The world was ending.
Skies burned crimson, stars fell like rain, and reality itself tore open as Kael Draven stood upon the edge of a collapsing realm. His robes were in tatters, his hand dripping with the blood of gods.
Even the heavens have limits,he murmured, eyes cold, voice steady. But my mind… does not.
The void screamed around him. A thousand divine wills converged to erase his existence and he laughed. In his final breath, he condensed all his knowledge, all his power, all his will… into a single thought.
I'll return.
Then light consumed everything.
When he opened his eyes again, he was lying on cracked stone beneath a dull gray sky.
Pain rushed in raw, human, suffocating. His limbs ached. His breathing came shallow. The weight of mortality pressed against his chest like a curse.
And yet… he was alive.
He lifted his head. Around him, a circle of young disciples sneered, their wooden swords pointing down at him.
You're still breathing, Kael? Hah, thought we'd finally rid the sect of trash like you.
The words echoed in his ears, but he barely heard them. Memories flickered two lives trying to fit inside one skull.
He rose slowly, ignoring the laughter, his body trembling with effort.
If this is reincarnation,he said softly, then the heavens made a mistake.
Before they could react, he moved. His body was weak, but his mind sharper than any blade. He anticipated every strike before it came, every angle of attack before they shifted.
Moments later, the courtyard was silent.
The disciples groaned on the ground, clutching bruises and broken pride. Kael stood in the center, calm, eyes glinting with something ancient.
Pathetic,he muttered. "You talk like predators, but fall like insects.
Faint silver light pulsed beneath his skin unstable,wild.His mortal vessel wasn't ready to hold it. But it didn't matter. For the first time in centuries, he could feel again the raw rhythm of the world, the flow of energy, the whisper of thought.
So it begins again,he whispered.
He knelt and closed his eyes. The dantian in his abdomen shattered, unusable. But deeper, in the space behind his thoughts, he felt something stir.
Energy responded not to his body, but his awareness.
Stray spirit threads in the air trembled, drawn toward him like sparks toward a storm. His consciousness flared outward, vast and radiant.
The world seemed to pause.
Then, blood dripped from his nose. His veins
burned.His body screamed in protest a mortal shell rejecting divine will.
He laughed quietly through the pain.
Still too fragile. But not for long.
Thunder cracked overhead, echoing through the mountains. He looked up at it not with fear, but with defiance.
If my mind is my core," he said, then I'll forge my own path.
Kael!
A voice sharp, worried. A girl sprinted toward him from the sect gate, her brown hair tied back, wooden sword in hand. She froze when she saw the bodies.
What… what did you do?!
Kael turned slightly. Recognition flickered. Lyra a kind-hearted disciple who once pitied the weak version of him.
They attacked me, he said simply. I responded.
Her grip on the sword trembled. You shouldn't! They serve Elder Zane. If he hears
Then he'll come,Kael said flatly. And I'll deal with him too.
For a moment, she didn't recognize him. There was something different now not arrogance, not madness, but certainty.
You've changed, she whispered.
Kael turned toward the horizon. The wind stirred the dust around his feet.
No,he said quietly. I just remembered who I was.
That night, under the silver glow of the moon, Kael stood on a cliff overlooking the forest.
He reached out not with hands, but with thought.
The world shivered.
A lone beast below stopped mid-prowl, its body stiffening under invisible pressure. Its heartbeat fluttered, then slowed. Kael's eyes gleamed faintly in the darkness.
Mind over matter,he murmured.That's where it begins.
And for the first time in this new life, he smiled.