Jaden woke gasping, as if dragged out of the depths of an ocean that wasn't made of water.
His chest heaved.
His hands shook.
His heart raced in two rhythms—one human, one ancient.
Lisa clung to him the moment he sat upright. "Jaden! Jaden, look at me—look at me!"
Her arms wrapped around him so tight he could barely breathe. He didn't push her away. He needed something human to hold onto before the world inside him tore open again.
Jaden whispered hoarsely, "I died…"
"No," she said, voice cracking. "You came back. You always come back."
He felt her shoulders shaking.
"Lisa… are you… crying?"
She froze.
Then she wiped her cheek quickly. "N-no. You scared me, that's all."
He gently touched her hand. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Lisa whispered. "It's his."
Her eyes darted toward the corner of the room.
Kane stood there quietly, hands folded behind his back, head tilted like a scholar observing a rare creature.
He smiled when their eyes met.
"You handled death number thirty-eight better than expected."
Lisa rose to her feet. "Get out."
Kane blinked. "Why?"
"Because you waited," she snapped. "You let him die before pulling him back. You could have saved him."
Jaden swallowed hard. "Is that true…?"
Kane didn't flinch. "Yes."
"WHY!?" Lisa screamed.
"Because," Kane said softly, "every death strengthens what awakens inside him. Pain sharpens flame. Despair cracks identity. And from cracks—power seeps out."
Jaden's blood ran cold.
Lisa trembled with rage. "You're using him."
"No," Kane said gently. "I am preparing him."
Jaden looked down at his hands.
They weren't burning now.
But they remembered burning.
He whispered, "There was a voice… right before I died. It said a name."
Kane's smile widened. "Yes?"
"Aethon."
The room went silent.
Lisa stepped back as if the name itself frightened her.
Kane's expression softened, almost reverent. "Beautiful."
Jaden clenched his fists. "What does it mean?"
Kane approached slowly.
"It is a memory."
"…of who?"
Kane paused.
"Not who."
His voice lowered.
"What."
Jaden's stomach twisted. "I'm human."
Kane tilted his head.
"Are you?"
The ember pulsed once beneath Jaden's ribs.
Lisa grabbed Jaden's arm. "He IS human!"
Kane's gaze settled on her. "Then explain why shadows that mimic gods are hunting him. Explain why the Harrowing drags him in without system prompts. Explain why his flame erases creatures that should not exist."
Lisa tightened her grip on Jaden.
Kane continued gently, "Explain why he speaks in tongues when he dies."
Jaden froze. "What?"
Kane stepped closer. "You don't remember the language you spoke in your final moment?"
Jaden shook his head violently. "No."
"You said," Kane murmured, "a word that predates human language. A word that means rise in a tongue that should have died with the first world."
Jaden's pulse raced.
"What word?"
Kane leaned in and whispered it:
"Khora."
The moment the word left Kane's lips, Jaden's vision blurred violently.
The walls twisted.
The room bent.
And for a split second—
He saw himself.
Another self.
Crowned in flame.
Eyes like collapsing galaxies.
A blade of echo-light in hand.
The vision snapped away.
Jaden gasped. "What… what was that?!"
Kane watched him closely. "Recognition."
Lisa stepped between them again. "Don't say another word to him!"
Kane sighed. "Very well. We'll continue your training when he stabilizes."
"I said NO."
Kane's smile sharpened, edges cold.
"Lisa," he said gently, "you cannot protect him from what he is."
She flinched.
Jaden whispered, "What… what am I?"
Kane turned to him slowly.
"You," he said, "are remembering."
Jaden's skin crawled.
Lisa held him. "Don't listen—"
But Jaden's chest erupted with pain.
He screamed.
Red lines burned across his back, forming the jagged shape of a wing—shattered, incomplete.
Lisa's eyes widened. "Another scar—?!"
Jaden collapsed to his knees. His breath caught as memories that weren't his clawed through his mind:
Falling.
Burning.
A girl reaching for him—
not Lisa—
someone else—
but the same eyes—
the same pain—
Kane crouched beside him.
"This is Echo Scar Three," he murmured. "Beautiful. Painful. Necessary."
Jaden's vision split again.
This time—
he saw something new.
A towering silhouette wreathed in blue fire.
Eyes like drowned stars.
Armor shaped like melting rivers.
A trident humming with drowned galaxies.
A voice thundered:
"I see you, child of the lost flame."
Jaden screamed.
The vision shattered.
He fell forward, shaking violently.
Lisa held him as tears streamed down her face. "Jaden, Jaden, breathe, please—"
Kane whispered:
"Valgros has noticed him. So soon. Fascinating."
Lisa turned, horrified. "A Demon King projection?! NOW!?"
Kane nodded calmly. "The first. There will be more."
Jaden coughed, struggling to speak. "Why… why me?"
Kane touched his shoulder gently.
"Because you are waking up, Jaden."
Jaden's eyes widened.
"No," Kane corrected softly.
"You are returning."
Lisa held him tighter.
Jaden felt the ember pulse again—
warm, dangerous, alive.
And from somewhere in the room—
a crack in the air opened.
A new Shadow
began to crawl out.