The fire didn't answer him.
That was the first thing Ardyn Kael noticed as he stood before the Awakening Pyre — its violet flames twisting upward like living silk, reflected in the mirrored walls of the great hall. He had watched every one of his siblings before him step forward, place their hands upon the pyre, and awaken the fire in their blood. Each time, the flames had leapt higher, roaring in celebration.
When Ardyn stepped forward, the fire dimmed.
A hush fell over the gathered crowd — nobles in crimson robes, servants pressed against the pillars, even a few officials from the Academy. Dozens of eyes watched as he pressed his palm to the edge of the pyre. The runes beneath the flames pulsed once, waiting for the resonance of his bloodline.
Nothing happened.
The fire flickered once, then died completely. A thin wisp of smoke drifted into the air, and that was all.
The silence was sharp enough to cut.
Then someone in the crowd whispered, "It didn't respond…"
Ardyn felt his throat tighten. He tried again, forcing mana through his veins, searching for that inner spark every Kael heir was supposed to have — the living ember of the Phoenix Gene.
Still nothing. The flames remained cold, their glow gone, their spirit absent.
A quiet laugh broke the silence.
"Even the fire rejects him," said Lysander Kael — his oldest brother, whose awakening earlier that day had lit the sky with a column of crimson light. His voice carried easily through the courtyard. "Guess that settles it."
Murmurs followed, some half-hidden, some not.
Ardyn kept his head low. His fingers trembled, still hovering over the extinguished pyre.
"Enough," came his father's voice — calm, heavy, absolute.
Lord Caelus Kael stood at the head of the dais, his expression carved in stone. His eyes, faintly burning with the family's trademark crimson glow, swept over the hall and then back to his youngest son. "The results are clear."
An attendant stepped forward, holding a crystal tablet. The glow inside it was faint — almost nonexistent.
"No resonance detected," she reported. "Rank: one. Ability status… none."
The words hung in the air. A Rank 1 in a Rank 2 world — a child born weaker than the baseline of society, and in the Kael Dominion of all places, whose bloodline had forged its legacy in fire.
Lord Caelus exhaled once, slow and controlled. "So be it," he said, and the flames of the pyre guttered out entirely.
...
That night, Ardyn couldn't sleep.
The wind outside whispered against the tall glass windows of his room, carrying with it the faint scent of ash from the ceremony. He sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the reflection of his own pale face in the glass — the son of a great family, born without even a flicker of power.
The Kael Dominion was known across Aetherion for its fire. The Phoenix Gene, passed down through their line, granted control over flame, regeneration through heat, even the power to rebirth from their own ashes. Their ancestral flames could melt iron and heal mortal wounds.
And yet, for him — nothing.
He rubbed his hands together, more out of habit than hope. They felt cold.
He whispered softly, "Status."
A faint shimmer appeared before him — a translucent blue pane, simple and clinical. The world's system interface.
Name: Ardyn Kael
Rank: 1
Ability: —
Attributes:
Strength — 0.8
Agility — 0.9
Mana — 0.0
Spirit — 1.2
Status: Stable
Ardyn stared at it for a long moment. The numbers were pitiful. A rank-one. The weakest classification recognized by the world's system. Children born with those stats didn't survive long outside the protection of powerful families. He might have been born lucky — but he wouldn't stay that way forever.
He dismissed the screen and leaned back against the headboard. The silence pressed in.
The door creaked open.
"Still awake?"
Selene stepped inside — his second sister, and one of the few who ever spoke to him kindly. Her silver hair caught the lamplight as she walked in, a cup of steaming tea in hand. "You missed dinner."
"I wasn't hungry," Ardyn said quietly.
She set the cup down on his bedside table. "You need to eat. Tomorrow won't be easy."
He gave a dry smile. "You think Father's planning to scold me?"
"No." She hesitated. "Worse. He'll pretend it doesn't matter — and then he'll forget about you."
Ardyn said nothing. She wasn't wrong.
Selene sat down beside him, her expression softening. "You're still part of this family, Ardyn. Power doesn't define that."
He gave a small, humorless laugh. "Here? It's the only thing that does."
She sighed but didn't argue. After a moment, she stood and left, the faint scent of her perfume lingering in the air long after the door closed.
Ardyn sat there for a while, listening to the quiet hum of the manor. The Kael estate was massive — sprawling towers, training arenas, alchemy wings — all of it glowing faintly in the night. From his window, he could see the horizon of High Kael city beyond, its spires shimmering like rivers of molten light. Every home, every tower, every person — born with flame.
Everyone except him.
He lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. The feeling in his chest wasn't sadness. It was something emptier — a hollow space where warmth should've been.
And then, in the dark, a sound.
A chime. Distant, metallic, resonant — as though it came from inside his skull.
[Initialization detected…]
He sat up sharply. The words appeared in his vision, glowing in an unfamiliar font — not the system's. The letters shimmered faintly before arranging themselves into neat lines.
[System Kernel Located: Eternity Copy Mod v0.0.1]
[Permissions Granted.]
[Status: Incomplete Installation Detected.]
Ardyn blinked. His heart began to pound. This wasn't the world's system interface — it was… something else. The tone of the voice, the color, even the structure of the code — completely alien.
[User Detected: Ardyn Kael]
[Rank: 1 | Integrity: 72%]
[Initialization Sequence Commencing…]
[Module: Copy Protocol Online.]
A thin hum filled his ears. The room seemed to vibrate faintly, like the world itself was holding its breath.
[Definition: User may duplicate external statuses for a limited duration.][Restriction: Maximum Copies — 5.]
[Detection Immunity — Active.]
His eyes widened. Duplicate statuses? Did that mean… he could copy the abilities of others?
The thought hit him so hard he almost laughed — not out of joy, but disbelief.
If it was real, if any of this was real, then he wasn't powerless. He wasn't broken. He was… something else.
Before he could process it further, another line appeared, softer this time, as if whispered from deep inside his mind:
[Welcome, Reincarnator.]
The word struck something deep. A flash of memory — the scream of sirens, a sky of steel collapsing in fire, the sensation of falling through light.
And then, nothing.
Ardyn gasped for breath, gripping his chest. His heart raced, his skin clammy with cold sweat.
[Initialization Complete.][Awaiting First Copy.]
The glowing text flickered once, then faded into the darkness.
Ardyn sat there in silence for a long time, staring at the spot where it had been. He didn't understand what had just happened, or what this "system" was, but one thing was certain:
The fire hadn't chosen him.
Something else had.