The hunter crossed the last ridge before dawn.
Kaien watched from the high tower ruins, silent, unmoving, arms crossed beneath his cloak. The flame inside his chest beat faster—not with fear, but with recognition.
This man did not come with curiosity. He came with intent.
Below, in the main hall, Seren stirred again. Her skin no longer shimmered with fever, but her breath still trembled, like a newly lit flame. The ritual had spared her, bound her, saved her. But she was not yet strong.
Kaien had made a sect. Now, for the first time, he would have to defend it.
"Seren," he called softly. "Stay near the flame. If I fall, burn it down before they take it."
"That's not a great speech," she muttered, half-sitting. "Don't fall."
He gave a thin smile. Then vanished into the mist of the Withering Wilds.
The hunter wore silver-gray robes once rich with sect embroidery, now frayed and blackened near the hem. His face was pale and long, his eyes ringed with old madness. He walked barefoot, dragging a staff behind him—bone wrapped in rune-etched chain, humming softly with spiritual weight.
Kaien stepped from the treeline.
"State your name," he said.
The hunter halted. Tilted his head. Grinned.
"I had one once. Burned it out."
The wind shifted.
Kaien drew his bone-blade.
"This land is claimed."
"By who?" the hunter asked, voice calm. "The Wilds? The dead?"
"By me."
The hunter's grin widened. "Then burn with it."
The staff snapped upward. Chains flew from it like living things, etched with dark talismans, aimed for Kaien's throat. Kaien spun beneath them, fire bursting from his palms—not cast, but shaped into arcs along his blade.
He did not remember the technique. But his body did.
Flame met metal.
The clearing ignited.
System Alert: Ashen Hollow Flame Core Engaged
— Sanctum Under Threat
— Trial Eligibility Detected: "Flame-Beast Pact"
— Do you wish to awaken the Guardian?
[Y/N]
Kaien's blade clashed against the hunter's staff, sparks bursting from the impact. His feet skidded across the broken earth.
The fire inside his veins twisted suddenly, a new path opening—not outward, but down.
Beneath the Hollow.
Something ancient stirred beneath the foundations.
Something bound, but listening.
"What are you?" he thought.
A whisper answered.
"I am what the first flame left behind."
Kaien's eyes burned white.
He drove his blade into the ground.
"Yes."
Trial Initiated: Pact of the Hollow Flame
— Flame-Beast Status: Dormant
— Candidate: Kaien (Ashbearer)
— Bloodline: Unlinked
— Trial Type: Dominance and Offering
— Threat Level: Tier 2 Wildflame-class
Warning: This trial cannot be paused once invoked.
The world cracked.
The earth beneath the brazier split open, and flame—pure, serpentine, and living—spilled upward. Not lava. Not light.
A beast born of flame-shaped memory.
It rose like smoke and sinew, the shape of a wolf, but not one bound to fur or fang. Its bones were charcoal, its heart a spiral of heat. It circled Kaien once, then lunged—not at the hunter, but at him.
"You want to protect this flame?" the beast growled within him.
"Then prove you can burn and still remain."
Kaien fell into the fire.
Not burned.
Not devoured.
He fell into memory—but not his own.
Echoes of the Hollow's previous Flamebearers surrounded him. Ash-robed figures. Disciples turned statues. Craters where great halls once stood.
All of them gone.
But the beast still here.
Watching.
Waiting.
"I don't have a name," Kaien said aloud.
"I don't have a bloodline."
The beast circled him again, eyes flickering.
"Then why do you think you can lead?" it asked.
Kaien raised his head. "Because someone else needs me to."
The beast lunged.
Kaien caught its fangs in his bare hands.
Fire seared his palms. His skin peeled. His breath left him.
But he did not fall.
Trial Passed: Pact Sealed
Flame-Beast of the Hollow Awakened
— Name: Nyru, the Emberfang
— Status: Bound to Ashbearer
— Combat Potential: Tier 2 Wildflame-class
— Defense Node Activated: Sanctum Gate Ward
Kaien collapsed to one knee.
The real world snapped back into place.
The hunter raised his staff again, mouth open to chant.
But the earth beneath him burst upward, and Nyru emerged with a howl of wildfire and bone.
The hunter screamed once.
Then silence.
Kaien stood as the beast coiled beside him, tail flicking in satisfaction.
Not tamed.
But loyal—for now.
He turned toward the sanctuary. Seren stood at the threshold, wide-eyed, one hand raised toward the brazier.
She had felt all of it.
"That… was a beast?" she asked.
Kaien nodded.
"No." He looked into the burning eyes of his new companion.
"That was our first guardian."