Nestled between mountains as sharp as dragon fangs and forests where light died upon touching the ground, there was a village the world had decided to forget. It didn’t appear on any map, merchants avoided it like the plague, and those curious enough to cross its borders… simply ceased to exist.

That was my home. And until that night, I believed it was eternal.

• The Sentence of Dawn

The sun hadn’t even managed to pierce the fog when Master Fish’s voice exploded like thunder, rattling the windows of the barracks.

“ASASHI!! In formation!!”

The scream tore me from sleep with the subtlety of a punch to the face. I scrambled up, tripping over my own boots, and shot out toward the training grounds, buckling my leather chest piece as I ran.

I arrived skidding beside my comrades, panting like a thirsty dog.

“Present, Master!” I said, trying to look dignified. “Am I… too late?”

Master Fish didn’t yell this time. He walked slowly toward me, hands clasped behind his back.

“Look around you, boy,” he said, his voice icy. “Your comrades have been here for an hour.”

He leaned in until his face was inches from mine.

“You are a Kansaki. The people of this village sleep soundly because they know our independence is guaranteed by our strength. If we show weakness, the neighboring kingdoms will devour us. You don’t train for yourself, Asashi. You train so that our freedom continues to exist. Understood?”

I swallowed hard, feeling the weight of my surname crushing my shoulders.

“Yes, Master.”

• “Survive”

“Good!” Fish clapped, the sound sharp as a whip crack. “Level 4 Obstacles! Move!”

All hell broke loose.

Jumping over mud pits, scaling slippery walls, hauling weighted nets. My lungs burned as if I had swallowed hot coals.

I was nine years old. The youngest recruit beside me was fifteen and twice my height.

“Dodge! DODGE OR BLEED!”

A rain of hardened wooden spheres began to fall from the towers. These weren’t mudballs; they were projectiles meant to break bones.

Left. Duck. Jump.

My body moved on its own. A sphere whizzed past my ear; another struck the shoulder of the boy next to me, knocking him down. I kept going. One, two, ten dodges.

When the whistle blew, I fell to my knees on the grass, my heart hammering against my ribs.

“Damn, Asashi…” a comrade gasped, lying flat on his back. “You’re a monster. at your age, I was still wetting the bed, and you’re already surpassing us.”

I took off my helmet, letting the cold air dry my sweat. I smiled wearily.

“Thanks!”

• Echoes Behind the Door

The afternoon brought a false calm. After playing for hours with Lucca in the village and enjoying his mother’s snacks, I returned to the main mansion just as the sky began to bleed in shades of orange and purple.

The house was too quiet.

Passing the main corridor, I noticed the door to my father’s study was ajar. A dim light filtered through, along with tense voices.

“…We fell into their trap, Father, it’s obvious,” came the voice of Loise, my older brother, sounding unusually agitated.

“I know.” My father’s voice—the voice of “Death Bell”—was an immovable rock. “But if the rumors are true and the Northern clans believe we have joined the Lotus Kingdom to betray them…”

“They will attack us,” Loise interrupted. “The other two clans of the Triad will come for our heads before dawn. We must mobilize the troops.”

“If we mobilize, we confirm their suspicions. I will go to Liftbell and speak with Vitar. I will stop this with words before I have to do it with swords.”

I froze. War? Against us?

Suddenly, soft hands covered my mouth.

My mother pulled me away from the door with a fluid, silent movement.

“Shhh…” she whispered, leading me to the garden. “Grown men’s business is not for your ears, my little Ace.”

“Mom, they said they would attack us!”

She knelt and cupped my face. Her eyes, the color of the poppies she loved so much, shone with a sadness I couldn’t decipher at the time.

“Your father is the strongest man in the world. Your brothers are lions. And you… you are our future. Nothing bad will happen as long as we are together.” She kissed my forehead. “Now go to sleep. Tomorrow is another day of training.”

If I had known that was the last time I would feel her warmth, I never would have let go.

• The Sky Breaks

The world ended three hours later.

BOOOOOM!

The shockwave blew out the windows of my room, throwing me against the opposite wall. The ringing in my ears was deafening.

I stood up, dazed, coughing up acrid smoke.

Peeking into the hallway, the mansion was chaos. Screams, steel clashing, and the unmistakable smell of burning flesh.

“Mom! Dad!”

I stumbled down the stairs. When I reached the foyer, the scene paralyzed me.

My father, the invincible Death Bell, was on his knees.

