The night was calm, yet the air around the mountain carried a strange pulse — as if the world itself waited for something to awaken.
Adrian sat cross-legged beneath an ancient tree, his blade resting before him. The moonlight shimmered over his skin, tracing faint red lines that glowed and faded like whispers of fire beneath his flesh.
Selena watched silently from a few paces away, her hands clasped together. She had seen Adrian train before — his focus, his control — but tonight was different. The air trembled around him, rippling like heat from a forge.
He inhaled deeply.
And then the scroll, lying beside him, began to hum.
The runes along its surface glowed, brighter and brighter, until they lifted from the parchment and spiraled into the air — wrapping around him in a dance of light.
Adrian gritted his teeth as memories not his own flashed through his mind. Faces he didn't recognize. Voices that called his name in languages older than time. He saw a vast battlefield, a warrior with his eyes — his blood — wielding the same scroll in a storm of fire and lightning.
Selena rushed forward, her voice trembling.
"Adrian! What's happening?"
His eyes snapped open — and for a heartbeat, they burned crimson.
"It's… my blood," he gasped. "It's remembering."
The light surged once more before shattering like glass. Adrian fell forward, catching himself on his hands, breathing hard. The scroll now lay silent again, but its glow had vanished into his skin — merging completely.
Selena knelt beside him, touching his arm carefully. "What did you see?"
He looked at her — confusion, awe, and fear blending in his gaze.
"I saw someone who looked like me… holding this scroll long before I was born. I think…" His voice dropped to a whisper. "I think it once belonged to my ancestors."
Selena's eyes widened. "Your family? But that means—"
"That means the scroll never belonged to the Rael family," Adrian finished, his voice hardening. "It was stolen… generations ago."
The wind picked up, cold and sharp, as realization dawned between them.
The betrayal ran deeper than they'd imagined.
Selena's voice was barely a whisper. "Then your bloodline… it's the true key."
Adrian rose slowly, gripping his sword. "Then it's time I find out everything — who my family really was, and why they were erased."
Far away, deep within the Rael family manor, an old man opened his eyes in sudden alarm.
"The blood… it has awakened again."