Flames Beneath the Sun
When Kai Dawnsworn awoke, his body felt like a hollow shell—drained, heavy, and almost foreign. The sunlight filtering through the cracks of the old shutters stabbed at his eyes, forcing him to squint. A night had passed, though it felt more like a lifetime.
"What... happened?" Kai muttered, his voice rough, body trembling as he sat up. Around him, the plants had withered and browned, as though the earth itself had shared his exhaustion.
Beside him, Boomer sat slumped against the wall, his breathing shallow, his normally broad shoulders sagging with fatigue.
The memories from yesterday slammed into Kai like a storm. His mind sharpened, and his eyes closed as his consciousness sank inward—deep into his War Soul Palace.
The moment his spirit entered that inner realm, Kai froze. The once desolate expanse was no longer empty.
Now, a radiant moon hung in the sky above, its silver glow spilling over rolling hills and glimmering streams. The ancient tree that served as the vessel of his War Soul stood proudly in the center, greener and more vibrant than ever before, emanating a pulse of pure Mana.
The World Tree… it's changed.
His manifested consciousness appeared beneath the colossal tree, looking up at its branches that reached for eternity.
Did Father lie to me?
His father had always told him their bloodline carried the curse of rebellion—their ancestors were Blade-Seers who had defied Heaven's will. The World Tree, he said, could draw life and spirit from all things upon the earth. But that gift had been lost long ago. Kai had been told he was a remnant—a hollow heir to a dead legacy.
And yet… here it was. Alive. Thriving.
Could it be that the old tales of FreeMind Meditation were real after all?
He remembered the mantras his father had forced him to recite endlessly as a child. He had always thought of them as empty words—now, his heart raced.
Kai's lips moved instinctively, the ancient syllables rolling off his tongue in a low murmur. His mind sank deeper, quieter, until every wandering thought fell still. The boundaries of his spirit blurred; he felt as though his consciousness galloped freely between Heaven and Earth.
Then—he felt it.
A dense ocean of Mana welled up in his meditative mind. Within it shimmered streams of light, each a different hue—red, green, blue, gold, and more—like threads of a divine tapestry. Each color carried the essence of an element.
Flames…
Kai's focus tightened on a blazing crimson flow of fire-element Mana. His War Soul, the World Tree, flared with the same brilliant red, its branches wreathed in flame.
Outside, in the real world, fire Mana surged toward his body from the air itself, flooding into his veins, searing through every nerve. His flesh burned; his heart hammered wildly.
He gritted his teeth and shifted his focus. Wood element.
A fresh stream of green Mana flooded into him, cool and soothing, mending the energy that had been scorched away by fire.
Then came metal. Earth. Wind. Water. One by one, he channeled each, guiding the flow with growing mastery.
When at last he opened his eyes, he stared down at his hands—still trembling, faintly glowing from the currents of Mana coursing beneath the skin.
"Is this… real?" he breathed.
"Of course it's real!" Boomer's voice came from behind, hoarse but charged with awe. His fists were clenched so tight that veins bulged from his forearms. "You're a Full-Attribute Blade-Seer, Kai! And not just that—your body's adapting to both martial and Spell Craft arts. You're… a dual-natured prodigy!"
Kai blinked, stunned. "Then doesn't that mean my gift is…"
"Against Heaven's will," Boomer finished with a grin. "There's no one else like you in all of Greenhold."
For a moment, silence stretched between them—then Kai's lips curved upward. A rush of pride welled in his chest. So many generations had failed to awaken their ancestors' gift. Yet he—of all people—had done it.
Perhaps this, too, is Heaven's will.
He rose suddenly, energy sparking in his golden eyes. "Let's go."
Boomer looked up. "Where to?"
"To the back of the mountains," Kai said, already striding toward the door.
"The Skyfire Mountains? You know there are demonic beasts roaming that area."
Kai glanced over his shoulder with a smirk. "We'll just stay near the border. Besides—what could go wrong with you watching my back?"
Boomer sighed but couldn't hide the small grin tugging at his mouth. "You're insane," he muttered, pushing himself to his feet and following close behind.
By noon, the two young men stood on a massive boulder perched high above the cliffs of Skyfire Mountain. From there, the sprawling expanse of Greenhold Academy stretched far below, bathed in golden sunlight.
Kai inhaled deeply, his chest rising with the wind.
Three long years. Three years of feeling powerless, confined to martial training while his spirit slumbered. Now, knowing the truth of his bloodline—his identity as a Blade-Seer—he could no longer be content.
The disappointment, the frustration, the long nights of silent doubt—all of it felt like dry kindling. And today, it finally caught fire.
The sun blazed high above, its light reflecting in Kai's gold eyes as he lifted his gaze toward it. His entire being stilled. The FreeMind Meditation focused on two things: observation and thought.
Now, he observed the sun. And he thought of its flames.
He stood unmoving on the rock, his presence growing heavier with every passing breath.
Gradually, the sunlight seemed to thicken, turning molten. Streams of burning light poured around him, into him. His flesh seared as the fire-element Mana fused with his blood, his bones, his soul.
Boomer watched from a distance, his expression hard but his eyes soft with pride. "You've finally awakened… you crazy bastard."
Crackling filled the air as Kai's skin flushed red, glistening with heat. The flames wrapped him in a cocoon of brilliance. Under the sun's incineration, his very body was reforging itself.
Minutes stretched into hours. When the sun began to sink, his body still blazed like a living inferno. Inside him, fiery dragons surged through his meridians, roaring with each beat of his heart. The mountain trembled faintly with the sound.
No one else was there to witness it—only Boomer, eyes wide in awe.
He's crossing planes… three of them… in one day.
When the final rays of the sun vanished below the horizon, Kai's flames dimmed. Slowly, he opened his eyes—and two sharp beams of fire shot forth from his pupils, fading after a heartbeat.
Boomer exhaled, shaking his head. "You broke through three planes in a single day. After being stuck for three years… you actually did it."
Kai rolled his shoulders, feeling the surge of new strength thrumming beneath his skin. He had used the sun's power to temper his body, breaking through the Growth, Vascular, and straight into the Resolute Plane—his flesh now hard as iron, his spirit blazing with purpose.
A grin crept across his face. "This is… incredible."
He turned toward a towering ancient tree nearby. Without hesitation, he drew back his fist and struck.
Boom!
The entire trunk split in two with a thunderous crack. The impact point was scorched black, smoke curling upward from the wound.
Boomer's jaw went slack. "Even a cultivator in the Unstoppable Plane wouldn't walk away from that punch."
Kai flexed his fingers, the faint heat still radiating from his skin. "Guess I'm catching up fast."
The two of them stood there in the cooling light of dusk—one laughing, one speechless—as the breeze swept through the mountaintop, carrying the scent of smoke and the sound of distant leaves whispering like applause.
Beneath the dying sun, the sleeping dragon of Greenhold had awakened at last.