The rain fell like shattered glass against the rooftops of Lunaris City, a forgotten edge-town where neon lights struggled against ancient stone. Seventeen-year-old Kael Ardyn ran through the narrow alleyways, his breath ragged, shoes splashing through puddles that reflected a sky too dark for stars.
He wasn't running from someone.
He was running from something inside him.
It began as a burning ache in his chest—sharp, invasive, alive. Kael collapsed beneath a flickering streetlamp, clutching his heart as the world twisted. The air grew cold. Too cold. Frost crept along the walls, blooming like pale flowers.
"Not now… please…" he whispered.
The pendant around his neck—an old relic his mother left behind—began to glow.
A deep, ancient voice echoed, not from the sky, but from within his soul.
—Spirit compatibility confirmed. Awakening initiated.—
Kael screamed.
The alley shattered into light.
When his vision cleared, the city was gone.
He stood on a floating stone platform suspended above an endless sea of mist. Colossal ruins drifted in the sky like broken crowns. Dragons of pure spirit-energy spiraled between clouds. Towers carved with glowing runes pulsed like living hearts.
A realm that should not exist.
A woman appeared before him, her silver hair flowing like moonlight, eyes calm and impossibly old.
"Welcome," she said softly. "To the Spirit Realm."
Kael staggered back. "This is a dream."
"No," she replied. "This is your inheritance."
She raised her hand, and the pendant around his neck dissolved into blue light, sinking into his chest. Pain exploded—then clarity.
Memories not his own flooded in. Wars between realms. Gods falling. A sealed catastrophe known only as The Void Sovereign.
"You carry the Primordial Spirit Core," the woman continued. "A power lost for ten thousand cycles."
Kael fell to his knees. "Why me?"
Her gaze hardened.
"Because the seal is breaking."
The sky cracked like glass.
Something ancient stirred.
And somewhere far away, eyes opened.