[Scene: Kaliyun Village – Edge of the Great Azure Forest | Midnight | Storm Approaching]

The sky churned like a cauldron of roiling ink, thunder growling low like the breath of an ancient beast. Lightning carved ghostly veins across the dark clouds as wind howled through the thatched roofs of Kaliyun Village. Yet amidst the chaos, a boy stood alone — arms outstretched — beneath the heavens that seemed to rage against his very existence.

He was no older than seventeen, but his presence felt... older. Like a forgotten verse echoing through eternity.

Raindrops kissed his jade-white skin, trailing down the chiseled lines of his jaw, across the violet pupils that shimmered like starlit amethysts. His long black hair danced wildly in the wind, tied by a jade crown that pulsed faintly with a light only the heavens recognized.

He did not tremble.

Not even when the earth groaned beneath him.

Not even when the storm cracked open a tear in the sky.

---

[Moments Earlier – Within the Dream]

Darkness.

Then… warmth.

Then… pain.

A scream echoed through an empty cosmos — his scream — muffled as though buried beneath oceans of time.

Fragments drifted in the void like shattered glass:

A woman’s voice calling his name with a love so fierce it could shatter stars.

A cold hand reaching toward him from a silver lotus engulfed in flame.

Four shadows — women — standing before a broken palace, eyes filled with wrath and grief.

A name... Virelan... lost in the echo of war drums.

---

[Present – Storm Breaking Above Him]

Kael knelt.

He clutched his chest as if something inside him tried to claw its way out.

The Status Window appeared before him, glowing with pale blue light.

---

【 STATUS WINDOW – OPEN 】

> Name: Kael ???

Age: 17 / ???

Origin: Kaliyun Village, Azure Sector

Cultivation Realm:

– Realm Category: 1st (Mortal Path)

– Major Realm: Ember Vein Realm

– Minor Realm: Kindling Root [42%]

– Segment: Early

– Level: 9

> Bloodline: ???

Physique: ???

Affinity: None Detected

Cultivation Manuals: None

Techniques: None

Status: Fatigued | Disoriented | Unknown Anomaly Detected

---

His eyes widened. This wasn’t the first time he had seen it. But this… anomaly… was new.

He could feel something inside his blood stirring — ancient and chained — as if a part of him was waking up after eons of slumber.

A voice, ancient and feminine, whispered through the rain:

> “O seed forgotten by the stars... The Origin calls. You must remember.”

A bolt of lightning struck the earth beside him, carving a circle of scorched grass. Within that circle bloomed a single lotus — black as the void, edged with shimmering violet.

He reached for it, and the world shattered.

⸻

[Elsewhere – Within the Void Sea Beyond the Cosmos]

A pair of violet eyes opened in the dark — not Kael’s.

A figure, bound in chains forged from celestial law, smiled.

> “So… the seed stirs again.”

“Shall the cycle begin once more?”

---

Thus begins the tale of the boy forgotten by eternity — and remembered by fate.

---

⸻

[Kaliyun Village – Morning After the Storm]

The scent of wet earth and smoke lingered in the air, hanging low over the small, forest-bound village of Kaliyun. Roosters crowed. Water dripped from curled banana leaves. Farmers cursed under their breath as they cleared broken fences and thatched roofs, remnants of last night’s storm. But amidst the mundane rhythm of recovery, one house stood untouched — as though the storm had bent around it.

Inside, Kael sat cross-legged on a mat woven from moon-reed grass. A bamboo fan rested beside him. His eyes, the same violet as the early dawn mist, stared silently at the small black lotus on the floor in front of him.

It hadn’t withered.

It hadn’t dried.

It hadn’t… changed.

“Still here,” he murmured, voice barely above a whisper.

His hand hovered over it, then pulled back. Again.

He didn’t know what he feared more — that it would vanish… or that it wouldn’t.

He had found it after the lightning struck the hill just behind his house. Or rather, it had appeared where he collapsed, moments before he lost consciousness. A dream? A vision? Yet here it was, blooming quietly in a room untouched by fire or ash.

[Status Window – Rechecked at Dawn]

> Name: Kael ???

Age: 17 / ???

