Broken Era, Year 100.
A century had passed since the War of Shattered Gods shattered the heavens and bled chaos into the world. Humanity endured, but not unchanged.
The strong Awakened, wielding mana to shape empires. The weak… learned to crawl or be crushed.
Kael Ardyn felt the weight of that history in the cold wind cutting through the slums.
The air reeked of ash, rust, and smoke from the forges that never rested.
A toppled statue of a forgotten god loomed nearby, its cracked marble face staring sightless into the dirt.
Today was his Awakening Ceremony.
His one chance to rise.
The district square was crowded with youths his age, herded into ragged lines before the Awakening Hall.
Kael shifted on his feet, his stomach knotting as if hunger and fear wrestled for space inside him.
He thought of Old Bren, the beggar who'd once been a hopeful like them.
Kael could still see him, twisted and broken, left to rot in alleys after the portal crippled him. That image gnawed at him whenever he thought about failure.
One by one, names were called. One by one, hopeful faces disappeared through the hall's stone maw.
Some returned Awakened, their skin faintly glowing with mana's touch. Others did not return at all.
Not everyone survived.
"Look at him," a boy ahead sneered, his robe stitched with the golden crest of a merchant clan.
He twisted the emblem between nervous fingers, his voice cracking like a rusty hinge. "The rat's sister isn't here to save him now.
The portal will finish the job."
Laughter followed.
Kael's lips twitched, not quite a smile.
The insult cut deeper than the boy knew but Kael had sworn to the cold stars above that her death wouldn't be the end of him.
"Silence," the overseer barked.
His voice was gravel ground into steel, his scarred jaw twitching as he glared down the line.
The sound alone killed the laughter. "Next."
The sneering boy flinched and hurried forward.
Kael's gaze slid to the guards flanking the gates.
Awakened warriors, their black armor veined with glowing blue mana.
One shifted his weight, the plates grinding like stone, his gaze brushing Kael for half a second.
The air around them thrummed, pressing against Kael's chest like a storm's edge.
Predators. That was what they were.
And Kael was prey. But not for much longer.
He thought of his sister's lullaby, cracked and fragile, fading in the dark.
She hadn't lived to see the day he swore to her swore he would not die weak.
That vow blazed in him now, hotter than hunger.
"Next! Kael Ardyn!"
His name rang out, sharp as a blade's edge.
Dozens of eyes flicked toward him.
Some mocking.
Some pitying.
Most indifferent.
To them, he was just another rat reaching for impossible dreams.
Kael forced his legs forward.
Each step dragged, as though the cracked stones themselves pulled at his boots.
The Awakening Hall's doors groaned open. The air grew colder as Kael stepped inside. Torches burned with cold-blue flame, smoke curling against walls etched with runes.
At the chamber's center stood the archway
massive, ancient, alive.
The Awakening Portal of the Lost Era.
Its surface rippled like liquid starlight, whispers threading the air too faint to grasp.
Kael's skin prickled. He had dreamt of this portal before, though he had never seen it. In those dreams, the whispers had called his name.
He had once asked the other slum kids if they heard them too.
The answer had been laughter.
"Enter," the overseer growled, his scar pulling tight as he spoke. "And be judged."
Kael hesitated only a breath.
His heart pounded like a war drum.
He remembered hunger gnawing at his bones, nights fighting stray dogs for scraps, his sister's lullaby fading into silence.
He raised his chin.
His eyes blazed with defiance.
One step.
Another.
The portal's light reached out, wrapping him in brilliance.
And as Kael crossed the threshold, the whispers sharpened into words clear, commanding, unmistakably meant for him.
At last… you've returned.
The world dissolved into white.