Chapter 1: The Flame Unseen

The world of Aetherin burned with light, not from the sun, but from within.

Every soul was born with a flame.

From the lowliest farmer in Verdelune to the sharpest assassin in Umbrawell, the soul fire burned—shimmering green for the common people, azure for the elite warriors of the Blue Flame Clan, crimson for the war-forged Red, black for the cursed, and—rare beyond legend—gold.

No one alive had seen a Gold Flame.

Until him.

He was born in the silence of night, in a hut nestled in the outskirts of Verdelune, the peaceful region of the Green Flame Clan. Rain fell outside, drumming like war cries on the wooden roof as if the heavens protested his birth.

His mother, Midori Kagetsuki, a gentle herbalist with a flame green as the forests around them, held the newborn in trembling arms. She gasped not because of pain, but wonder.

The flame above his chest, visible only to soul-sensitives, flickered gold.

Not green. Not blue. Not red. Gold.

The flame flared and pulsed as if alive, releasing energy that rippled across the soul plane. Somewhere in Aokigahara, the Blue Flame clan’s Soul Mirror cracked down the middle. In Pyrevault, ancient warriors in volcanic temples opened their eyes after decades of slumber. And in Umbrawell, the assassins felt something stir—an awakening.

They all knew.

The balance had shifted.

They came for him ten years later.

Two soul warriors from Aokigahara: Renka Aokiba and Kaizen, twin prodigies of the Blue Flame Clan. Their orders were simple: eliminate the anomaly. The birth of a Gold Flame—unclaimed by any clan—threatened the political harmony between soul factions. Even the Red King stirred in his molten halls.

But what they found was not a weapon.

He was just a boy.

Aran Kagetsuki.

Lean and quiet, he wandered the forest edges alone, chasing soul bugs and collecting bright stones. The green villagers treated him with a mix of awe and caution, avoiding his eyes yet protecting him from outsiders. They felt the heat of something ancient, something divine, when he walked by.

When Kaizen attacked, blade cloaked in blue soulfire, Aran didn’t scream.

He dodged.

Not by luck. By instinct.

The soulfire inside him surged, turning his eyes molten. His body moved on its own. Untrained, unrefined—but powerful. Their duel lit the forest ablaze. Aran took a slash across the chest—but his wound sealed with golden threads.

Renka stepped in to deliver the finishing blow, her twin blades spinning. But she paused—just for a second—as Aran looked at her, not with anger, but sadness.

“Why do you want me dead?” he asked.

That question haunted her. She lowered her blade.

Kaizen didn’t.

His next strike nearly killed Aran—but Renka turned, intercepting her own brother.

The village saw only blue and gold fire dancing, a hurricane of light. In the end, Kaizen fell—his body lifeless, his flame extinguished.

Renka wept. Her twin was gone.

Aran knelt by his body, then reached out, not knowing why.

And the soulfire responded.

A new power surged within him. Shadows burst from his feet. Gold tendrils wrapped around Kaizen’s corpse—and the Blue Flame warrior rose again.

Eyes black. Fire pale. A soldier reborn.

Aran had awakened something darker than power.

Soul Extraction.

Renka stared in disbelief. Her grief twisted into horror, then awe.

“What... are you?” she whispered.

He didn’t know.

But from that moment on, she stayed.

Not as a warrior.

As his companion.

And maybe more.

Word of Kaizen’s death and resurrection spread quickly.

The Blue Flame Clan called Renka a traitor.

The Red King placed a bounty on Aran’s head.

The Black Flame sent watchers from the shadows.

And the Gold Flame boy, hunted by all, began his journey across Aetherin—seeking answers, mastering his power, and learning the truth of his soul.

He would face other Blue warriors. He would walk into Pyrevault and challenge the Red. He would uncover the forgotten legends of Aurumfall.

But for now, he traveled with one soul soldier, and one soul-bound girl who once tried to kill him.

He was Kagetsuki Aran.

The boy with the golden flame.

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