The sky refused to stop raining, and the thunder rolled like a wild beast. Among the mountains of the Hane district, a young boy with black hair streaked with blue dashed through the storm, dodging the falling bolts of lightning. His clothes were soaked, yet his eyes shone with a calm that contrasted with the chaos around him.
Ren Kurohane.
A lightning magic apprentice, known in his village for being kind even to those who mocked him.
"Ren, not everyone deserves your smile," his grandmother used to say.
He would only respond with a soft laugh.
"Maybe they don't… but maybe they need it."
That night, he was running toward the Temple of Aether, an ancient sanctuary where young people went to awaken the spark of their spirit. Everyone did this at thirteen. Ren was seventeen. And he had yet to achieve anything.
The villagers looked at him with pity.
"Good kid, but weak."
"He can't even control his magic."
Yet still, he trained every dawn, sending tiny bolts of lightning that could barely light a single candle.
At the temple, his teacher waited. Lira, a seasoned mage with white hair and tired eyes.
"You're late," she said, voice calm but firm.
"The sky wanted to test my patience," Ren joked, dripping wet.
She sighed.
"Sometimes I think your humor is the only thing surviving your magic."
The ritual began. The air grew thick with energy. The Aether responded. Ren stretched his hand over the runic circle, and lightning enveloped him.
For a moment… he saw something. A figure among the light. A man standing tall, clad in old armor, with eyes that burned like the sun. His voice echoed as if from another time:
"Fear not the darkness. Fear only forgetting who you shine for."
The lightning threw him backward. Lira rushed to his side.
"Ren! Are you okay?"
He opened his eyes, trembling.
"Th-the voice… someone… spoke inside the Aether."
Lira froze.
"What did it say?"
Ren looked at the sky, where the thunderclouds slowly parted.
"It said… fear forgetting who I shine for."
Silence. His teacher watched him, a mix of fear and hope in her eyes.
"Then… maybe you've awakened something that shouldn't have been."
Amid the ruins of the temple, the runes glowed once more, revealing a name ancient and nearly lost to time:
Auren Valdra.