[Descendant... enter the First Vision.]
"Ugh, the First what?"
The ephemeral voice dissolved into a thick mental fog.
Yun drifted awake to a storm needling him with hail, opening small cracks in his dry skin. His hands were braced against a luminous parapet, and his knuckles were white, like some part of him feared the decision he was about to make.
His body twitched, nearly slipping on the frost-coated masonry under his bare feet. Yun was on a wall. The outer boundary wall.
A grey wasteland on one side and the city's spires bleeding everglows into the dark on the other, and no memory at all of how he'd gotten between them, just an inexplicable longing for his mother.
And with that, Yun decided that something was terribly wrong. Why would he want anything to do with her?
"Was I asleep? No, that makes no sense."
For a few heartbeats, Yun simply breathed, trying to make sense of why he was standing this high up. He didn't recall being this brave, or stupid.
His head throbbed, and focusing too hard only made the pain worse.
"How long… have I been here?"
No answer came. There was only the gnawing in his gut, relentless and familiar in a way that made his chest tighten.
After a brief mental search, he came to one conclusion: the last three days of his life had evaporated from his mind.
But most importantly…
"So hungry."
Yun could almost feel his bones scraping against each other.
Being from the Hollows, he was no stranger to an empty stomach, but nothing quite like this.
He took a few steps back, swaying as vertigo rolled through him. He turned to see a crumpled package near his feet.
Frowning, Yun picked it up and peeled it open. Inside was a hollowed-out loaf stuffed with beef curry, still kept warm by the thermal paper wrapping. The smell hit him all at once — a rich and spicy aroma that made his sinuses tingle.
Clearly it was something he could never afford. Other than humans, only the pure-blood Descendants had enough money to enjoy some meat. Those of Tainted blood like him could only salivate from under the dinner table.
"Did I steal this?" he muttered.
Normally, Yun avoided petty crimes like theft. He was fairly certain about that much. His life might be fuzzy around the edges right now, but most things still felt solid.
Still, the evidence was right there in his hands, and strangely enough, the idea didn't bother him as much as it should have.
His hand brushed against his hip out of habit, and stopped.
Something hard, a small metal disc, pressed into his palm through the fabric. He dug into his pockets and worked it free, already guessing what it was before he saw it; the shape alone was enough to sink cold into his gut.
A raven, a spear, both wreathed in thorns — the crest of High Clan Morrigan.
The Clan that had thrown him out of their world before he'd even opened his eyes in it. Yun gulped with no saliva.
"Why," he said, to no one, "do I have this?"
He turned it over once, then shoved it deep into his pocket, like hiding it from sight might undo the fact of it being there at all.
No use dwelling on it. One more unanswered question wouldn't hurt.
Instead, he focused his attention back on the free meal in his hand. After a short debate with himself, which he lost, he took a bite.
The soaked bread dissolved on his tongue, releasing a warm, spicy rush of curry that spread in a satisfying burn. For a moment, just a moment, the hunger eased, the void shrinking enough for him to breathe. But the moment he swallowed, the heat spiked sharp and fast.
"Ah! So damn hot," Yun coughed, eyes watering.
He reflexively flung the curry loaf away. Realizing his mistake a little late, Yun scrambled to catch it again, managing only a fistful of ice pellets for his trouble. He watched helplessly as the stiff wind tore at the paper packaging, until the loaf crashed into the barren land below with a wet splat.
Well. So much for that.
The regret, to his mild surprise, didn't linger. He'd always been better at moving on than his sister, who always had her hands full with being the only responsible adult in the family. And that included Mother.
Of the two siblings, he was the only one who listened when their mother would say, "In this journey called life, I always travel light." Yun could still practically feel her finger emphatically tapping his heart as she said that.
She would always hide behind such platitudes after messing up, like almost burning their shack down while trying to reheat some leftovers. What an idiot.
Sister had always been the one to follow behind Mother, filling in where she couldn't be bothered to try, like bathing and feeding her own son.
Enough of that. Why am I suddenly thinking about them?
Yun took a deep breath and peered into the wasteland spread out before him. It was devoid of life as far as he could see. A few vaguely humanoid silhouettes lingered in the haze, their forms wavering as the wind pressed against them, their shadows drifting with it. Something urged Yun to look away immediately.
Heeding his internal warning, he decided it was time to get off the wall.
Yun turned away from the depressing sight of the outside world in search of a way down. There had to be a watchman's post somewhere around here.
… and the world lurched. An unfamiliar voice boomed from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously.
[Descendant! Consume the Celestial Fragment and enter the First Vision.]
"Oh, shi—"
Hearing those words, it was like he lost control of his own body, drowning in his own consciousness. For a split second, his balance vanished.
He staggered toward the guardrails, tripping over them.
The parapet disappeared beneath him. Wind roared in his ears. The ground rushed upward, the barren land expanding rapidly in his vision.
"Wait!"
Panic exploded through the fog in his mind. His hands clawed desperately for the ledge to no avail. His consciousness continued to dim even as he faced death.
"AHH—!"
Just then, like an eclipse, a figure appeared on the parapet and cast a shadow across Yun's petrified face. Without warning, a rough hand clamped onto his shoulder and yanked him violently upward.
The motion nearly dislocated his arm.
The brilliant figure then slapped a paper seal on Yun, snapping him back to reality, and slung him over their shoulder.
Crap, getting caught wandering along the outer boundary wall would get him into so much trouble. Hopefully, it wasn't a Divine, cause then he'd really be screwed.
The figure turned towards the city, and after a brief pause, it leapt. Cold wind whipped past as they crashed back into the city. Cobblestones cracked beneath them upon landing. Yun's stomach jerked.
That was quite impressive for a human… impossible, even.
Ah, who was he kidding? After that jump, that was definitely a Divine. Trouble it was, then.
The figure took off at an impossible speed for any human. Well, they weren't human, and neither was Yun, but still.
"How many days?" asked the Divine. A woman's voice.
"Sorry?"
"How many days are you missing? Answer quickly, kid."
Yun shrugged. "Three."
The woman swore. "Shit. The Curse is almost done eating you alive."
Yun's eyes widened.
"The what—?"
Before he could process her words, his vision blurred into streaks of colour as the Divine blitzed towards the city.
***
A/N: Thank you for reading the opening of this novel. If you enjoyed, please add it to your library to support it. A power stone or two would help!