The Hollow slept.
Smoke rose gently from the crest-stone, the air scented with burned sage and copper ash. Disciples rested in their own ways: Seren curled beside the Dreamflame Tree, her beast flickering; Rin walked the southern perimeter with chains dragging lightly through the dirt; Veyra sat in silence before the brazier, her skin glowing faintly from her reawakened brand.
Kaien stood alone in the Hollow's Heart.
Here, where the Ash-Crown Sigil burned without smoke, the system awaited his call.
He exhaled—and the flame spiraled up around him.
"Show me."
[SYSTEM INTERFACE: KAIRI PROTOCOL – SOVEREIGN RECORD OPENED]
┌──────〈 Status – Kaien Maerok 〉──────┐
Name: Kaien MaerokTitle: Ashbearer, Sovereign of the Hollow FlameCultivation Realm: Flame Sovereign – First CrownCore Path: Memory-Forged Flame (Unique Variant – Monarch's Remnant Lineage)Flame Signature: Crown Spiral | Soulburn-LinkedCrest Affinity: True Inheritance of the Ashen Hollow Sect
TALENTS
Innate Flame Potential: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ (7/10)
Memory Resonance: MAX — System-Class Recognition
Beastlink Affinity: 83% – Near-Harmony
Flame Creativity: High – Capable of developing original techniques without blueprint
Leadership Potential: Sovereign Tier – Flame Rooted in Oath
FLAME TECHNIQUES (ACTIVE):
Ashstep (Movement) – Blink using displaced flame; leaves embers behind.
Bonebrand Edge (Offense) – Soul-infused sword art; integrates emotion into impact.
Flame Shroud – Hollow Variant (Defense) – Wreathes the user in reactive veil-flame that burns illusions.
Command of the Forgotten Flame (Unique) – Temporarily accesses a technique once wielded by a prior Ashen Flame holder.
Echo Recall (Passive) – Recovers ancient sigil fragments via flame-contact with sacred grounds.
BEASTLINK: Nyru, the Emberfang Hound
Race: Flame-Touched Direhound
Bond Strength: 86%
Known Abilities:
Fang Mirror: Reflects basic elemental attacks through flame split.
Trail Howl: Leaves a burning path that deters pursuit.
Ash-Fused Lunge: Combines Kaien's inner flame with the beast's own for a soul-piercing charge.
CORE FLAME STATUS:
Stability: 93%
Memory Integrity: Stable
Crown Sigil: Formed – Stage 1
Next Stage Requirement: Burn a Heavenly Fragment, forge second crown
Kaien let the numbers settle.
He'd grown faster than any path should have allowed.
"But it's not my pace that concerns me," he thought. "It's the price of it."
The system shifted.
[GOAL MODULE: SECT MASTER PRIORITY LOGS – PLANNING INTERFACE ENABLED]
Initiate Strategic Flame Pathing?
Yes.
⟢ Ashen Hollow Future Objectives – First Phase Plans 1. Secure Forgotten Grounds: "The Grove of Withered Names"
A ruin of failed sects and abandoned beast contracts.
Believed to house dormant Sacred Beast cores and relic echoes.
Objective: Claim the grove, purify it, and use its grounds to awaken stronger Beastlink tiers.
Side Risk: Known to be haunted by "Nameless Remnants"—undocumented flame ghosts.
2. Recruit Disciples with Wild Flame Signatures
Seek unaffiliated wanderers with unstable or "impure" cultivation roots.
Offer the Hollow as haven to the broken and cast-out.
Focus: Recruit two more before the next full moon cycle.
3. Begin Forging Sect's Soul-Flame Artifact: "The Ashen Vow Blade"
Forged from Kaien's soul and beast's flame.
Grows stronger with disciples' loyalty and flame oaths.
Will serve as Kaien's symbol in future sect wars.
Requirements:
Blacksteel root
Echo glass
Fallen Monarch Core Flame (rumored in shattered skygrove)
Kaien breathed deeply.
Each plan bore weight. Risk. Heat.
But not one of them was too soon. Not anymore.
"I've walked from ruin," he said aloud."Now I build with it."
Nyru growled softly, stepping beside him. Kaien knelt, touching the hound's crown.
"Soon," he whispered."We'll wake the beasts that time tried to forget."
"And from their ashes, we'll forge fire the heavens can't name."
Far away, in the Withered Grove, a sealed beast lifted its head.
Flame trickled from the cracks in its bones.
"...Maerok..." it rasped."You live again?"
"Then let us test what still burns."