Kai Ren had always been invisible. In the crowded streets of Lumina City, he moved like a shadow, unnoticed by classmates, strangers, and even the adults who should have cared. His life unfolded in a dull, repetitive rhythm: school, part-time shifts at a corner shop, and long solitary walks home beneath flickering neon signs. Tonight felt no different until it became everything.
A scream tore through the night, sharp enough to cut through the drizzle and hum of the city. Kai froze, heart stuttering, then broke into a hesitant run. Turning the corner, he stumbled upon a scene that looked like it had spilled from a nightmare.
A man dressed in a charred-looking suit loomed over a trembling street vendor. His hands sparked with an eerie, unnatural energy. The vendor's cry faltered into silence as he crumpled, smoke curling from his fingertips.
Kai's legs locked. Fear held him in place. And then—warmth.
The pendant resting against his chest, long forgotten as nothing more than a thrift-store trinket, pulsed. The warmth spread, molten and alive, searing his veins with a flood of power. His vision sharpened. Colors grew impossibly vivid. Sounds came clear, as if the entire city breathed around him.
And then he saw her.
Seraphine Liora descended like a fragment of heaven, suspended in a faint halo of light. Her eyes glimmered pale gold, bottomless and unreadable. A whisper of wings stirred the air though none were fully seen. She radiated beauty that did not belong to this world.
"You shouldn't be here," she said, her voice commanding yet touched with softness. Her gaze lingered on Kai, curious, as though she had found something unexpected.
Before Kai could speak, the pendant flared. His body surged forward on instinct, divine energy bursting outward. The suited man staggered, thrown back as sparks flickered across Kai's skin.
For one breathless instant, Kai was no longer the timid boy who lived unseen. He was something more.
The attacker lunged, and Kai moved as if guided by invisible strings. His arms and legs struck with a precision that wasn't his own. Every dodge, every counter, felt inevitable, as though the artifact whispered the enemy's next step before it came.
The man collapsed, groaning, his shadow writhing against the neon glow.
Seraphine descended fully, her feet barely making a sound on the wet asphalt. She extended her hand, fingers slender and radiant. "You feel it," she murmured, eyes alight. "The power calls to you."
Kai swallowed hard, trembling as heat rose to his cheeks. "What… what am I?"
A faint smile touched her lips. "A mortal awakening to a world that will not forgive weakness." Her tone shifted, wary now, as her gaze swept the alley. "And danger is already here."
From the darkness, a second figure emerged. Tall. Cloaked. His eyes burned crimson, unnatural and cruel. The broken man from before had vanished, replaced by a far more sinister presence.
Kai's chest tightened. Even without knowing his name, he felt the danger coil like a storm.
Azrael Thorn.
Though Seraphine said nothing, Kai knew it. He could feel it the malice, the power, the echo of chaos that seeped from the figure's every breath.
Seraphine's hand brushed his shoulder, her touch brief but electrifying. The jolt of connection left his heart racing, torn between awe and a longing he did not understand.
"Stay close," she whispered, before stepping forward to meet the shadow.
Azrael tilted his head, a cruel smile curling his lips. His voice slithered through the air like broken glass. "So… the human awakens. Let's see if your fragile spark survives what's coming."
Lightning split the sky, casting the street in a cold brilliance. Rain hissed against the pavement. Kai clutched the pendant as though it were the only thing keeping him alive.
In that instant, he knew. The timid boy of yesterday was gone. The world had marked him. And from the shadows, something vast and dangerous stirred, waiting to claim him.