"Sometimes the past is not just a memory. It's a curse carved into your soul."
---
Darkness.
Kaizen Ryouma stood in a field of golden wheat, the sun drenching everything in warmth. A gentle breeze touched his cheeks. He was five again. His little fingers clutched the hem of his mother's white kimono. She turned, smiling, her auburn hair glowing like fire.
"Kaizen... run to your sister."
A small giggle echoed. His younger sister, Hana, barely three, toddled toward him, arms outstretched. Behind her, Ayaka Himari — a girl with jet-black hair and sharp, protective eyes — stood silently, watching over them like a shadow, even at that age.
Everything was perfect.
Until it shattered.
A deafening scream cut through the air.
Smoke. Fire. Screeching metal. The sky turned black.
Kaizen's tiny hand slipped from his mother's grip. Blood sprayed. Something monstrous — a towering beast with molten veins and eyes like dying suns — towered over their burning home.
His father's last shout. Ayaka's desperate scream. Hana's tiny hands reaching for him, just before the earth split.
Kaizen screamed and—
---
He awoke.
Heart pounding. Breath ragged. Shirt soaked with sweat.
It was the same dream.
The same curse.
He sat up on the cold bunk, the metallic walls of the dorm reflecting faint blue light from the flickering power lines above. Outside, distant howls of Bist echoed beyond the security walls.
He rubbed his eyes.
He was no longer five. He was seventeen. Lean. Tall. Scarred. Rage sleeping beneath his skin like a coiled beast.
And across from him, on the other bunk, Ayaka stirred awake.
"You had it again, didn't you?" she asked, voice calm.
Kaizen didn't answer.
She sat up. Her black hair had grown longer, tied in a tight braid. Her eyes — same steel gaze — never left him. She had grown too. Not just taller, but sharper. Stronger.
"Same faces. Same screams," Kaizen finally whispered. "I hear them... every night."
Ayaka got up and stood in front of him. "You're not the only one with ghosts, Kaizen. But we're here to kill the monsters that made them."
---
The Training Zone: Camp Ashenfall
Sector 6 – Combat Division
The sky was overcast, as if the clouds knew what kind of violence was being forged beneath them.
Kaizen and Ayaka stood among forty other recruits, all between ages 16 and 20. Most had lost families. Some were orphans. Others were sent from hidden tribes or Veinborn lines to prepare for the final war.
Commander Renzaki — a tall, skeletal man with one arm and mechanical veins running through his jaw — stood before them.
"You think this camp will make you strong?" he growled. "Wrong. This camp breaks you. So you either rise as a weapon, or you rot as food for the Bist."
"Form squads. Five members each. Choose, or be assigned randomly. You have one minute."
Chaos.
Kaizen and Ayaka didn't move. They were already one.
A soft voice echoed nearby. "Umm… hey. Do you guys need a third?"
A petite girl with violet hair and silver eyes approached, her nervous fingers twisting around her sleeves.
"I'm Kira. I'm not very strong, but I can heal... a little."
Ayaka glanced at Kaizen. He shrugged.
"Welcome to hell," Ayaka replied.
They were soon joined by two more:
Rei, a cocky, loud-mouthed fighter with twin blades and zero filter. "I like blood and breakfast. In that order."
Zeke, a silent observer with pale skin and bandaged arms. He didn't speak. Not once. But his aura felt... broken.
Squad 4 was born.
---
First Test: The Pit
A massive crater. 50 feet deep. No ropes. No steps.
"You climb down," Renzaki barked. "Then climb out with a corpse on your back. That's your first test."
Kaizen stared. "A corpse?"
"Bist attack victim. You want to kill monsters? Learn to carry death first."
One by one, squads entered the pit.
Screams. Vomiting. Injuries. No one returned clean.
When Squad 4's turn came, Kaizen jumped first.
The stench hit like a blade. Blood, burnt flesh, rotting limbs.
Kaizen didn't flinch.
He found a half-burnt body — eyes still wide open in terror.
He remembered Hana's last look.
He lifted the corpse and began climbing, hands burning against the jagged rocks. Veins pulsing red beneath his skin.
At the top, his body collapsed — not from weakness, but rage.
Ayaka helped him up. No words.
She had brought her own.
They all passed. Barely.
---
Later That Night...
Campfires lit the dark grounds. Recruits whispered tales of the Outer Bist, beasts that could destroy entire battalions. Some laughed. Others cried.
Kaizen sat alone, eyes on the sky.
Ayaka joined him silently.
After a while, she said, "Do you know why I followed you all these years?"
He looked at her. "Because you felt guilty?"
She shook her head. "Because I made a promise. To your mother."
Kaizen's jaw clenched.
"She saved me once," Ayaka whispered. "When I was a child. When no one else would. I told her I'd repay her."
Kaizen stayed quiet. Then finally, "You've done enough."
Ayaka didn't answer. But her hand gently brushed his. Just for a second.
---
Meanwhile…
In a dark underground chamber beneath the camp, someone watched Squad 4 on a flickering monitor.
A voice echoed in the shadows. "So... the flame still burns. Let's see how long before it consumes him."
A red eye opened in the dark. Watching. Waiting.
---
To be continued…