Kai stood alone in the quiet aftermath of the Ashen Duel, the ember-marked token heavy in his hand. Though the crowd had vanished into the shadows, whispers lingered like smoke in his ears.
"Bring something you're afraid to cook."
He couldn't sleep that night. His dreams were feverish, filled with images of crumbling kitchens, forgotten recipes, and flames that whispered secrets.
By morning, a new System notification pulsed softly behind his eyes.
[New Hidden Quest Unlocked: The Forbidden Kitchen]
Objective: Locate the lost kitchen beneath the Guild. Discover its origin. Recreate a banned recipe.
Reward: +120 XP, ??? (Hidden Skill), Guild Influence +15
Warning: High risk. Knowledge obtained may not be reversible.
Kai narrowed his eyes. This wasn't a test for fame or glory.
This was deeper.
Descent
He waited until dusk, then snuck past the Guild's lower archive hall, careful not to alert the night guards. Using the ember-marked token as a key, he pressed it into the mouth of a fire-scorched lion head carved into the foundation stone.
With a groan, the wall opened.
A spiral staircase, blackened and slick, descended into silence. The deeper he went, the colder it got—not in temperature, but in atmosphere. As if the heat had been stolen by time.
Finally, he arrived at a steel door half-eaten by rust. Faded script lined the arch above:
"Where fire went mad, and flavor went blind."
He pushed it open.
The kitchen beyond was like nothing he'd seen.
Half-collapsed walls. Burned-out stoves. Long-abandoned cookware fused with bone and ash. Strange glyphs glowed faintly in the dark, pulsing in time with Kai's heartbeat.
He wasn't alone.
In the corner sat a figure—an old man with eyes like burned-out coals, stirring something unseen in a cold pot.
"You don't belong here," the old man rasped without looking up. "Not yet."
Kai stepped forward. "I was called. By the System."
Silence.
Then the old man raised a single, skeletal finger—and pointed to a book bound in scorched leather.
Kai approached and opened it.
Inside were recipes. Half-written. Half-insane. Each one labeled "Sealed by Order of the Ember Council." The pages radiated danger. And brilliance.
His eyes locked onto one:
Hellbloom Reduction Over Bone Marrow Ashcake
→ Ingredients: Bone Marrow (charred), Hellbloom Petals (volatile), Salt of Woe (illegal), Smokewater (Tier 3)
The flavor notes were described as: "Madness trapped in caramel. Heat that forgets itself. Mourning."
And below it:
"Only once did this dish win applause. The chef never cooked again."
Kai's hands trembled. He'd found it.
The Banned Recipe Begins
He began with the bones—carefully cracked, the marrow drawn out and soaked in an herbal brine he improvised from his limited pouch. He activated Heat Control III, barely stabilizing the reaction as the marrow sizzled with unnatural speed.
Next came the Hellbloom petals—kept in a sealed glass vial. One wrong touch and they could ignite even without fire.
He used Flame Artistry I, but this time, he narrowed the flame's movement into microscopic spirals.
MP: 12 → 0
Smoke curled like ink from the petals.
Then he mixed the components, binding them in a char-flour dough, and baked it on a slab of obsidian using residual heat from an old cursed emberstone.
The dish was finished.
He placed it on the cracked central table. The old man watched silently.
Kai took one bite.
Visions and Fire
The moment the ashcake touched his tongue, the System flared white-hot.
[Forbidden Flavor Detected]
Processing…
You have tasted what was meant to be forgotten.
Visions exploded in his mind—cooks burned by their ambition, dishes that drove men mad, a kitchen that once served kings who demanded flavor beyond mortality.
Then everything snapped into stillness.
And the old man was gone.
In his place, a fire mark burned into the wall:
"You are now its last student."
[Quest Complete: The Forbidden Kitchen]
+120 XP
+Hidden Skill Acquired: Ember Requiem (Active, Tier Unknown)
+Guild Influence +15
XP: 300 + 120 = 420 / 600
[Skill Unlocked: Ember Requiem I]
Cost: 25 MP
Effect: Infuses any dish with lingering memory-based flavor, tied to sorrow, sacrifice, or longing. Amplifies emotional resonance of ingredients. Can affect eater's mood. High instability risk.
Kai Elgren
Level: 7
XP: 420 / 600
Titles: Junior Chef, Pan Warden, Fire-Touched, Ember Disciple, Soulkindle Cook, Flamewright, Memory Flame
Reputation: 161
Mana: 0 / 12
Stats:
Culinary Sense: 9
Knife Technique: 5
Heat Control: 6 (III)
Stamina: 7
Focus: 10
Mana: 12
New Skill Acquired:
Ember Requiem I (Active, 25 MP)
Status: One of few who have cooked a banned dish and lived.