Kai didn't stay in the Elder Hall.
He tried.
He really did.
But the moment the Elders and villagers disappeared down the path, the tremor in his chest deepened—pressing outward, like a heartbeat too large for a human body.
He clutched his shirt. "Stop… please stop…"
You feel the pull, the voice murmured inside him. You cannot ignore it. Not now.
Kai gritted his teeth. "What are you?"
A memory. A hunger. A truth buried too long.
"That's not an answer."
It is all you are ready to hear.
Kai's breath shook.
Outside, another tremor rolled under the village like a beast turning in its sleep. Dust drifted from the beams overhead. The distant shouts grew sharper, panicked.
He couldn't stay here. Not when something was calling to him. Not when this… presence inside him reacted to the temple.
He stepped outside.
The village was chaos.
Chickens scattered. Buckets rolled. People clung to fences as the earth shuddered. Smoke rose in the distance—thin, dark, curling up from the direction of the ruins.
Kai felt the pull tighten, like an invisible thread hooked behind his sternum.
The temple.
He moved without thinking.
Villagers yelled after him, but their voices blurred. He sprinted past them all—past the cracked path, past the wilting trees—straight toward the dense line of forest.
The voice inside him thrummed with approval.
Good. You remember the way.
Kai stumbled. "I've never been there."
Your body has forgotten. But your blood hasn't.
He didn't have time to process that.
The forest swallowed him whole.
Dark, thick branches swayed wildly as if pushed by winds that didn't exist. The trembling grew stronger the deeper he ran. Birds screamed overhead. A tree cracked in half behind him, splitting cleanly down the trunk.
The air smelled like metal.
Like the moment before lightning strikes.
And then—
The trees opened.
There, carved into the earth like an ancient wound, lay the Ruined Temple of the First Dawn. Only its foundation remained—broken arches, half-collapsed pillars, and a central staircase leading underground.
But now…
Now the ground around it pulsed with veins of black light. Not shadows. Light—dark as ink but glowing all the same, spreading outward like roots searching for something to consume.
Kai's knees nearly buckled.
The center of the ruin—sealed for centuries—was cracked open. A jagged tear split the stone staircase, breathing out cold air that smelled of dust and forgotten things.
Villagers and Elders stood at the edge of the clearing, too afraid to approach.
Lira spotted Kai first.
Her eyes widened. "Kai?! No—get back!"
He shook his head. "I… I think it's calling me."
Elder Seran stepped forward, sweat beading on his brow. "This is no time for nonsense. No one goes near that tear until we understand—"
But he stopped.
Because the black veins spreading across the ground suddenly shifted direction.
Every root of shadow curved. Twisted.
And pointed straight at Kai.
Gasps rippled through the villagers.
Kai's heart stopped.
The voice inside him whispered, satisfied—
Do you see now? You cannot run from what you are.
Seran backed away from Kai like he was holding a lit torch over an oil barrel. "Boy… what did you awaken?"
"I don't know!" Kai snapped, voice cracking. "I didn't ask for any of this!"
The tear in the staircase gave a deafening groan, splitting wider.
A gust of freezing air blasted outward—so strong the villagers shielded their faces.
And from within the darkness…
Something moved.
Not fully seen. Not fully shaped. A silhouette of writhing lines and shifting shadows, dragging itself toward the light.
Kai staggered backward, blood turning to ice.
Lira grabbed his arm, voice trembling. "Run—Kai, please run!"
But the shadow didn't reach for the villagers.
It reached for him.
You woke me, the voice inside whispered. Now open the door.
Kai's legs turned to stone.
The air trembled.
And then—
The creature spoke, its voice layered with countless echoes:
"Vessel… return."
Everything inside Kai shattered into terror.
The Seventh Path—unknown, forbidden, forgotten—had just taken its first step into the world.
And it wanted him.