A view of past

Scene: In the Ash Realms — The Flame That Doesn't Sleep

There was no day or night in the Ash Realms.

The skies above were always crimson, thick with cinders and silence. Beneath Kai's boots, the earth cracked like bones. The wind smelled of molten stone and memory. It was a place even Hokori never dared to step — because it didn't belong to him.

It belonged to Kai.

Here, he walked alone. Always alone.

The ghosts of the Aether Cores he had absorbed still shimmered faintly in the air around him — like broken fragments of light. They didn't speak. They didn't scream. They simply watched him… as if waiting.

Kai sat upon a rock at the edge of a cliff, his sword planted in the ground beside him.

He stared at the sky.

Not at anything in particular.

But something inside him... was moving.

---

Scene: The Flicker in the Flame

It was faint at first — like a breath lost in the storm.

A tremor.

A ripple in the Aether.

Kai's eyes narrowed. His hand clenched. The red sigils across his arms pulsed, reacting. Not in pain. Not in anger.

But in recognition.

He stood.

The wind around him shifted. For the first time in many years... it whispered something unfamiliar.

Something soft.

A name.

> "Marine…"

He flinched.

The name struck something inside him — something old. Ancient. Buried deep under years of war, loss, and betrayal.

His hand rose to his temple. His heartbeat — usually cold and steady — stuttered.

Kai (low, uncertain):

"No… that name… I don't know that name."

But he did.

Somewhere in the farthest corners of his fractured memory — it was there.

---

Scene: The Memory Door Trembles

Kai turned sharply. His sanctuary was made of obsidian pillars and burning stones. But in its center, embedded in a jagged wall, was something most wouldn't notice:

A sealed stone door, hidden behind fire and shadow, marked with Sophie's sigil.

He had never opened it.

Not once.

The day she died, he swore to lock away everything tied to her.

Now… it was glowing.

Aether light — green and white, not red — cracked through the seal.

Kai stepped closer, breath slowing.

Kai (hoarse):

"You did something…"

He touched the door. And suddenly—

A pulse of memory hit him like lightning.

---

Scene: The Vision Within

He was no longer in the Ash Realms.

He was standing in the fields of Airoma, years ago.

Sophie was laughing, her hands brushing golden petals. Kai stood beside her — younger, unscarred, unbroken.

She was holding a small child in her arms.

A little girl.

Her hair shimmered in the sunlight, soft green eyes blinking sleepily.

Sophie (smiling):

"She'll change everything, Kai."

Kai (gentle):

"She's too small to even hold a stone."

Sophie (chuckling):

"Not now. But when the world forgets how to feel… she'll remind it."

He stepped closer in the vision, but the memory began to crack. Darkness surged at the edges. Flames rose. Screams echoed. Sophie turned, her smile fading—

Sophie (urgent):

"If you ever lose your way… follow her light. She'll bring you back."

Kai (yelling):

"No! Don't go!"

But it was too late.

The memory shattered.

---

Scene: Awakening in the Ash

Kai stumbled back, gasping. His eyes burned with something he hadn't felt in years.

Not pain.

Remorse.

He fell to his knees. His sword vibrated beside him.

Kai (barely breathing):

"Sophie…"

He rose slowly, fists trembling, as the fire around him began to dim.

The sigils on his body — once steady and crimson — were flickering.

As if something inside him was... unraveling.

Or trying to return.

---

Scene: The Pulse from Vel'Raeth

He turned his head suddenly.

Aether rippled across space.

Someone was training. Someone was awakening.

And it came from Vel'Raeth.

The world he had once called sanctuary.

Kai's jaw tightened.

His own old energy was buried deep within that world — in its stones, its trees, its sky. Whoever was there was awakening something he had left behind.

And worse — they were touching Sophie's memory.

Kai (low, to himself):

"So… you're alive."

He didn't say her name.

He couldn't.

But his heart — the thing he had tried to kill — beat once.

Twice.

Louder.

Kai reached for his sword.

The flames around him rose again — not in rage.

But in warning.

Kai never accepted that she was his daughter but the doubt continued.