The morning mist clung to the stone tiles of the training yard, casting a silver veil over the disciples of the Verdant Storm Sect.
Most were already in motion — practicing footwork, tracing sword arcs through the fog, or seated in still meditation as spiritual energy rippled gently around them.
The air shimmered faintly, alive with breath and intent.
But one figure stood apart, smaller than the rest, alone beneath the far edge of the courtyard.
Avishek.
Fourteen, long-haired, and dressed in the simple dark-grey robes of a new initiate. His hands were scraped raw. His chest rose and fell with strained breath. And sweat soaked through his sleeves.
For the third time, he was thrown to the ground.
He coughed, dirt in his mouth, pain flaring across his spine.
"You move like someone who expects to be defeated," came a flat voice behind him.
Avishek looked up to see Instructor Kael, his eyes sharp and expression unreadable. A cultivator of the Law Foldvein, Kael was infamous among the outer disciples — fair, but merciless.
Avishek sat up slowly, wiping blood from his lip.
"I'm not like the others," he muttered. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to use."
"Excuses are for the dead," Kael replied. "You awakened a soul, boy. Whether you understand it or not, it exists. Stop begging it to behave like someone else's."
He turned without waiting for a reply. "Focus training begins in an hour. Show up, or don't."
The sect's first phase of cultivation was rigid: draw spiritual energy into the body, form the foundation of control, and establish a resonance with the soul. This was known as Qi Realm — the first gateway to power.
Nine stages. Nine ascensions of the body and breath.
Most initiates reached the first stage in days — some even in hours, their awakened souls guiding energy naturally into their meridians.
But for Avishek… nothing came easily.
He sat beneath a crooked, moss-streaked tree. Birds whispered above, and the mountain wind brushed his face like a passing thought. He focused on his breathing.
Four in... Four hold..... Four out...
Again. Again. Again.
Others glowed faintly when they drew in Qi — the air around them warmed, shimmered, responded.
Avishek saw none of that.
Only stillness.
Silence.
But not empty silence.
There was something under it — like the silence before a storm. A pressure. A presence.
Deep within, something stirred.
It wasn't like the stories. There was no spirit beast curling inside him. No elemental fire leaping to his hands.
What stirred inside Avishek felt… aware.
Not wild. Not violent. Just watching.
His spine tingled. The air grew colder. And then — the mist shifted.
Only slightly. Barely noticeable. But it moved toward him.
It wasn't supposed to do that.
Kael's eyes narrowed as he stood at a distance, arms folded.
Most disciples pulled in Qi through resonance — like a cup drawing water.
Avishek wasn't pulling. The energy was coming to him, slow and unwilling, like iron dragged across stone.
Kael stepped closer. "Try to guide it."
Avishek nodded and focused.
He pressed his awareness inward, trying to find the shape of his soul. Everyone else had described theirs — a glimmering core, a spirit, a pulse of light.
But what he found… was a void. A pulsing, cold space in his chest — not violent, but deep. Vast. Endless.
He drew breath.
And something opened.
A faint snap inside his ribs, like a gate unlocking. His eyes widened. Energy surged into him, sharp and cold.
The mist curled. His skin broke into goosebumps.
A pulse exploded from his chest — invisible, but undeniable.
Avishek gasped, falling forward on his hands.
Kael was at his side in a flash. His eyes scanned the boy, then narrowed.
"You just crossed the threshold."
Avishek looked up, breath ragged. "What?"
"You broke into the first stage of Qi Realm."
That night, the world seemed quieter.
Avishek sat on the edge of the cliff outside his dormitory, watching stars flicker through the clouds.
He didn't glow. He didn't feel different.
But something inside him had opened — not like a light turned on, but like a door left ajar in a house that should have been empty.
A steady hum now lived in his chest. A second rhythm, deeper than his heart.
He placed a hand over his sternum, where the sensation coiled.
What are you?
No words answered.
But the presence moved.
Not forward. Not away.
Just… closer.
He wasn't alone anymore.
And for the first time since his world had burned, Avishek didn't feel hollow.
He felt hunted.
He felt chosen.