There are names that open doors.
Names that command rooms.
Names that echo in war songs.
And then…
There's mine.
Rai.
Three letters.
No title.
No legend.
Just… a whisper in the dirt.
I always thought the system gave me "E-Rank" because I had no talent.
Turns out, I was wrong.
They gave me E-Rank…
because they were scared of what I really am.
Morning
Guild training field.
Sweat. Dust. Bruised pride.
I was getting beat again—
this time by a broomstick-wielding Doru.
"C'mon, flame boy," he shouted, laughing.
"Block faster! Pretend I'm a demon with an ugly face!"
I raised my arms. Blocked with my wrists.
CRACK.
The stick smacked across my ribs.
"Demon with an ugly face wouldn't hit that hard," I coughed.
Doru grinned. "Good! That's the spirit! You're learning!"
I wasn't.
I was surviving.
Lunelle walked over with a towel and a raised brow.
"You let him hit you again?"
"I'm trying to master pain immunity," I muttered.
She rolled her eyes, then dabbed my bleeding nose.
Her fingers were gentle. Her sighs weren't.
"You're hopeless."
I grinned.
"Only on even days."
After training, we went to the Guild Archives.
Not for homework.
Not for history.
For secrets.
Master Elion had given me a key.
Black iron. Cold to the touch.
It opened the forbidden shelf in the far corner of the Archive—
the one covered in chains and wards.
I unlocked it.
Inside: one book.
Title:
"Rank Zero: The First Cursed Names"
Lunelle stepped back as I opened it.
Dust bloomed.
The pages crackled like old bone.
The first page had a warning:
"If you are reading this, your name has already begun to burn."
I swallowed hard.
Then kept reading.
The Truth Behind Ranks
The Ranking System wasn't just built to organize power.
It was built to suppress it.
Each letter rank—E, D, C, B, A, S—was a seal.
A cage.
But there was one rank beneath E.
One that had to be erased from the records.
Rank Zero.
Names born from the God Tongue—
the original language used when the world was created.
A name from that tongue didn't just give power.
It changed the person.
Warped their soul.
Turned them into something that couldn't die…
…and couldn't love.
And guess what?
Ash wasn't my flame's name.
It was mine.
Rai was just the nickname they gave me.
To hide what I really carried.
The true divine syllable buried in my blood.
I slammed the book shut.
The whispering in my chest came back.
Not a voice this time.
But a scream.
I stood up fast.
Lunelle gripped my wrist.
"Don't run," she said. "Not from this."
I looked at her. Eyes wide. Heart hammering.
"I'm not running," I whispered.
"I'm hunting."
Later That Day
I went to the old church ruins behind the Guild.
The only place no one ever dared go.
It was where the first Soulbearer was buried.
And I knew…
my next answer was there.
As I stepped inside, I felt it.
Like gravity got meaner.
Like the floor hated me.
Like the world was warning me—
"Turn back before you become the next one."
I didn't listen.
Because I never do.
Down in the crypt, I found it.
An altar. Cracked.
An inscription burned into the stone:
"Here lies the First Flame. Not a weapon. Not a man. A name without mercy."
And sitting in front of it—
A mirror.
Dusty.
Ancient.
But reflective.
I stared into it.
And what stared back?
Wasn't me.
It was Ash.
Not in the metaphorical sense.
Not poetic.
It was literally him.
Same face. But older.
Eyes black. Flame leaking from the corners.
He looked like a man who had killed everything worth saving.
He smiled at me.
Then spoke.
"Nice to meet you again."
I reached for the mirror.
But it shattered—
without being touched.
The shards hovered in the air.
Reflected dozens of me.
All with different fates.
Some bleeding.
Some burning.
Some laughing like gods.
Some… already dead.
A single shard dropped to the ground.
On it:
"You were never meant to be Rai."
I backed away. Fast.
The whole crypt began to shake.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
I turned to run—
And standing at the stairs—
Was Doru.
Sweating. Pale. Holding his sword backward.
"What the hell are you doing down here?" he barked.
I didn't answer.
Couldn't.
Because right behind him—
Was something with my voice.
Not Ash.
Not me.
But another version.
From another shard.
Another timeline.
Another hell.
It grinned and whispered:
"Let me show you what happens when we stop pretending to be weak."
Then it lunged.
Straight at Doru.
I shouted. Shoved him aside.
And we both hit the ground as the thing tore past us—
slicing through stone like it was air.
When I turned to look again…
It was gone.
That Night
Lunelle sat at the window, wrapping my hand.
It had been cut by one of the mirror shards.
Not deep.
But the blood… wasn't red.
It burned blue.
Like cursed flame.
"You're changing," she said.
I nodded.
"Yeah. And I don't know into what."
She didn't speak for a while.
Then, soft:
"I'll stay until I can't recognize you."
I looked at her. "Then what?"
She smiled sadly.
"Then I'll try to kill you."
I laughed.
Because I believed her.
And that made me feel safe, somehow.
But as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling—
the whispering came back.
And this time…
it said my true name.
And for the first time…
I whispered it back.
And the flame inside me roared.