Origin: Kaliyun Village, Azure Sector

Cultivation Realm:

– Realm Category: 1st – Mortal Path

– Major Realm: Ember Vein Realm

– Minor Realm: Kindling Root [44%]

– Segment: Early

– Level: 9

Bloodline: ???

Physique: ???

Affinity: None Detected

Cultivation Manuals: None

Techniques: None

Status: Stable | Anomaly Detected (Lotus-type Energy Signature)

"Still no change..." he muttered.

Most seventeen-year-olds in the surrounding villages had reached Level 10 by now, completing their Kindling Root realm and moving toward the Ash Stem Minor Realm. Many had already awakened their affinities. Some even joined outer sect branches from the nearby cities.

But Kael?

He lived alone.

No sect. No family. No instruction.

Just the whisper of dreams and a feeling of waiting for something he couldn’t name.

[Flashback – Four Years Ago]

He was thirteen the first time the nightmares began — flames devouring golden halls, screaming voices echoing his name, a feeling of falling through galaxies. He’d wake choking on grief and tears he didn’t understand.

But no one believed him.

There were no missing nobles.

No lost heirs.

No trace of the surname Virelan in any records.

It was as if the world itself had forgotten his origin.

[Present – Morning Visit]

“KAEL!” a gruff voice called from outside. “You dead in there?!”

Old Bai, the village apothecary, slammed his cane on the doorframe. Kael opened the door before the old man broke it.

“I’m alive, Old Bai.”

“Hmph. Barely.” Bai grunted. “I saw the damn hill. Thought you were fried into charcoal last night.”

Kael shrugged. “Storm passed.”

“Hmph. And what’s this energy I smell? Your house feels like a beast’s den! You hiding some forbidden pill? Or did you finally break through to Level 10?”

Kael smiled faintly. “Neither.”

Old Bai squinted. His eyes, milky with age, still carried sharp instinct. “Something changed. You’re not leaking Qi like before. Your foundation’s… tighter.”

“...I feel more clear today,” Kael offered vaguely.

The old man sighed. “Boy… the world’s about to shift. You can feel it, can’t you? Even the trees whisper more than usual. This year’s Grand Awakening Ceremony at the White Embers Sect — it’ll open portals far beyond this province. If you miss it again…”

“I won’t,” Kael replied. For once, his voice held certainty.

He wasn’t sure where it came from.

Only that last night had carved something new inside him — a sense of inevitability.

[Later – Kaliyun Hilltop Shrine]

Kael stood again where the lightning struck. The earth had scorched into a perfect circle, and at its center now lay… nothing.

No lotus.

No ash.

Just silence.

His hand subconsciously touched the jade hairpin at his temple. It pulsed once — a soft thrum of warmth — and then quieted.

> “You are not yet ready to remember.”

“But the seed has awakened.”

The voice again. Fainter than before. Female. Sad.

He looked up at the sky, no longer clouded.

A single thought crystallized in his mind:

> I must leave this village.

Not because he wanted to escape…

But because something — or someone — was waiting for him beyond the forest, beyond the sector, beyond the stars.

A memory he had never lived.

A destiny he could no longer refuse.

⸻

⸻

[Kaliyun Village – Morning Departure]

Kael stood before the old shrine tree, its bark scorched black from the lightning strike. Slung across his shoulder was a worn satchel — dried herbs, a half-used inkbrush, and a hand-copied scroll of Qi circulation diagrams Old Bai forced upon him.

“I know I can’t stop you,” Bai grumbled, “but at least let me see you off.”

Kael gave him a rare, genuine smile. “You’ve already done more than most ever would.”

“Hmph.” The old man handed him a gourd. “Spirit-clearing tea. Keeps the mind grounded.”

Kael accepted it, bowing in deep thanks.

As he walked toward the village’s eastern trail, the whispers began — murmurs of curiosity, admiration, doubt.

“Didn’t he fail his Awakening test twice?”

“He’s only Level 9…”

“Still trying to join a sect?”

“Why does the air around him feel… heavier?”

Kael ignored them. Every step away from the village felt like a flame burning a bridge behind him — comforting and terrifying all at once.

