The night air bit through the cracks in their crumbling shelter like hungry teeth. It was their third night in what used to be called Grimhaven - though calling it a "haven" now seemed like a cruel joke. What had once been a thriving district under the protection of one of the most powerful families in the realm had become nothing more than a graveyard of broken dreams, buried under layers of filth, desperation, and simmering violence.
In the middle of this decay, two siblings huddled together, clinging to whatever threads of family and hope they had left.
Fenix sat with his back pressed against the cold stone wall, watching the dying embers of their tiny fire cast weak, dancing shadows across Abigail's sleeping face. She was curled up like a frightened kitten, her thin arms wrapped tightly around her knees, her dark hair tangled and dirty from days of restless sleep. Even in her dreams, tear tracks still glistened on her cheeks.
He hadn't told her the truth yet. He wasn't really her brother.
Or maybe he was now. The memories of this body's original owner still drifted through his mind in broken pieces, like whispers from a ghost that refused to move on. Sometimes he felt like he was living in someone else's skin, wearing their face like a mask. But right now, what mattered more than anything was the girl beside him, and the way his heart twisted into knots whenever she cried out in her sleep, calling for parents who would never answer.
He turned toward her and spoke softly. "Abby?"
She stirred and blinked her eyes open, looking confused and groggy. "Mmm? What is it?"
"I've been thinking..." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "Where do you want to go from here? We can't stay in this place forever."
It seemed like such a simple question, but it carried the weight of everything they had lost - their family, their home, their entire world that had collapsed around them while they watched helplessly.
Abigail looked up at him, her crimson eyes dull and lifeless in the flickering firelight. When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. "I want to go home."
Fenix felt his chest tighten. "You mean... the estate?"
She nodded slowly, like even that small movement was exhausting. "The Province House. Our real home. It has to still be standing... it just has to be. Uncle Khan and his sons - Kai and Abel - they stayed behind when everything fell apart. Even if the house is nothing but rubble now, it's still ours. It's still where we belong."
Her voice cracked, and he could see her fighting back fresh tears. "Ever since everything collapsed, I kept thinking... maybe Mama and Papa made it back there somehow. Maybe they're waiting for us right now, wondering where we are. Maybe we just need to..."
The words died in her throat as her shoulders started shaking. She wiped at her eyes angrily, frustrated by her own weakness. "We've already checked the old safehouse where they said to meet. We even looked at the communication towers. There's nowhere else they could be hiding. What if... what if we were just too slow to save them?"
Fenix moved closer and wrapped his arms around her trembling form, pulling her against his chest. "We weren't too slow," he said firmly, even though a part of him wondered if that was really true. "We'll go to the estate. If it's still standing, if there are answers to be found there... we'll start looking."
Abigail nodded against his shoulder, too emotionally drained to say anything else.
---
By the time morning light crept over the broken skyline, they had gathered their few belongings, Then they began the long, difficult journey toward what remained of the Central Province.
As they walked through the ruins of what had once been their family's territory, Fenix couldn't help but notice the painful reminders of past glory scattered among the destruction. Here and there, broken pieces of the old world peeked through the ash and rubble like bones sticking out of a grave. A fallen stone pillar with the Ackerman family crest still carved deep into its surface. An old training post where young soldiers had once practiced, its wood splintered and weathered but with the traditional markings still visible.
Each sight was like a knife twisting in his chest, showing him exactly how far the mighty Ackerman family had fallen.
It took them most of the day, walking on feet that were already sore and bleeding, to reach the outer boundaries of what had once been the crown jewel of their family's holdings.
What they found there took Fenix's breath away.
The Ackerman estate was both magnificent and heartbreaking at the same time. It had been built as a masterpiece of architecture - five terraced levels carved directly into the hillside, each one more elaborate and beautiful than the last. Now, stubborn weeds pushed their way through cracks in what had once been perfect stonework, and thick vines hung down from the walls like old battle scars that refused to heal. The golden roof that had once gleamed like the sun itself had faded to a dull copper-brown color, and spider web cracks ran across the intricate carvings that decorated the main building's columns.
But even in its current state, even fallen from grace and forgotten by the world, the estate still carried an undeniable sense of majesty. The bones of greatness remained, like the skeleton of some ancient, noble beast.
The House of Red had not disappeared completely. It had simply... fallen asleep.
They walked through the outer gate, their footsteps echoing across what had once been pristine training fields but were now overgrown with weeds. Broken statues of past family heroes lay scattered like forgotten toys, their stone faces worn smooth by years of neglect.
And then Fenix became aware of the stares.
People had gathered in the inner courtyard - servants who had nowhere else to go, guards who had stayed loyal even when their paychecks stopped coming, tenants who had been born on Ackerman land and couldn't imagine living anywhere else. But they all shared one unmistakable feature: those distinctive blood-red eyes that marked them as part of the extended Ackerman bloodline.
Those crimson eyes followed Fenix and Abigail's every move, but not with warmth or welcome. Instead, they burned with resentment and barely contained anger. The siblings' ragged appearance, their obvious weakness and poverty, served as a painful reminder of how far their once-great family had fallen. To these people who were desperately clinging to whatever scraps of pride they had left, Fenix and Abigail represented everything they were trying to forget.
Fenix felt the crushing weight of every single hostile glare.
One man deliberately spat on the ground as they walked past, the sound loud and insulting in the tense silence. Another whispered something to his companion that made them both snicker coldly, like they were sharing a particularly cruel joke.
Abigail's hand trembled in his, and he watched her lower her head in shame.
Fenix squeezed her fingers tightly and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Keep walking. Don't let them see you break. They're just ghosts wearing red eyes, trying to pretend they still matter."
