The sky tore itself open in a blaze of fire and water, a violent tempest that seemed to mock the natural order. Kaelen felt nothing at first—just emptiness, a hollow where memories should have been. His body moved instinctively, yet his mind was a blank canvas, wiped clean by the catastrophe that had shattered everything.
He remembered only one thing: a surge of energy, dark and infinite, ripping through his soul. When the world returned to silence, he found himself split. Half of his essence drifted into nothingness, and the other half had fused with an infant—a child he had no name for, no recognition of, but whose destiny was now intertwined with his.
From that moment, life became a labyrinth of threads, and every choice was guided by a pulse he could neither see nor fully comprehend.
The Soul Split and Inner Domains
The accident had fractured Kaelen's Inner Domain as well. Once a singular, infinite void of potential and elemental power, it now existed as two halves: one molten-water, the other tidal-flame. Between them pulsed a glowing purple energy, born from the devouring of a mysterious Magical Beast—an event that granted them powers beyond comprehension but tethered their fates permanently.
The void between their domains was vast, stretching into infinite darkness, filled with nightmares and strange, living currents. Cursed Zones had begun to emerge in this inner expanse, spawned from the trauma of the split, creatures born to consume the purple energy that bound the halves together. Each one a reflection of their pain, their fear, their fractured will.
The First Guardians
When Kaelen's soul split, the child he had fused with instinctively called forth their first guardian—a fledgling entity of fire and water, molten and liquid at once, flickering with the same purple glow that tethered their fractured halves.
The guardian's form was chaotic, a writhing mass that was part creature, part elemental. It responded only to the faintest impulses from Kaelen and the child, reacting to moods, intentions, and the pulse of energy between them. It was alive, and yet not entirely conscious—an extension of their fractured Inner Domain.
This was their first lesson: the world itself would be shaped by their bond and the guardians they could summon.
The Seed of the Future
In her half of the soul, Lysera had unknowingly absorbed a root containing all elements and the primordia of void, which strengthened her Inner Domain to planetary scale. The half of the planet she commanded was hers alone, yet it mirrored Kaelen's side in structure and essence. The purple energy between them pulsed constantly, a tether that allowed their domains to react, adapt, and evolve.
From this seed, creatures were born—beings tied intrinsically to each half, each reflecting one side of their fractured consciousness. One was fiery and fluid, mirroring Kaelen; the other was watery and molten, a reflection of Lysera. These creatures would grow to become guardians, allies, and eventually weapons against the eternal spread of the Cursed Zone.
Foreshadowing
Somewhere beyond their awareness, cloaked in shadow, a figure watched. Eyes molten gold, calculating, patient. The main villain understood the fracture, the purple energy, and the planetary Inner Domains. They knew the storm that was coming, and they were ready to exploit it when the time was right.
"So fragile… yet so potent," the figure whispered. "The fractured twins, the planetary Inner Domain… soon, I will see what they are truly capable of. And I will shape them."
The storm had begun—not outside, but within, and the world would never be the same.