The smoke had settled, but its taste lingered—acrid, metallic, mixed with the scent of charred wood and dried blood. Sixteen-year-old Kira pressed her back against the remains of a stone wall, her breath coming in ragged gasps as she clutched the gash in her left side. The wound burned like coals beneath her fingers, and each movement sent daggers of pain through her small frame.
Where the Mountain Wolf Clan's compound had once stood proud against the eastern hills, now only blackened ruins reached toward the pale sky. Charred beams jutted from the earth like broken bones, and the training grounds—where she'd spent her childhood watching her father demonstrate the clan's signature Iron Palm—were nothing but a crater of ash and melted stone.
A boot crunched on gravel behind her. Kira tensed, her hand flying to the empty sheath at her hip—her sword had been lost in the chaos of the raid, torn from her grip by one of the Iron Phoenix Sect warriors in red robes. She'd hidden as the flames consumed her home, watched from a narrow crevice as her mother fell to their leader's Crimson Flame Palm, as her father took three of their elite warriors with him before being overpowered.
"Still alive, little wolf?"
The voice was smooth, cold as winter stone. Kira turned to see a man standing at the edge of the rubble—tall, dressed in the gold-trimmed robes of an Iron Phoenix elder, his face sharp and impassive. In his hand hung her father's training saber, its blade stained dark with dried blood.
"Give that back," Kira whispered, pushing herself to her feet despite the dizziness that washed over her. Her legs shook beneath her—she'd been hiding for two days, surviving on rainwater and charred grain, her wound festering in the heat.
The elder laughed, a sound like grinding stone. "This blade belongs to the strong now. Your clan was weak—holding onto forbidden secrets they had no right to guard. Lord Vex did the martial world a favor by cleansing this place."
"Forbidden secrets?" Kira's voice cracked with rage. "The Scroll of the Twin Moons was our legacy—crafted by our ancestor, the Legendary Warrior Kaine Wolf himself."
"Legacy is what the powerful claim," the elder replied, taking a step forward. "Lord Vex will use its power to unite all sects under one banner. Strength brings order. Order brings peace."
As he moved to strike, Kira dove aside, rolling through the ash and landing hard on her injured side. She cried out, but forced herself to keep moving, scrambling toward the edge of the compound where the old oak tree stood—her father's favorite spot, where he'd taught her the first forms of the Mountain Splitting Technique when she was just seven.
The elder was faster. He caught her by the scruff of her tunic, lifting her off the ground as if she weighed nothing. "Your father begged us to spare you," he said, his eyes glinting with something that might have been pity. "Said you were too young to understand the games men play for power. He was right."
He tossed her aside like a broken doll. Kira hit the base of the oak tree, her head cracking against the rough bark. Stars exploded across her vision, but through the haze, she saw him raise her father's saber to strike the tree—aiming for the hollow where she'd hidden her most precious possession.
"Stop!" she screamed, pushing herself up with one arm.
The elder paused, a smirk playing at his lips. "What have we here?" He reached into the hollow and pulled out a roll of parchment wrapped in oilcloth, its surface worn with age but intact. "So this is what we came for. How convenient."
As he turned to leave, Kira felt a warmth stir deep in her belly—faint at first, like embers catching wind, then growing into a steady burn. It spread through her body, easing the pain in her side and clearing the fog from her mind. She recognized it from stories her father had told her—internal energy, the lifeblood of all true warriors, awakened only in moments of great need.
She launched herself forward, moving faster than she'd ever thought possible. The elder spun, but Kira was already upon him, her palm striking his chest with all the force she could muster. The energy flowed from her body into his, and he staggered back, dropping both the saber and the scroll.
"Im-possible," he gasped. "You're just a child—you couldn't possibly have awakened your energy yet."
Kira didn't answer. She grabbed the scroll and saber, then turned and ran—into the dense forest that bordered the compound, away from the ruins of her home and toward the mountains in the distance. The elder's shouts faded behind her as she pushed deeper into the trees, her legs carrying her forward even as her body screamed for rest.
She ran until the sun began to set, until the forest grew so dark she could barely see her hands in front of her face. Only then did she collapse against the trunk of a massive pine tree, wrapping the oilcloth scroll around her body like a blanket. The saber lay beside her, heavy and familiar in her grasp.
The warmth in her belly had faded to a soft glow, but it was still there—proof that she was stronger than she'd ever believed. She thought of her father's last words to her, spoken the night before the raid as he'd pressed the scroll into her hands:
"Power is not given, Kira—it is forged in pain and tempered with honor. The Twin Moons teach balance—dark and light, strength and restraint, revenge and forgiveness. Do not let anger consume you. Let it make you strong enough to protect what matters."
Tears traced paths through the ash on her cheeks, but she didn't let them fall. She was the last of the Mountain Wolf Clan. Weak and injured as she was, she carried her people's legacy in her hands and their blood in her veins.
In the distance, she saw a flicker of light—faint, but steady, like a star fallen to earth. She pushed herself to her feet, gripping the saber tight. The path ahead would be long and hard, filled with trials she couldn't yet imagine. But she had a destination now.
The light came from the direction of the Hidden Valley of the Silent Cloud Sect—where her father had said she could find safety, where she could learn to master the power that had awakened within her.
She took her first step into the darkness, her resolve as sharp as the blade in her hand. The path of blood and honor had begun.