Kai's Point of View
I hadn't slept since the demon attack.
Not really.
I closed my eyes, sure. Drifted in and out of dreams laced with fire and teeth. But every time I did, something pulled me back.
A sound. A whisper. The taste of burning ash on my tongue.
Tonight, it wasn't a dream that woke me.
It was a knock.
Three soft taps on the broken wood of our front door. Mom had nailed it shut after the demon tore through it three days ago. She'd blessed the nails and smeared salt across the threshold.
Didn't matter.
This knock didn't come from something that needed permission.
It came from someone who belonged here.
I rose quietly, slipping out from under my blanket. The air in the house was cold—unnaturally so. My breath misted in front of my face as I stepped into the hallway, past the coat rack, past the scorched wallpaper still half-burned from when I lost control.
The door groaned when I opened it.
A man stood outside.
Tall. Thin. Pale as moonlight on snow. He wore a dark, high-collared coat that brushed the tops of his boots. No expression on his face. No emotion in his voice when he said:
"I bring a message from your father."
He didn't wait for me to answer. Just handed me a scroll, tied with black silk and sealed in wax.
The moment I touched it, something in my blood stirred.
Heat, but not fire.
Memory, but not mine.
"My son,If this finds you, the fire has woken.Come to the Edge.Find the one called Bastien.Learn what they stole from me—Before they come to take it from you."
—L.
No "love."No "be careful."Just a summons.
I closed the scroll slowly.
When I looked up again, the man was already gone. No sound. No trace. Only frost where his boots had stood.
"Who was that?"
I turned to find my mother behind me. Her hair was a mess. She wore her worn-out housecoat and gripped a kitchen knife like it could make a difference.
I didn't answer. Just handed her the scroll.
She read it in silence.
Her hand shook.
And then she sat down on the stairs like her legs had given out.
"I knew this day would come," she whispered.
"Why didn't you tell me?" My voice cracked. "About him. About me."
She looked up at me with tear-streaked eyes. "Because I wanted you to be free."
We didn't speak for a long time.
Just sat there—her on the steps, me at the doorway, that cursed scroll lying between us.
Finally, she said, "The Edge… That's not a place you find on a map."
"Then how do I find it?"
"You don't. It finds you—when you're ready."
"And how will I know I'm ready?"
She met my eyes, steady now.
"When you're willing to walk into it alone."
But I wouldn't be alone.
Because Aria showed up that morning before sunrise, blades strapped to her back beneath a black cloak, her wings hidden.
"I'm coming with you," she said simply.
I looked at my mom.
She gave the smallest nod.
And that was it.
We packed light.
Mom gave me an old ring—gold, etched with a serpent eating its tail. "It was his," she said. "He left it with me before he disappeared."
She didn't hug me goodbye.
We weren't that kind of family.
But she touched my face, like she was memorizing it.
And then we left.
We followed the northern trail behind the house—an old hunting path carved through the woods behind the mountain. It was usually used by hikers, but this early in spring, the trees were bare and the air still held a winter bite.
The silence between me and Aria wasn't tense.
Just… thoughtful.
Measured.
She kept glancing at me. Like she expected me to fall apart.
But I didn't.
I couldn't.
Not now.
The farther we went, the quieter the forest became.
No birds.
No rustling.
Even the wind felt like it was holding its breath.
I felt it first. That pull.
Like something deep in the earth was reaching up, wrapping itself around my ribs and tugging.
"This is it," I said quietly.
Aria didn't speak. Just nodded once.
We stepped off the trail.
And the world changed.
One moment we were in the woods.
The next—everything tilted.
The trees bent in unnatural ways. The leaves shimmered like glass. The light turned blue-gray, and the air felt thicker, like trying to breathe underwater.
The Edge wasn't a place.
It was a threshold.
And we had crossed it.
We walked for what felt like hours.
No sun. No stars.
Only that endless, glowing mist curling at our feet and the strange, ancient stones marking the path—symbols carved into them that felt like they were watching us.
Aria touched one of the stones as we passed.
"Seraphic script," she muttered. "Old. Pre-exile."
"What does it say?"
She traced the edge with her fingers.
"'Here lies silence, keeper of truths.'"
At the end of the path, a cathedral floated above nothing.
Literally.
Suspended in the mist by a single massive chain of black iron, glowing with runes. The cathedral was in ruins—half its walls missing, stained glass shattered into fractal halos of light.
A stone bridge connected it to the path.
As we stepped onto the bridge, a voice echoed through the mist.
"The Child of Fire approaches.The Blade of Heaven follows.The game begins."
Aria flinched. I didn't.
I kept walking.
Inside the cathedral, three figures waited.
A tall man with more beard than a face, A man with a lock around his neck, And a blind woman in gray.
"Hmm? Flameborn eh!" the tall man spoke out. "Im Bastien, I've been expecting you,"
"Ah-Yes, likewise" I replied hurriedly.
Bastien smiled.
"You've got his eyes," he said."But not his fire. Not yet."
"Then show me how to use it," I replied.
He raised an eyebrow. "You think this is training? This isn't a dojo, boy. This is the Edge. Here, you listen."
"Then tell me what happened to him."
He stared at me for a long moment. Then finally, slowly, nodded.
"Very well. Let's begin."
We talked for hours. Maybe longer.
Time didn't work the same here.
Bastien told me the truth no one else dared.
That Lucifer hadn't fallen in arrogance—but had leapt in defiance.
That the war wasn't about sin, but about control.
That I was never supposed to be born—and that my birth had thrown the entire balance of Heaven and Hell into chaos.
"They'll come for you," he said, voice low. "Not because of what you are—but what you might become."
So, they want to judge me? or Kill me?
I didn't get any of these politics and stuff. Man! they are weird.
When we left, Aria was quiet.
Too quiet.
Finally, I said, "You still think this is a mistake?"
"I think it's already too late for that."
I turned to her. "You're scared."
She didn't deny it.
"You should be," she said. "You just walked into the game without knowing what piece you are."
"Then tell me."
Her voice broke when she said it.
"You're the king, Kai. And kings don't get to hide behind pawns."
We walked the rest of the way in silence.
But this time, it wasn't cold.
It was real.
Heavy.
I reached for her hand as we stepped back onto the mortal path.
She didn't pull away.