Nerax… our beloved kingdom.
A phrase I had heard countless times—echoing through radios, classrooms, history books, and the speeches of proud officials.
Yet… I had never truly loved it.
The Kingdom of Nerax might look beautiful from the outside, but resentment and envy dwell deep within the hearts of its people.
They slip quietly through palace windows and seep from the cracks of humble cottages alike… weaving threads of hatred between people, threads invisible to anyone who has never stepped outside the fabric itself.
Sometimes I would ask myself:
Will I ever become someone who truly has a place in this world?
Or am I nothing more than a faint dot on the margins of a book no one bothers to read?
Then I would laugh at myself.
Such thoughts were nothing but empty luxuries—little illusions people create to entertain themselves, just so they can forget that they control nothing in their own lives.
That night, I fell asleep drifting through those same thoughts.
The final question lingering in my mind was painfully simple:
Who am I… really?
I had come into this world with no father and no mother—nothing tying me to anything.
Old Sidra always claimed she was my mother, my father, and my entire family all at once.
But I never fully believed her.
Deep down… I never truly felt like I belonged here.
"Vail… wake up. Vail, wake up."
I slowly opened my eyes.
Grandmother Sidra stood beside me, repeating those same words in her familiar morning voice—as she did every single day.
I got out of bed. Nothing about me had changed.
My hair was still a tangled mess, as if the wind had played with it during the night.
My thin body seemed to shrink further into itself, and my aching back complained silently with every movement.
"Why don't you change your lifestyle, Vail?"
She said it softly, her voice carrying the faint echo of hope that had long since given up.
As usual, I ignored her.
My life was simple: study, farming, and reading my favorite book.
Those small routines were the only things still connecting me to this world.
I went to school as I always did.
A modest building. Cold classrooms. Familiar faces.
"Still the same as ever, Vail?"
One of my classmates asked casually.
I didn't answer.
Words don't matter when they don't come from the heart.
Inside the classroom, the teacher began his usual speech about the kingdom—its safety, its stability.
His tone was stuffed with official lies everyone recognized but no one questioned.
He repeated them anyway.
"Orders from above," they always said.
But something else caught my attention that day.
He began speaking about a book known as The Ink—written by an unknown author who had filled its pages with histories no one else dared to mention.
"It has been taught in schools since Path 334," the teacher explained,
"and some even claim the book existed before the Paths themselves began."
I knew that book.
In fact, I had memorized parts of it.
It spoke of Seven Marks—great powers that shaped the destiny of whoever bore them.
The Mark of Wind.
The Mark of Stone.
The Mark of Darkness.
The Mark of Light.
The Mark of Gold.
The Mark of Ice…
And the Forgotten Mark.
The teacher continued:
"No bearer of the Forgotten Mark has appeared for more than seven hundred years… it is as if it vanished from existence."
His voice slowly faded from my awareness.
My thoughts swallowed me whole.
Who was The Ink?
How could he know all this?
Did he truly live through these events?
Or was he… something else entirely?
Then suddenly—
A strange sound.
Not from the classroom.
Not from the hallway.
From inside me.
A faint voice… like a wall breathing, or a memory tearing open.
"Vail…"
My body shivered. I thought I was imagining things.
But the voice came again—deeper now, more certain.
"You carry the Mark."
Everything froze.
Voices turned into distant murmurs.
The teacher became a shadow.
The classroom dissolved into fog.
Darkness engulfed me, thick and endless, as if I were melting into a dream with no end.
I felt myself falling—
Into a bottomless void.
A whisper echoed inside my mind:
"The Mark has returned… and the world will change."
Light.
But not ordinary light.
A pale blue glow spilled from luminous stones embedded in the walls of a strange cave.
I opened my eyes.
I was lying on a smooth, cold floor.
The classroom was gone.
The teacher was gone.
Even Nerax was gone.
There was only the cave…
A place that felt as though it existed outside the world itself.
I stood slowly, my hands trembling.
A glowing symbol had appeared on my skin—something I had never seen before.
It pulsed faintly, emitting a strange light.
Soft footsteps approached.
Someone was walking toward me.
A tall figure wearing a long cloak, their face hidden behind a mask.
But their voice felt strangely familiar.
"Welcome… bearer of the Mark."
"It has been a long time since the world chose someone again."
A Mark?
What Mark?
Who are you?!
I had no time to ask.
He vanished as suddenly as he had appeared.
And once again…
I was left alone, searching for answers.
I continued deeper into the cave.
Soon, a massive figure emerged before me.
It looked like a stone knight, towering and silent.
Seven symbols were carved across its chest.
One of them was burned through—crossed out by fire.
The knight raised its sword and pointed it at me.
"You are the chosen bearer of the Mark."
"Pass this trial… or die here."
The tunnel transformed into a battlefield.
The entire cave lit up as though the world itself were watching.
The knight charged toward me.
All I had was a wooden staff.
I raised my hand—
And suddenly, power erupted from the Mark.
The staff transformed into a sword of blue flame, clashing with the knight's strike and forcing it back.
The knight stopped.
Then… it bowed.
"The Mark acknowledges you."
"Your journey has begun, Vail."
The cave collapsed.
And once again—
I fell into the void.
But this time…
I knew I would not wake up as the same person.
Silence.
As if the world itself was holding its breath.
Then—
A new light appeared.
Warmer.
Familiar.
I slowly opened my eyes.
I was lying in my bed inside Sidra's small cottage.
But something felt wrong.
The air was different… heavier somehow.
The sunlight slipping through the window was not the usual morning light.
It was golden—
Tinted faintly with purple.
I sat up and touched my skin.
The symbol was still there.
Still glowing faintly…
Almost as if it were breathing along with me.
Sidra entered the room.
Her face looked pale.
And in her eyes I saw something new—something I had never seen before.
Fear.
"You're awake," she said quietly.
"Yes… how long was I asleep?"
She looked at me for a long moment before answering.
"Four days."
"You didn't move at all. I thought you were… gone."
Four days?!
But what happened?
Where was the cave?
The stone knight?
The masked man?
Was it all a dream?
No…
It couldn't have been.
I turned to her.
"Grandmother… do you know what it means to carry a Mark?"
She froze.
Her silence was answer enough.
She slowly sat down beside me and whispered:
"This should never have happened…"
"What shouldn't have happened? Tell me the truth!"
Tears filled her eyes.
"You were meant to remain an unknown thread… outside the weave of fate."
I stared at her, confused.
Then she spoke again, her voice barely audible:
"The Mark you carry… is not just power."
"It is an announcement. A warning."
"A call from the world itself… inviting chaos once more."
"There is no turning back now, Vail."
The next day, I didn't return to school.
I didn't dare.
Everything felt different now.
As if the world itself had changed… or perhaps I had simply begun to see the truth beneath its surface.
That night, I opened The Ink again.
But something strange happened.
The words on the first page had changed.
They were not the ones I had read before.
A new sentence appeared:
"To the bearer of the Mark… the path has opened, and the Weavers will show you no mercy."
My heart pounded as I closed the book.
Then—
A soft knock came from the window.
I opened it.
Something stood in the darkness outside.
I couldn't see it clearly…
But its eyes glowed blue.
It spoke in a deep voice:
"It is time to leave, Vail."
"This world is no longer your place."
I froze in silence, my thoughts scattering into noise.
Then it said:
"Now… there is no return."
"Until you return."