Scene — Mountain Summit, Dawn
The Nepali peaks burned under the first light — razor-edged ridges turning to gold as the sun tore the night away. Air tasted of pine and stone. The silence was so absolute that each strike against wood or flesh rang like a bell. At the cliff's edge, a boy trained until his shadow seemed to melt into the rock itself.
Leo moved and moved; he could not help it. His heart beat like a drum demanding motion. The mountains demanded a price — and he intended to pay it with blood and bone.
Father:
"Again. Your stance—wider. Breathe from the belly, not the throat."
Leo:
"I can't stop. I won't stop. I will break the limit."
The old stone stood away from them — a dragon carved in ages past, sealed and cold. Nobody touched it. But that day a presence stirred the air: a stranger in a filthy coat, a smile that smelled of ash.
Kaito Jin:
"It seems sorrow shaped you as well, boy."
Father:
"Who are you? Why wake what was sealed?"
Kaito Jin:
"I have known sorrow. I have known what the world takes. Come — join me and together we will rule this world."
The words fell like a hand across the sky. The mountain answered with a catastrophe: rock shattered, dust rose in a gray wave. A shock slammed their bodies; Leo and his father were thrown back like rag dolls.
Father:
"Leo! Stay here—don't move!"
But something in Leo snapped the tie of obedience. He smelled the cracking seal as if it were a living thing tearing free.
Kaito Jin blurred forward with impossible speed, the air screaming in his wake.
Kaito Jin (cold laugh):
"You think you can hold a dragon? Those chosen before you were consumed."
A strike—sharp, merciless—skirted across the father's chest. He dropped to his knees. The world tilted.
Leo (shouting):
"No—!"
Stone split. Leo lunged, but another blow came, carving a deep line into his brow. Pain lit his face, and he fell to his knees, gasping.
Leo:
"Who are you?!"
Kaito Jin (smile like razor):
"Kaito Jin. Want to live? Enter the World Martial Art tournament. You'll fight through China, Korea, Japan. Reach the finals in your own country — then I'll erase you."
Heat washed Leo. Rage rose like flame.
Leo (spitting):
"Even if I die — I will make you regret it."
Kaito Jin's laugh followed them down the ridgeline. It echoed in the valley and then vanished.
Scene — After the Attack, on the Cliff
Blood and dust settled. Leo staggered to his father's side, hands slick, eyes blurred with things that were not only salt.
Leo (weeping):
"I'm sorry… I couldn't protect you."
Father (soft but steady):
"Leo… remember this. There is more inside you than you imagine."
As if the words were a key, his father's body dissolved into the air — not with a whisper but with the brittle clarity of something being undone. Only the kukri remained, a simple blade and the last proof of bloodline.
Leo (voice breaking, clutching the kukri):
"I will train until my bones shatter. Until I die if I must. I will make him suffer."
Wind tore across the cliff like a chorus answering his vow. The boy's heart hammered with a new, terrible rhythm—the first beat of a destiny.
Scene — The Beginning of an Oath
Leo rose, the carved kukri cold in his hand. The mountains watched. Somewhere beyond the line of sight, a gate had been touched, a wound given to the world — and a king's power, once sealed, had drifted like a fever.
He did not yet know what it would cost. He only knew the shape of the promise he had made: to train until the last breath and to f
orce regret into the heart of the man who had taken everything.