Chapter 3: Ashes of the Guide
The Temple of First Light had once been the holiest site in the Northern Empire.
Built into the cliffs of Mount Veyra, it overlooked the Valley of Echoes, where monks claimed Heaven's voice could still be heard in the wind. Its golden spires had pierced the sky like promises. Its halls had echoed with chants older than the empires themselves. Now, it was a skeleton of stone and ash.
Faith stepped through the scorched archway, boots crunching over shattered relics and prayer beads melted into the floor. Smoke curled around him, thick with incense and betrayal. The rewritten guidebook pulsed faintly in his grip, its cover marked with a symbol he didn't recognize—two wings, one broken, one whole.
Kael stood near the collapsed altar, her cloak fluttering in the breeze that swept through the broken stained glass. "You shouldn't have come back," she said.
"I had to see it," Faith replied. "I had to know if the book was real."
He held it up. The pages inside were untouched by the fire, as if protected by something ancient and defiant. The first page was blank. The second held a single line:
Heaven does not fall. It is pushed.
The words hit him like a blow to the chest.
Kael approached slowly, her boots brushing ash. "That line wasn't in the original."
"You knew it was rewritten," Faith said.
"I suspected," she admitted. "But I didn't know it would be you who found it."
Faith's grip tightened. "Why me?"
Kael hesitated. "Because you were born under the Hollow Moon. Because Razen feared you. Because the fruit chose you."
Faith turned away, staring at the altar's remains. "The Setto Setto Fruit… it's changing me."
Kael nodded. "It's not just a power. It's a key. To something buried."
Faith looked around the ruined temple. He remembered kneeling here as a boy, reciting the Doctrine of Ascension beneath the golden dome. Razen's voice had filled the hall like thunder. Now, the dome was gone. Razen was gone. And the doctrine felt like a lie.
Suddenly, the ground trembled. A ripple of Ki surged through the floor. Faith spun around as a figure emerged from the smoke—tall, armored, eyes like molten steel.
General Veyar.
The Empire's enforcer of divine doctrine.
"You've read the forbidden text," Veyar said, voice like thunder. "You've tasted the fruit. You are now an enemy of Heaven."
Faith stepped forward, the book glowing faintly in his hand. "Then Heaven should be afraid."
Veyar raised his hand, and a spear of Ki formed in the air. "You were chosen to protect the doctrine. Now you threaten it."
Kael drew her blade, stepping between them. "He's not ready."
Veyar's eyes narrowed. "Then he dies unready."
The clash was instant. Kael's blade met Veyar's Ki spear with a burst of light. Faith was thrown back, the book flying from his hands. It landed open, pages fluttering, revealing a map—one Faith had never seen before. Four empires. Four seals. One marked in red.
Faith crawled toward it, ignoring the battle behind him. The map pulsed, and a voice echoed in his mind:
Find the red seal. Break it. Begin the fall.
He looked up. Kael was bleeding. Veyar loomed over her, spear raised.
Faith screamed. The Setto Setto Fruit surged through him, and the Temple of First Light exploded in radiant fire.