Prologue: The Bang That Shattered the World

It began with a sound that shattered the silence of eternity — a deafening, resonant bang that rolled across the cosmos, leaving nothing untouched. Stars trembled, planets cracked, and the threads of reality themselves quivered under the force.

Where the bang struck, the Titans fell. Behemoths of unimaginable size and power — ancient entities that had slept since the birth of time — were hurled across the void, crashing into worlds not their own. Their bodies shattered, scattering fragments that pulsed with living energy, fragments that would later seed legends, wars, and the rise of mortals who dared to touch them.

Time fractured. One world after another felt the aftershocks, the cosmic tremors bending the laws of life, death, and possibility. On one small, unremarkable planet — a world that would one day see the rise of sects, warriors, and legends — the first whispers of power began to stir in mortal veins.

Fragments of Titans seeped into the earth, into rivers, into mountains, and into the hearts of those who walked its lands. Some humans gained strength, some wisdom, some cursed knowledge. And some, though rare, carried the spark of something far greater — a connection to the beings that had fallen before time itself.

No one knew why the Titans came here. No one understood the bang, or the laws it had broken, or the bloodline it would one day awaken. Entire civilizations rose and fell, driven by fragments and ambition. Wars scarred the lands. Sects competed for knowledge and power, uncovering only pieces of the truth.

And then, five thousand years ago, a sect unlike any other — the Aetheris Covenant — stood at the pinnacle of this world. They understood the fragments. They mapped the origins. They reached toward the secrets that mortals were never meant to grasp.

But even they could not escape the consequences of power.

A collapse came — slow, mysterious, almost imperceptible at first. Rival factions, hidden betrayals, and the subtle influence of Titans beyond comprehension fractured the sect. Knowledge that had taken millennia to gather teetered on the edge of oblivion.

Yet, in defiance of fate, the Covenant did not vanish entirely. Among their leaders, a plan was made — a technique so secret, so profound, that it could store knowledge in blood itself, to awaken only when the world and its inheritors were ready.

And so it waited…

Silent, unseen, and untouchable.

Until the bloodline stirred.

The next morning, Kael felt like the entire village could see the mark through his shirt.


Every glance felt heavier, every word sharper, as though the world somehow knew what he now carried. Liora fell into step beside him as he walked toward the training field, her usual grin replaced with a frown.


"That thing where you look like you're five miles away even though you're standing right here."


He tried to force a smile. "Just tired."


Liora didn't buy it for a second. "You snuck out last night."


"Because I'm not deaf," she said flatly. "I heard the floorboards creak."


He looked away, gripping the strap of his practice sword. "It's nothing."


"Kael," Liora said softly, and for once there was no teasing in her voice. "If something's wrong, tell me. You don't have to carry it alone."


Kael almost said it. Almost told her everything — the shard, the mark, the elder's words.


But the memory of the elder's warning echoed in his head: Tell no one.


Liora stared at him for a long moment, then sighed and looked away. "Fine. Be mysterious. But if you die, I'm stealing your sword."


He almost laughed at that, and for a moment, the tension broke.


Kael woke to the sound of dogs barking — sharp, frantic, not the usual warning of a passing fox. He grabbed his tunic and slipped outside, the cold rain soaking him instantly.


Shapes moved at the edge of the village, just beyond the torchlight. Too tall to be men, too silent to be animals.


One of them stepped forward, just enough for Kael to see its eyes — faintly glowing, like coals in the dark.


His mark flared, burning hot against his chest.


The figure froze, as if sensing it. Then it turned and melted back into the shadows.


By the time the other villagers arrived with torches, the edge of the road was empty.


Kael stood there, rain running down his face, heart hammering.


Someone — or something — had come looking for him.


Chapter 14 - Chapter XIV: The Weight of Silence