They climbed the wide stone steps that led to the main hall, and with each step upward, the air seemed to grow colder and more oppressive.
Inside the great hall, two figures were waiting for them. They sat on an old velvet couch like princes holding court in their fallen kingdom, their posture radiating arrogance and entitlement. Both were older than Fenix - a year at most. They were clearly twins, with matching jet-black hair, pale skin that seemed to glow in the dim light, and those same piercing scarlet eyes that seemed to burn with inner fire.
Kai and Abel Ackerman.
Sons of Khan Ackerman, who was Fenix's uncle. His cousins by blood, though you'd never know it from the way they looked at him.
The moment the twins spotted the newcomers, they rose to their feet with predatory grins.
"Well, well, well," Kai drawled, his voice dripping with mock surprise and barely concealed contempt. "If it isn't our dear lost lambs, finally crawling back to the fold."
Abel's smirk was even nastier than his brother's. "Honestly, we all thought you two had died somewhere in the gutter. Would've saved everyone a lot of embarrassment if you had."
Abigail shrank back behind Fenix like she was trying to disappear entirely. But Fenix didn't move an inch, meeting their hostile stares without flinching.
Abel took a step forward, his eyes glittering with malicious amusement. "Did you really think you could just crawl back here like beaten dogs and we'd welcome you with open arms? This isn't your home anymore, 'cousin'. Those days are long gone."
Then something changed in the air around them. It wasn't a sound exactly - more like a shift in pressure that made the hair on the back of Fenix's neck stand up.
Kai's aura began to flicker into visibility.
A haze of brilliant azure blue swirled around him like living smoke, beautiful and terrifying at the same time. It moved with a fluid grace that was almost hypnotic, but underneath that beauty was something dangerous - a crushing weight that pressed down on everything around it like an invisible mountain.
Fenix felt his breath catch in his throat. For the first time since waking up in this world, he was face to face with one of its most fundamental forces. This wasn't just some abstract concept from Greg's stories anymore. This was real aura, real power, and it was being aimed directly at him like a weapon.
Every instinct he had screamed at him to run, to get as far away from this threat as possible. But instead, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to take a step forward.
Kai raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. "Oh? Did our little cousin suddenly grow a spine? How interesting."
Abel snorted with laughter. "Look at him shake. The runt thinks he can stand up to us now."
But Fenix didn't back down. When he spoke, his voice was steady and clear, without a trace of the fear that was clawing at his insides. "I'm not here begging for your approval or permission. We came here because this is our family's home, and we have just as much right to be here as you do."
The simple declaration hung in the air like a challenge. Both twins stared at him in shock - this wasn't the same weak, frightened boy they remembered from before the fall. Something fundamental had changed about him. He stood taller now, looked them directly in the eye without wavering, spoke with a confidence that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside.
Kai's eyes narrowed dangerously. The azure aura around him flared brighter and pressed down with crushing force.
Fenix staggered under the invisible weight. His knees buckled and he had to bite his lip hard enough to draw blood just to keep from crying out. When he glanced back at Abigail, her face was frozen in pure terror as she watched him struggle against a power she couldn't even see.
He couldn't fall here. Not in front of her. Not when she was counting on him to be strong.
But his body felt like it was being crushed by a giant's fist. The pressure was suffocating, making it impossible to breathe or think clearly. Darkness crept in at the edges of his vision.
Then, unexpectedly, Abel's voice cut through the tension like a knife.
"That's enough, brother."
Kai blinked in surprise. "What? But I was just getting started."
Abel's tone was calm but carried an unmistakable note of authority. "If we seriously hurt him, Father will find out. You know the family laws as well as I do - he still carries Ackerman blood, no matter how pathetic he might be. We can't just ignore the old rules."
Kai clicked his tongue in annoyance but let his aura fade away like mist in the morning sun. "Fine. You're probably right. Besides, he hasn't even awakened his aura core yet. He's not worth the effort it would take to crush him properly."
The crushing pressure vanished instantly, leaving Fenix gasping and shaking as feeling slowly returned to his limbs. He straightened up as much as he could manage and took Abigail's trembling hand, squeezing it reassuringly.
As they walked past the twins toward the inner chambers, neither Kai nor Abel said another word. But Fenix could feel their eyes burning into his back with every step.
He didn't look back at them, but he could taste blood from where he'd bitten his lip, and his chest burned with a mixture of rage and humiliation that threatened to consume him from the inside.
'Disgraceful.'
The word echoed in his mind like an accusation. He had been completely helpless, unable to protect himself or his sister when it mattered most. If Abel hadn't intervened, there was no telling what Kai might have done to them.
But more than anything else, what he felt was a burning, desperate hunger for power. Not for revenge - that was too small, too petty. Not even for pride or recognition.
For 'her.'
He glanced down at Abigail, who was still pale and shaken from what she had witnessed. The sight of her fear, her vulnerability, her complete dependence on him for protection - it lit a fire in his chest that burned hotter than any shame or anger.
He squeezed her hand gently and leaned down to whisper in her ear, his voice filled with quiet determination.
"I swear to you, Abby - I'll never let anyone look at us like that again. Never. No matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, I'll become strong enough to protect you properly."
As the words left his mouth, he felt something deep inside his chest respond - a tiny spark of warmth that hadn't been there before, like the first ember of a fire that would soon become an inferno.
This moment - this humiliation, this powerlessness, this burning need to become something greater - would be remembered as the beginning.
The first step on a long and dangerous path.
Toward awakening his dormant power.
Toward reclaiming everything the Ackerman family had lost.
And maybe, just maybe, toward becoming the person Fenix Ackerman was truly meant to be.