chapter 5:letters left on ash

Southern Highlands, Near the Forgotten Shrine – Late Afternoon

The cave smelled like old fire and rusted blood.

Rai stood still for a while. He didn't move, didn't speak. The light coming in from the broken ceiling above caught bits of dust in the air, dancing through the silence like it didn't know someone had died here.

Kaien Vell—if that really was him—was already gone.

The body lay against the far wall, half-wrapped in a shredded traveler's cloak, hand still resting on a crude blade stabbed into the dirt beside him. His skin had gone pale, and the weight had drained from his face. But the Halo floating faintly above his head—black and still—left no room for guessing.

There was no doubt.

The last Black Halo user before Rai… was dead.

And by the look of it, it had only happened a day or so ago.

Rai knelt beside him, not in reverence, not in grief—but with a strange kind of understanding. Kaien's face wasn't peaceful. It was hardened, like he died knowing it was coming. Maybe even welcoming it.

His fingers, stiff in death, still clutched a small box, wrapped in dark cloth.

Rai pried it gently from his hands.

No traps. No seals. Just a box and a note folded on top, written in plain handwriting, jagged at the edges like the hand that wrote it was shaking.

"To the next one…"

He opened it.

Inside, a few worn scraps of paper. A pendant of stone. A broken mana ring, blackened beyond use. And the message—scrawled in fading ink:

"You've already seen what they do to us. You know what you carry. I've run long enough. The trail ends here, but not for you."

"Go to Solencroft."

"Beneath the Archives. Take only what survives."

There was no signature.

Rai stared at it a while, the corners of the paper curling slightly in his hand.

Solencroft. The name echoed, but nothing about it felt familiar. It wasn't on any maps the Church let you see. Wasn't spoken about in the old schoolbooks. Which meant… it was real.

Because the only things truly buried were the ones they wanted erased.

He looked back toward Kaien's body.

A day. Just one day late.

If he'd moved faster… if he hadn't taken that detour at the Hollow…

He pushed the thought aside.

There was no point in mourning what you were never meant to save.

He stood, tucking the box into his cloak.

That was when he felt it.

A shift in the air—just enough to catch his breath short. Like the forest outside had stopped breathing. A soundless warning, buried in instinct.

He turned.

A figure stepped through the crack in the cave's entrance.

Cloaked. Silent.

Another came behind them. Then a third.

Three in total. No emblems. No color. Just plain, dark travelers' cloaks and movement that said they knew how to kill.

Rai's hand hovered just slightly above his hip. He didn't reach for a weapon. He didn't need to.

The front figure stepped forward, pausing just inside the light. Their voice was low, female, but sharpened by years of control.

"You took something."

Rai didn't respond.

She tilted her head. "Was it worth it?"

He still said nothing.

That was enough answer.

She struck first—fast, precise, not even a wasted breath between step and cast. A crack of pressure tore toward Rai's chest, red and sharp like forged heat. He moved, just enough to dodge, just enough to survive.

And then he showed them.

One hand dropped to the earth.

A tremor spread out—thin, invisible to most—but enough to catch the spell mid-air and break it apart like snapping bone.

Fracture Pulse.

Copied. Mastered.

The second attacker blinked forward, blade drawn. Rai met them mid-step and slammed a palm into their chest. Not brute force. Technique. A disruption wave that canceled the enchantment on their weapon and knocked the wind out of their lungs.

They collapsed in a heap.

The third didn't hesitate. From behind, they tossed a glyph-marked seal into the air, meant to bind Rai's limbs in stasis.

But Rai didn't run.

He didn't dodge.

He nullified.

A faint ring of energy burst around him. His Halo pulsed black and wide—just for a moment—and everything magical within a few meters snapped out of existence.

The seal fizzled.

The glyph died.

The attackers froze.

"You're not like the others," the woman said, drawing a new dagger. "You copy. You null. You twist what doesn't belong to you."

"No," Rai said quietly. "I survive."

She dashed again—but this time, he didn't need power.

He needed clarity.

He used a different skill—Mirror Vein—splitting himself into three illusions. One drew her attention. One vanished into the smoke.

And the real Rai—

Slipped out.

By the time the cave stilled again, only the wind remained.

Author's Note:

Now it's real.

Rai's first fight wasn't about showing off. It was about proving one thing: he was built to live through what was meant to kill him. Copying, nullifying, surviving—it's all part of the path Kaien left behind.

Solencroft is next.

And if it's been buried this long, it's probably where all hell began.

I know I said this morning but I had to delay it to make sure this chapter actually opens up the novel completely. now we know what Rai can do his goals and his enemies so I can now say the novel Has officially BEGUN

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