question echoed louder than the rest:
What exactly is this blood Lineage detail?
So he steadied himself, then said:
"…Read the details."
The response was immediate.
And the world dimmed.
The black flames around him shrank until they became a flat, dark sea. The symbols floating beside the statue rearranged themselves into a spiraling pattern, forming a vortex of meaning he could not decipher. Something massive settled in the air—like a giant lowering its head close to hear.
Then the broken statue spoke, voice dropping into a deeper register.
"There was once a god who held the Pillars of Creation together.
Unity was his nature.
Balance was his burden."
Kai inhaled.
The voice continued, ironically calm while describing something terrifying.
"But something went wrong.
Corruption seeped in.
The god cracked.
Then creation itself turned against him."
A god breaking.
A god being betrayed.
A god collapsing under the weight of his purpose.
Kai felt a chill crawl down his spine. Something about the words wasn't spoken like a story. They were spoken like a record, as though the Trial itself remembered.
The statue's voice shifted, becoming almost mournful despite its cold tone:
"They sealed him.
bound, silenced, forgotten."
Kai listened, face still, heart uneasy.
This wasn't a myth.
This wasn't a legend.
This was a warning.
"Yet as the last lock closed,
the god looked upon the world he had shaped."
The flames dimmed even further, until only the statue and the floating letters glowed faintly.
"And in that final moment,
he saw fate and destiny itself"
Kai's breath hitched.
"He saw what must come."
Another tremor passed beneath the groundless floor.
"His eyes reddened
with truth,
with horror,
with inevitability."
Kai swallowed.
The air felt heavy.
Too heavy.
The voice delivered the final line like a knife sliding into flesh:
"Unable to bear what he had seen,
the god reached up…
…and tore his eyes from his face."
Kai's stomach twisted.
A divine being ripping out its own eyes because reality itself broke him.
"Two falling embers.
Two silent wounds.
Two seeds cast into the mortal realm."
The flames around Kai pulsed once, then returned to stillness.
Silence followed.
Not peaceful silence.
A silence full of the ache of that story.
Finally, Kai exhaled slowly.
"…So these eyes…" he whispered, touching his face. "These… were from a god who couldn't stand the truth."
It didn't feel like a blessing.
It felt like inheriting a wound someone else couldn't endure.
"No wonder they're red…" he muttered, almost to himself.
He shook his head and forced his thoughts to still.
"Continue."
The floating symbols flickered, rearranging again.
The statue obeyed.
"The Crimson Eyes abilities."
Kai braced himself.
First Vision — True Gaze
(Active Ability)
A fragment of the god's torn sight, retaining its original purpose.
"When activated, the bearer's vision slips beneath the surface of the world.
Walls become transparent.
Flesh becomes essence.
Objects unravel into their smallest truths.
Nothing remains hidden — not identity, not structure, not origin."
Kai felt the weight of those words.
Not structure.
Not origin.
Not identity.
He could peel anything open with a look.
"This sight does not show appearances.
It shows what a thing truly is."
The statue paused only long enough for the words to settle.
"Form, nature, weakness, purpose, composition…
the First Vision peels back all illusions and reveals the bare reality beneath."
Kai's jaw tightened.
Useful. Terrifying. Violating.
But the final line made him stiffen:
"But the truth looks back.
And the Echo of Truth answers."
"…What does that mean?" Kai whispered.
The statue didn't answer.
Which only made it worse.
But he forced himself onward.
"Continue."
Second Vision — Deep Insight
Active Ability (requires active True Gaze)
The statue's voice dipped lower, as though the air didn't want these words released.
"The deeper the bearer looks, the deeper truth unwraps itself."
Kai felt a shift in the world—like his eyes had suddenly become heavier.
"A glance shows form.
A stare shows essence.
A prolonged gaze reveals intention, history, laws, echoes, scars, and the unseen forces that shaped the thing being observed."
He froze.
Intention? History? Laws? Forces?
That wasn't an ability.
That was knowledge digging fingernails into the spine of the universe.
"No truth is singular.
The Second Vision dives through layers — from surface reality down to the silent principles that define existence."
Kai sucked in a breath.
The statue finished coldly:
"The longer the gaze,
the greater the revelation,
and the heavier the backlash."
He understood immediately.
Knowledge was power.
Knowledge was corruption.
Knowledge was danger.
Humans had gone mad from lesser truths.
He wiped sweat from his brow.
"…Alright. Next."
Third Vision — Essence Weave
(Passive Ability)
A faint hum passed through the ground, through the flames, through Kai's bones.
"Through inherited divinity, the bearer can subtly influence the energy of the world."
Kai's heart jumped.
"Elements respond.
Forces bend.
Essence drifts toward the bearer like metal to a magnet."
Heat touched his skin.
The black flames at his feet stirred as if bowing.
"Fire heats in his presence.
Water flows with his intention.
Wind shifts, earth vibrates, lightning stirs."
Kai blinked hard.
Influence the world?
Change his own element?
The statue continued:
"The bearer can momentarily alter the surrounding element…
and, if the environment accepts,
change his own element to match what he manipulates."
Kai's eyes widened.
He could change element.
Not permanently. Not fully.
But enough.
The voice concluded:
"This is not creation.
Not control.
Simply the privilege of one whose blood carries a fragment of unity
who once belonged to a god that bound all forces together."
Kai whispered, "…Wow."
Final Vision — Gaze Upon Creation
The statue paused.
Then spoke a single chilling line:
"????? Unknown."
Kai stared blankly.
"…Really? You don't know?"
The statue did not reply.
Which made the silence feel even heavier.
Kai exhaled, rubbing his face with both hands the fact he had two now still shocking every time he moved.
"Alright," he muttered. "Just… read my status again."
The symbols shifted once more, forming the same arrangement as before.
"Name: Kai Valeria
Stage: Awakening
(Will you like to proceed to evolve into an Awakening?)
Element: Fire
Blood Lineage: Crimson Eyes of Truth
(Will you like me to read you the details?)"
Kai nodded.
"Continue."
The final line appeared.
"Affinity Rank: Unknown ????"
Kai stiffened.
"…Wait. What do you mean by unknown?"
The statue did not answer.
The sea of black flames rippled.
The skyless world seemed to breathe.
And the question hung there thick, ominous, unresolved.
Unknown.
Affinity Rank: Unknown.
Something no one could read.
Something the Trial itself refused to explain.
Kai stared at the floating symbols, at the statue of himself, at the broken head half-submerged in cold flame.
And the chapter ends with his whispered words, almost swallowed by the emptiness around him
"…Unknown? What does that even mean…?"