---
A whisper moved through the ocean.
Not wind. Not sound.
A pulse—ancient and heavy—stirred through leagues of water, shaking coral forests and echoing through trenches long since abandoned by life. Sea beasts fled without knowing why. Predators turned tail. Even the oldest ocean spirits slumbering in forgotten wrecks stirred uneasily in their dreams.
Somewhere far beneath the waves, a single crack formed along a sealing rune that hadn't trembled in thousands of years.
And just like that…
The world changed.
---
Ember Hollow Borderlands – Duskmire Range
Far to the west, beneath the dusky shadow of the Duskmire Mountains, lay the Ember Hollow borderlands. A land caught between obscurity and forgotten legend.
The soil here was dry and cracked. The sky perpetually grey, as if it had grown tired of shedding light on a place where history had bled too often. Villagers spoke in hushed tones. Superstition clung to the region like smoke.
Few cultivators passed this way. Those that did never stayed.
Yet today, something divine cut through the clouds.
A streak of green jade, like a comet made of spirit essence, tore across the sky—burning a trail of Qi that made birds fall from the air. Chickens scattered. Oxen screamed. The elder priest of the village collapsed, blood leaking from his nose and eyes.
The light vanished as quickly as it came.
But the wind carried something behind it—a whisper, barely audible, yet heard in the soul.
"He returns soon."
No one understood what it meant.
But the trees bowed.
And the ground trembled.
---
Stormheart Sect – Floating Pavilion
Thousands of li away, high above the mortal world, a pavilion floated in the sky—a structure of silver tiles and hanging blue lanterns that caught lightning like it was silk thread.
This was the Stormheart Sect, one of the Four Great Sky Orders.
And in one of its remote courtyards, a girl meditated under the open sky, surrounded by silent arcs of crackling spirit lightning.
Her name was Lian.
She had grown stronger since the storm two years ago—when the boy named Ash vanished into the sea and the heavens howled.
Her master called her gifted. A rare lightning physique—temperamental, unstable, but bursting with potential.
But Lian didn't care about titles or talent.
All she wanted was answers.
That night still haunted her. The way the sea moved, not as water, but as if something beneath it breathed. The way Ash had stood before that ancient formation, eyes filled not with fear—but rage. The way he had vanished, not swallowed—but taken.
Everyone else had moved on.
Lian hadn't.
She remembered.
And that memory pulsed through her cultivation every time she trained.
"What happened to you…?" she murmured, eyes opening to meet the endless sky.
As if in answer, a distant thunder crackled across the heavens.
---
Somewhere Beneath the Sea – The Forgotten Temple
In the abyss where pressure would crush all life, deeper than even sea beasts dared roam, stood a temple carved of black stone veined with gold. The walls were silent, their inscriptions pulsing in dull blue.
Inside, Ash floated within a prison of formation runes.
He did not move. He did not breathe. And yet… he endured.
His body was preserved in spiritual stasis, but his consciousness had begun to stretch beyond.
The dreamless void had become something else.
Whispers. Visions. Feelings not his own. Faint memories bled into his mind—ancient languages, roaring heavens, fire burning across realms.
And then… a voice.
Not the same as before.
Something closer.
Younger.
Familiar.
"You hate them, don't you?"
Ash didn't reply. He couldn't. But something deep inside pulsed.
"They burned your home. They took your family. And then… they forgot you."
Emotion stirred.
Anger.
"Even she forgot you. The girl. The sect. The world."
Pain pulsed.
Not from the seal.
But from his own heart.
The chains around him groaned.
A small ember, buried in the corner of the chamber, flickered to life. It wasn't fire. It was will.
And it was his.
The presence inside the temple stirred again—but this time, not in command.
It watched.
And smiled.
---
Temple Corridor – Depths of the Seal
Farther within the structure, deep in the inner sanctum, the runes lining the walls flickered for the first time in millennia.
A second figure knelt in shadow.
Once a man. Now… more.
This one had long been sealed—an ancient cultivator who once defied the heavens not for freedom, but for power. His path had been forbidden—the cultivation of demons and devils, the breaking of natural law through sacrifice.
They called him many things.
But most whispered only one name:
The Crimson Mourner.
He had slumbered since the war that split the continent.
But now…
Now he felt something stir in the chamber above him.
A boy.
And a will strong enough to rattle the formation.
The Crimson Mourner smiled.
Then whispered a chant no mortal had heard in ten thousand years.
And the sea trembled again.
---
Heavenly Dao Council – Realm of Stars
High above the clouds, beyond the mortal realm, sat the Council of Heaven's Will.
They watched from an ethereal sanctum shaped like a lotus floating across the void. Their senses stretched across realms.
Tonight, they felt a ripple.
Not in the stars.
But in the web that connected fate.
A child of no destiny had begun to thread his will into the Dao.
The council stirred.
An ancient observer muttered: "The Forbidden One's shadow lingers…"
Another replied, "But that one was sealed."
A third, whose body shimmered like a mirror, spoke: "Perhaps not alone anymore."
The central flame of the council dimmed.
And the meeting ended in silence.
---
Ember Hollow – Village Child
In a tiny border village, just past the eastern cliffs, a child awoke screaming from a dream.
His mother rushed to him, heart pounding. "What is it?! A nightmare?"
The boy shook his head, tears streaming down his face.
He pointed toward the sea, his hand trembling.
"I saw Brother Ash," he said softly.
The mother paused. "Who is Brother Ash?"
The child blinked.
Then frowned.
"I… I don't know."
And outside the window, the wind carried the scent of salt, and a soft rumble echoed from the direction of the coast.
---