He wasn’t alone. Five warriors in gold and black armor surrounded him, spears driven through his limbs, pinning him to the floor.

And in front of him, a man held my mother by the neck, her feet dangling in the air.

“LET HER GO!” I screamed, taking a step forward.

A shadow materialized beside me.

Before I could blink, I felt an arm wrap around my waist, and the world blurred.

It was Pesth. My brother.

We moved at inhuman speed. In the blink of an eye, I was no longer on the ground. I was on the roof of the mansion.

“Pesth! They’re killing Dad! We have to…!”

Pesth dropped me onto the roof tiles. His breathing was erratic. His armor was dented.

“Listen to me well, Asashi,” his voice trembled with rage. “We were betrayed. The Viper and Golden clans have united. We cannot win this.”

“Impossible! I have to go back to Dad!”

“No!… You must escape, As,” he said, looking me in the eyes with frantic urgency.

“And our parents?! You are ‘Dark Eagle’! You can save them!”

Pesth already had his black bow in hand. His eyes scanned the surroundings with supernatural precision.

“I’m going to try. But you must go to the hidden exit in the forest. Run and don’t look at…!”

A high-pitched whistle sliced through the air.

Pesth reacted instantly. He spun on his heels and shoved me just as a beam of red energy aimed straight for my head.

“My, my… your reflexes remain annoying, Dark Eagle.”

Standing atop a chimney, a tall man wrapped in a black robe watched us. He held a metallic staff that smoked at the tip.

“You…” Pesth growled, taking a guard stance in front of me. “The Iron Sorcerer.”

“The very same.” The man smiled, and it was the cruelest smile I had ever seen. “They call you Dark Eagle for your sight and speed, right Pesth? Let’s see if you can see this.”

A beam of red energy shot toward us.

Pesth didn’t run. He glided.

He was a blur. He shoved me backward and, in the same motion, drew his bow.

Twang-Twang-Twang.

Three arrows whistled through the air.

They intercepted the magic beam mid-flight, exploding in a cloud of smoke, but Pesth was already gone.

He reappeared on another chimney, firing again.

“Run, Asashi!” he shouted, unleashing a rain of arrows that forced the sorcerer to take cover. “To the Forbidden Forest!”

“I won’t leave you!”

The sorcerer grunted and slammed his staff against the roof.

“Enough!”

The air around Pesth solidified. A gravity cage.

My brother's speed meant nothing against an area-of-effect attack. He was frozen in mid-air, his bow half-drawn.

“Good eyesight, bad luck,” the sorcerer said.

A second red beam pierced through Pesth’s chest.

“BROTHER!”

Pesth’s body fell to the roof, rolling to my feet. Blood gushed from his mouth, but his eyes remained fixed on me. He pushed me with his last ounce of strength.

“Go…” his voice was a gurgle. “You are the future… run!”

Fear won. I leaped toward the trees as the roof behind me blew to pieces.

• The Call of Blood

I ran.

I ran until branches tore my clothes and skin.

I ran while listening to the screams of my people fading in the distance, replaced by the crackling of fire.

An enemy soldier intercepted me near the river, raising his sword to decapitate me.

“Gotcha, you rat!”

But a shadow burst from the bushes. It was one of the recruits, the boy who had praised me during training. He threw himself at the soldier, tackling him around the waist and dragging him into the river.

“Keep running, Asashi!” he screamed as the enemy plunged a dagger into his back. “LIVE!”

Weeping, I kept running.

I ran while the branches whipped me.

I ran listening to my village burning to the ground.

Every step was torture. Mom is dead. Dad won’t survive. Pesth…

Finally, I reached the forbidden zone of the forest.

There it was.

A rock wall covered in ancient moss, with a smooth metal door, no lock, no handle.

I collapsed in front of it, exhausted, not knowing what to do.

“I ran for this?” I sobbed, pounding the metal with my small fist. “To die in front of a wall?”

Then, it happened.

Suddenly, the wind began to roar with unnatural violence, slamming against my back and pushing me toward the rock as if the forest itself was demanding I enter. I had no choice.

I rested my trembling hands on the cold metal and, instantly, an ethereal blue glow bloomed beneath my palms. That door, which looked like it weighed tons, became as light as a feather at my touch. I slipped inside and slammed it shut.

In that same second, a dull thud echoed: the metal fused with the rock, sealing hermetically and leaving the suffering and death out of my reach for now.

I turned slowly, holding my breath. And then, my knees gave out.

I couldn’t believe what stood before my eyes.