The forest trial had always claimed the weakest. But this time, the wind itself whispered of something darker.
As the new disciples marched through the ancient pines of the Spine Forest, Fareed walked in silence steps calculated, senses honed by countless lifetimes. This forest had killed him before. Hundreds of times. He knew every twisted root, every hidden predator.
But something new lurked.
From the shadows emerged a beast the size of a boulder its sleek obsidian fur glimmering with violet lines, six golden eyes glowing with hate. The Shadow Seraph.
A unique beast that had devoured even Grandmasters in Fareed's previous lives. It was not supposed to appear this early.
Screams erupted. Blood stained the moss-covered floor. Disciples scattered like leaves.
Fareed turned, intending to avoid the fight. He didn't care who lived. Not anymore.
Then he saw her.
A girl pinned under a fallen tree, trying to fight the beast with her bare hands. Her royal attire, torn. Her lips trembling, eyes defiant.
Mira Han.
The little sister of Emperor Leo Han. A Destiny Variable. A girl whose presence had changed the course of history in countless reincarnations.
Fareed paused.
He had let her die in one life. Saved her in another. Married her in one timeline, killed by her in another. In every cycle, she was bound to tragedy.
But this time… his hand moved before his mind could argue.
With a blur of movement, Fareed drew a branch-turned-spear and hurled it like lightning. The Shadow Seraph screamed then collapsed, twitching, a spear through its eye.
Mira gasped. She looked up just in time to see the black figure vanish into the trees.
Long black hair. Black eyes like a void. His figure burned into her heart.
"W-Who was that?" she whispered.
---
Later That Night
Whispers spread through the forest camp. A mysterious youth had slain the Shadow Seraph and vanished.
Mira, wrapped in silk, wandered the forest paths alone. Her fingers clutched a pendant shaped like a lily a gift from her late mother. Her eyes searched the treetops, hoping to see him again.
"He had eyes… like emptiness. But why do I feel so safe…?"
---
Elsewhere, in a hidden cave…
Fareed lit a single torch. This was the cave. The same cave he had entered in life after life. At its heart lay a tattered scroll sealed with crimson thread.
The Manual of Absolute Veil.
A martial art that could completely erase one's presence even from Grandmasters.
It had saved him countless times. It would again.
He knelt and bowed his head, taking the scroll in silence.
Then his vision blurred flashes of memory returned.
The Empress on a throne, weeping. Soldiers spreading bounties for a man in black. Posters drawn in his likeness: Black hair. Void eyes.
Her voice echoing: "Find him… bring him to me… alive."
---
At the border of the Han Empire
Even now, Mira's older brother Emperor Leo Han protected her like a dragon. She was his last family. In past lives, Fareed had seen that bond fracture nations.
In one timeline, after Leo's assassination, Mira had risen to the throne. She'd hunted Fareed herself, convinced he was the assassin.
The wanted posters bore his exact likeness.
Why?
Because assassins during the Emperor's fall… had black hair. And void-like eyes. Just like Fareed.
Now, in this new life, Mira had not recognized him. But others soon might.
Fareed looked into a nearby pool of water. His reflection stared back. Pale skin tanned by hardship. Jet-black hair cascading to his shoulders. And eyes that swallowed all light.
"…A curse," he whispered.
The same face. The same suspicion.
Even without trying, he was a ghost of a nation's pain.
And now, with Mira unknowingly seeking him, history stirred again.