Path Selection Day arrived with a quiet tension that clung to the village like fog. Even the birds seemed to hold their breath. Children and parents gathered in the square, excitement rippling through the crowd.
Everyone except Kai.
He stood a little apart from the others, hands in his pockets, chin lowered. Mothers whispered. Boys who had bullied him yesterday smirked. Girls glanced at him with pity they didn't bother to hide.
But the worst part wasn't the looks.
It was the silence.
The kind given to someone whose future held nothing.
Lira stepped beside him, brushing her shoulder gently against his. "You holding up?"
Kai exhaled slowly. "I've been better."
"Ignore them," she said. "Most of them would faint if a branch fell near them."
Kai smiled, barely. She always tried.
The Elders assembled at the center of the square, surrounding the raised stone platform. Six towering pillars encircled it, each carved with runes of the known Paths:
Flame. Tide. Bloom. Force. Ether. Shade.
Beneath the pillars, resting upon a pedestal of marble, was the Path Sphere—clear as glass, smooth as water, pure as crystal.
A divine artifact.
A perfect conductor for the world's power.
No ordinary force could scratch it, let alone break it.
The head Elder raised his staff. "Children," he called, "step forward as your names are called. May your Path guide your future."
One by one they went.
Light blossomed with every touch.
A boy awakened Fire, flame reflecting in his eyes.
A girl called forth Nature, flowers blooming at her feet.
Another child touched the sphere and Ether light rose like starlight around her hands.
The crowd cheered after every glow.
Every glow except the one everyone expected not to appear.
"Kai Umbral."
Silence swept across the square.
Even the air felt colder.
Kai walked forward slowly. He could feel dozens of eyes stabbing into his back. Whispered words brushed against his ears.
"He's wasting our time."
"Why even show up?"
"He's the same boy who—"
"Shh, his mother's watching."
He reached the pedestal.
The sphere gleamed faintly, reflecting clouds drifting overhead.
He lifted his hands.
Lira, standing in the crowd, clasped her fingers tightly.
Kai exhaled once.
And placed both palms against the sphere.
Cold spread across his fingertips.
Then—
Nothing.
No spark.
No warmth.
No flicker of color.
No response at all.
The Elder beside him sighed, almost kindly. "Child… I am sorry. There is no—"
Crack.
Kai flinched.
The Elder blinked. "No… that's… impossible…"
A thin fracture snaked across the sphere.
The crowd murmured in confusion.
"What was that sound?"
"No—did it…?"
"It couldn't have—"
Before Kai could move his hands, another crack formed. Then another.
Thin lines spiderwebbing across the perfect divine surface.
"Step back!" an Elder shouted.
Kai jerked his hands away.
The sphere vibrated, humming with an eerie resonance. The six pillars around it flickered—light rippling up and down their length, as though reacting to something they had no words for.
The crowd backed away.
One Elder whispered, trembling, "What force could be interfering…?"
Kai's heart slammed in his chest. "I—I didn't do anything."
But inside him…
Something stirred.
A pressure. A whisper. A distant pulse like a heartbeat beneath the earth.
A voice too faint to be real:
Awaken…?
Kai staggered, breath hitching.
And the sphere shattered.
Not explosively—but in a silent bloom of light.
Shards dissolved into dust before touching the ground, scattering like glowing snowflakes. The pillars flickered wildly, runes scrambling, paths twisting.
Then—
Darkness.
Everything went dim for a heartbeat. Not real darkness, but the kind that creeps inside the bones, coiling behind the eyes.
Kai gasped and braced himself against the pedestal.
The Elders stared at him in fear—raw and unhidden.
Not curiosity.
Not concern.
Fear.
The head Elder approached cautiously. "Kai Umbral… something inside you reacted with the Path Sphere. Something not of the Six."
The crowd murmured.
"Not of the Six?"
"Impossible."
"Is that even allowed?"
The Elder swallowed hard. "Kai… you must come for examination. Immediately."
Lira shoved through the crowd. "He did nothing wrong!"
"We're not accusing him," the Elder said tightly. "We are… ensuring safety."
But Kai wasn't listening anymore.
Because the ground rumbled.
A low, distant quake. Barely strong enough to shake dust from rooftops.
Everyone turned toward the forest.
Everyone but Kai.
He went pale.
Because beneath the rumble…
He heard a whisper only he could hear:
Vessel…
He swallowed hard, breath turning sharp.
Lira touched his wrist. "Kai? What—what's
wrong?"
He couldn't answer.
Because something ancient had turned its attention toward him.
And the world—unknowingly—had just witnessed the first sign of a Path it believed dead.