The candle flickered violently, shadows dancing like whispers on the stone walls.
Ayaka sat hunched over a worn leather-bound journal, its pages yellowed, torn, and soaked in age. The remnants of her father's private collection—salvaged from what was left of their old manor after the Bist razed it.
She hadn't slept in two days.
Her fingers trembled as she turned another fragile page. Bloodstains marred the edges. The ink had bled in some places. But the writing… it was his. Her father's. Precise. Obsessive.
And hidden.
She found it behind a false layer in the journal's back cover—a page sealed within wax. She had to burn it open. The smell of charred parchment still hung in the room.
Now she stared at what was written.
Not notes. Not research.
A prophecy.
Handwritten in a trembling script unlike the rest of the journal. Older. Scribbled like a madman had scrawled it with his last breath.
> "From veins unbroken and flames unquenched,
Shall rise the child of ruin.
A heart forged by sorrow, a soul by fire,
The One who stands between Bist and Man—
Not to save them.
But to end what began before time."
Her eyes scanned faster now, heart racing.
> "Marked by the Shard's pulse, named by the stars before his birth:
Kaizen Ryouma.
The Veinborn.
The Echo of the First Flame.
The Destroyer… or Deliverer."
Her breath caught.
His name. Kaizen's name.
She read the line again and again. No mistake. This was written before either of them were born.
She slammed the book shut, heart hammering.
"What the hell are you, Kaizen…?" she whispered.
A sharp knock echoed at the door.
Ayaka quickly hid the journal beneath the floor panel and stood up, brushing the ash from her hands. The door creaked open and a soldier stepped inside.
"Lady Ayaka. Commander wants you. There's been… an incident."
Her mind snapped back to the present. "Kaizen?"
"No," the soldier said slowly. "But… something connected. We found a body outside Sector 7. Burned. Carved with symbols."
Ayaka's blood ran cold.
"What kind of symbols?"
The soldier hesitated, then handed her a black shard of scorched bone. Etched into its surface was a twisting spiral, almost like a third eye—exactly like the one Kaizen had seen in his dreams.
And at the center of the symbol—
was her name.
Not written.
Carved.
—
Meanwhile…
Kaizen stood on the southern cliffside, the wind biting into his skin.
He hadn't told anyone about Nerovar. Not Umbra. Not even Ayaka.
Because how do you explain meeting a ghost that speaks like a god and vanishes like a lie?
He clutched the black Shard embedded in his armor. It felt hotter than usual, pulsing with unease. Since the vision Nerovar gave him, he hadn't slept. He couldn't. His dreams weren't his anymore.
He saw glimpses of other versions of himself—in different lands, in bloodstained thrones, in chains, in fire.
And in each of them… he was the last one standing.
He didn't understand it.
He was supposed to be a soldier.
A protector.
Not this… harbinger.
A soft crunch behind him broke his thoughts.
Kaizen turned instantly, blade half-drawn.
It was Ayaka.
She looked paler than usual, clutching something in her hand.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
She looked up slowly. "I found something. In my father's notes. A prophecy."
His eyes narrowed.
"You need to see it," she whispered. "But there's more. Someone… knows. They left this outside our sector."
She held out the scorched bone.
Kaizen took it.
The moment his skin touched it—his vision flashed.
The eye symbol blazed red. He saw dozens of bodies, crucified across a field. And standing above them—Nerovar.
Smiling.
And behind Nerovar…
A wall of shadows with Kaizen's own face.
He dropped the bone, gasping.
Ayaka grabbed his arm. "Kaizen, listen to me. Whoever wrote this prophecy knew you before you existed. Before your parents even met."
"I have no parents," Kaizen muttered.
She flinched. "That's not true."
"It is," he said coldly. "Nerovar told me… I was created. Not born."
Ayaka stared at him, lips trembling.
"No matter what you are," she said softly, "you're still the one who saved me. You're still… you."
Kaizen's voice cracked. "Then why do I feel like something's growing inside me that I can't stop?"
Ayaka stepped closer, resting her forehead against his chest. "Then we fight it together. Even if it kills us."
Kaizen shut his eyes.
For a moment, there was silence.
And somewhere in that silence…
A new shadow was watching them from the cliff above.
Not Nerovar.
Someone else.
Ragged cloak.
Six eyes.
And a voice like knives in smoke.
> "So the prophecy awakens... but they still don't know the last line."