ECLIPSE ASCENSION
The wind howled through the skeletal remains of Thalor—a once-thriving realm now reduced to ruins and silence. Cracked temples lay buried beneath ash, and twisted towers reached for a sky that had long forgotten sunlight.
Beneath the shadow of a fallen Ki Node, a boy knelt—barefoot, thin, and dirt-streaked. His name was Hakira.
His fingers trembled as he tore open a half-burnt food pack scavenged from a wrecked caravan. He didn't complain. He never did. Complaining didn't fill your stomach.
"Found you again, rat-boy."
The voice echoed from above. A trio of older scavengers dropped down from the broken archway, sneering. The tallest, Renk, cracked his knuckles and kicked over Hakira's tiny fire.
"Food tax," Renk grinned.
Hakira stood slowly, not out of confidence—out of habit. His crimson eyes flickered for just a moment, but he said nothing.
"You gonna fight us again?" one of them mocked, pointing at the glowing symbol on Hakira's hand. The Eclipse Mark—faint, like a birthmark shaped like a crescent sun.
"I won't fight," Hakira said, his voice steady. "But I'm not giving you what I bled for, either."
Renk lunged.
But the moment he did, Hakira sidestepped. The attacker stumbled forward, crashing into a rock.
"Still can't land a clean hit on me," Hakira murmured, darting backward into the rubble.
He didn't have strength—but he had cleverness. He knew these ruins better than anyone. He weaved through collapsed walls, led them into a maze of traps he'd set earlier.
By the time the scavengers caught up, one had a bruised shin, the other a face full of sand, and Renk was pinned by a falling beam.
"Next time, just ask for food," Hakira said quietly, then turned and vanished into the smoky mist.
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He returned to his cave and sat cross-legged. Above him, a tiny glowing shard of a broken Ki Node floated. Its energy pulsed softly… and Hakira's mark began to glow.
What are you? he wondered, staring at his hand. Why did I survive when Thalor burned? Why do I see these... dreams?
A deep rumble shook the air.
In the distance, the sky cracked open for the first time in centuries.
A rift.
A new era.
And Hakira's journey was just beginning.
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End of Chapter 1
To be continued.....