Chapter 2 – What It Costs to Burn
The sun was lower now.
Late afternoon light spilled through the broken ceiling in long golden beams, turning the dust in the air into drifting sparks. The building creaked occasionally, like it was remembering the war that had cracked its spine years ago.
Kaede was doing push-ups on the cracked tile floor.
Not normal push-ups.
The floor beneath his palms was spiderwebbing with each repetition.
"Thirty-eight… thirty-nine… forty—"
The tile gave out.
Kaede dropped with it, arm sinking halfway through the floor with a loud crack.
He stared down at the hole.
"…Forty-one."
Aren burst out laughing from where he sat on a broken windowsill, kicking his legs lazily over the edge.
"You're gonna collapse the whole damn building one day."
Kaede pulled his arm out and flexed his shoulder. "Good. It's ugly anyway."
"That building is older than you."
"And weaker."
Rei didn't look up from her book.
"Everything is weaker," she said calmly.
Aren snorted. "That might be the coldest thing you've ever said."
Rei blinked slowly. "It's accurate."
Kaede stood, brushing dust off his pants. "You're both idiots."
He walked to the open roof gap and let the last sunlight hit his shoulders. Even at rest, there was something different about him—something coiled under the surface.
Kaede didn't just train.
He amplified.
Even when he wasn't actively using his Sigil, you could tell. The air around him felt… denser.
Aren watched him for a moment.
Then he spoke.
"Do you ever think about what it would be like if we didn't have to do this?"
Kaede glanced sideways. "Do what?"
"This." Aren gestured vaguely at the cracked walls. "Scavenge. Steal. Dodge gangs. Pretend the city doesn't want to swallow us."
Kaede smirked. "That's called living, Solis."
Aren tilted his head. "Yeah, but what if we weren't just surviving?"
Silence.
Rei turned a page.
Kaede folded his arms. "You're getting philosophical again."
Aren leaned back against the window frame.
"What if I had a Sigil?"
The room shifted.
Not dramatically.
Just… subtly.
Kaede stared at him.
Then he laughed.
Loud.
Hard.
"YOU?"
Aren raised a brow. "Yeah, me."
Kaede wiped a tear from his eye. "You're the most cautious bastard I know. You triple-check whether a stair will collapse before stepping on it. And now you want to gamble your soul?"
Aren frowned slightly. "I don't triple-check."
"You triple-check."
Rei didn't laugh.
She looked at Aren.
And there it was.
The smallest crease between her brows.
Concern.
"Why?" she asked.
One word.
But heavier than Kaede's entire reaction.
Aren shrugged.
"I don't know. I'm tired of watching you two fight people like it's nothing. I'm tired of calculating exits. I want…" He hesitated. "I want something that's mine."
Kaede's grin faded slightly.
"Sigils aren't toys," he said.
Aren tilted his head. "Yeah, I know that. But I also don't really know that. You two never actually explain it."
Rei closed her book.
That was new.
Kaede noticed too.
Aren leaned forward. "Okay. Seriously. What's the big deal? You were born with yours," he nodded at Rei. "And you inherited yours," he nodded at Kaede. "So what's so terrifying about it?"
Kaede exhaled slowly.
"Because you don't just 'get' a Sigil."
Rei spoke next.
"There are three paths."
Aren smirked slightly. "That sounds dramatic."
"It is," Kaede said.
He sat across from Aren.
"First path. Born with it."
He jerked his thumb toward Rei.
"She came out screaming and freezing the damn hospital room."
Rei didn't deny it.
"Born Sigils skip the Descent," Kaede continued. "No trials. No preparation. Just raw power etched into your soul from the start."
Aren looked at Rei.
"You didn't have to do anything for it?"
Her gaze didn't waver.
"No."
Three letters.
But there was something underneath it.
Aren noticed.
"So that's why they call you a prodigy."
Kaede snorted. "Ascendant-class at birth. Most people don't hit that level in their lifetime."
Aren blinked. "Right. The rankings."
Kaede nodded.
"Initiate. Adept. Ascendant. Sovereign. Paragon."
Aren whistled low. "And you're Ascendant?"
Rei didn't answer.
Kaede did.
"She is."
Aren looked back at her.
"You don't act like it."
Rei's expression didn't change.
"I don't need to."
That shut him up.
Kaede continued.
"Second path. Bloodline."
He tapped his own chest.
"My great-grandfather awakened a physical amplification Sigil during the Descent. Every generation since inherits it."
Aren leaned in. "So it's the exact same ability?"
"Core ability, yeah. But expression changes. I push strength. My uncle pushed speed. My mother focused perception."
"And you're Adept?"
Kaede smirked. "First Threshold."
Aren nodded slowly.
"And the third path."
The room grew quieter.
Rei's voice was almost softer now.
"The Descent."
Aren's grin faded.
"Okay. So what is it actually?"
Kaede's jaw tightened slightly.
"You sit. You meditate. You tear your soul away from your body."
Aren blinked. "That sounds… dramatic."
"It is," Rei said.
Kaede continued.
"You enter a domain tailored to you. Trials. Challenges. Questions your soul has to answer."
"And if you pass?"
"You gain a Sigil."
"And if you fail?"
Rei answered this time.
"You die."
No hesitation.
No dramatics.
Just truth.
Aren's smile thinned slightly.
"Like… coma die?"
Kaede shook his head.
"Erase die."
Rei nodded once.
"Soul destroyed. No afterlife. No trace."
Silence settled.
Outside, wind rattled a loose metal sheet.
Aren swallowed.
"And you can just… leave if it gets too hard?"
Kaede shrugged.
"You can exit after certain points. Every three trials, you hit a Threshold. That's when you decide to go deeper."
"And deeper means stronger?"
"Yes," Rei said.
"But?"
"But," she continued, eyes steady on him, "what you gain costs something."
Aren laughed lightly.
"You two are making it sound like signing a contract with a demon."
Kaede leaned back.
"It kind of is."
Aren stared up at the open roof.
The sun was almost gone now.
"And people actually do this voluntarily?"
Kaede smirked.
"Some people crave power."
Rei added quietly:
"Some people crave control."
Aren didn't respond immediately.
Then he said, softer this time:
"I crave choice."
That landed differently.
Kaede looked at him more seriously now.
"You're serious."
"Yeah."
"You're actually thinking about attempting the Descent."
Aren met his gaze.
"Maybe."
Kaede studied him.
Then grinned again.
"You cautious bastard. I never thought you'd have the guts."
Aren smirked back. "Don't mistake caution for fear."
Rei watched him carefully.
"Fear is rational," she said.
"For you?"
She paused.
Then, after a moment:
"For anyone."
Aren smiled faintly.
"But if I did it…"
He looked at the fading sun.
"What kind of Sigil do you think I'd get?"
Kaede scoffed. "Probably something dumb. Like garbage manipulation."
Aren threw a piece of bread at him. "Shut up."
Rei didn't laugh.
She just looked at Aren.
Longer this time.
And in her quiet voice, she said:
"Something hot."
Aren blinked.
Kaede stared at her.
"You just complimented him."
Rei's gaze flicked away.
"No."
Aren grinned slowly.
"Too late. I'm framing that."
Rei picked up her book again.
But the faintest hint of warmth touched her expression.
Outside, the last light of the sun dipped below the skyline.
And for the first time in his life, Aren Solis felt something stir in his chest.
Not power.
Not yet.
But hunger.