---

[The Azure Path – Forested Mountain Road]

The journey to the White Embers Sect was not far in distance but separated by spiritual elevation — literally. The sect was built upon Ember Rise Mountain, said to contain veins of Heavenly Charcoal and Ashglass Quartz, minerals attuned to the element of Fire.

Only those who reached a minimum resonance threshold in their Qi could even set foot on the slope. Others… were scorched by invisible flames.

Kael’s violet eyes occasionally flickered. Not with power — but with… echo.

Birds fell silent as he passed.

Branches shifted unnaturally.

The Black Lotus mark still lingered faintly on the back of his hand — visible only under moonlight.

---

[White Embers Sect – Grand Courtyard, Later That Day]

The massive plaza brimmed with aspiring cultivators. Thousands gathered — from remote borderlands, inner provinces, and noble clans alike. Some floated in mid-air, standing on flying swords or spirit beasts. Others wore embroidered sect robes with sigil-threaded collars.

Kael stood alone near the edge — hair wind-tossed, robes dusty, no clan insignia on his chest.

“Low realm. No affinity. Who let this outsider in?”

“He's not even Level 10. Shouldn’t he be collecting herbs back in his village?”

“Wait… what’s with those eyes?”

Before Kael could speak, a deep gong echoed — nine reverberations.

A white-robed elder with fire-shaped brows appeared atop a sky platform. His voice, magnified by spiritual resonance, echoed through the mountain:

> “I am Elder Ruoyan of White Embers. Today, we awaken more than potential — we awaken fate.”

The crowd knelt. Even Kael.

[The Ceremony Begins – The Flamewheel Crucible]

One by one, participants stepped into the Flamewheel Crucible — a radiant circle inscribed with runes of ember and ash. The moment they entered, a glyph blazed beneath their feet, revealing their spirit affinity, innate potential, and bloodline resonance.

> “Fire root, Mid-grade.”

“Metal affinity, Dual Elemental Veins.”

“Azure Cloud Physique. High Heaven Grade!”

Cheers erupted. Banners unfurled.

Then it was Kael’s turn.

Whispers hushed. Anticipation and mockery collided in silence.

He stepped in.

Nothing happened.

Five seconds. Ten. Twenty.

The elders frowned.

“No resonance? Not even a flicker of elemental Qi?”

“Another False Root?”

“Or worse… a void?”

Then—

The crucible exploded in a silent pulse of dark violet light.

The runes didn’t ignite.

They twisted.

The array cracked, forming a spiral that devoured its own fire.

Kael stood unmoved — eyes glowing faintly violet, but calm.

The Elder’s face turned pale. He muttered a forbidden word under his breath:

> “Voidroot…”

And then—

> [Status Window Updated]

> Cultivation Realm:

– Realm Category: 1st – Mortal Path

– Major Realm: Ember Vein Realm

– Minor Realm: Kindling Root [97%]

– Segment: Peak

– Level: 10

> Anomaly Alert:

– Black Lotus Seal Reactivated

– ??? Resonance: Detected

– Time Lock: Active

– Affinity: ??? (Suppressed)

A surge of violet flame danced in Kael’s palm for an instant — cold, elegant, ancient.

The flame disappeared before anyone could confirm it.

---

[Sect Council – That Night]

Inside a hidden hall above the ceremonial plateau, three elders argued behind closed formation barriers.

> “His affinity is suppressed. That energy— I’ve only seen it once before, in the ruins of the Flickering Eternity Sect.”

“Impossible. That sect was erased millennia ago.”

“I felt it. That strange ‘seal’ on his soul. Something ancient sleeps inside him.”

> “He must not leave the mountain without surveillance.”

> “Let him stay. Observe… and let fate unfold.”

---

[Kael’s Room – That Night]

Kael sat cross-legged, staring at the ceiling.

The dreams returned — clearer now.

A soft voice whispered through the fog:

> “Kael… we are waiting… don’t forget us…”

He turned to look at the mirror near his bed.

For a split second, reflected behind him…

…were three women and a young girl — vague, smiling sadly. One wore golden armor. Another held a fan identical to his. One had a violet phoenix mark on her brow. The youngest clung to his robe.

> “Don’t let them take it from you.”

Kael awoke — but the mark on his hand glowed.

The Black Lotus was awakening.

⸻