The Ember in the Machine
Kael stood in a warehouse filled with silence and steel.
The forge in the back hadn't been lit in weeks. Dust clung to every surface. Metal scraps were scattered across workbenches like the ruins of forgotten machines. It was peaceful, but not safe.
Because Kael wasn't alone.
Across the floor stood a young man no older than twenty, sleeves rolled up, grease streaked across one cheek. His hands moved fast, assembling something complicated on the table before him, part circuit board, part spirit charm, part something else.
His name was Zeke Ward.
And he was about to become the second member of the Fivefold Path.
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Earlier That Day – Selene's Clinic
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"He's a technomancer," Selene had said, tossing Kael a sealed envelope with an EchoCorp seal. "Half-hacker, half-tinker, half-dumbass."
"That's three halves."
"I don't do math. I do people. And Zeke's one of the only Awakened in the city who's still off-grid and breathing."
Kael broke the seal. Inside was a photo of a lanky kid with copper hair, goggles on his head, and sparks flying off a gauntlet on his arm. Scribbled on the back in Selene's writing:
"Good with machines. Doesn't trust anyone.
Helped build me a soul-net. Accidentally woke up a spirit drone. Nearly died.
He's perfect for you."
Kael raised an eyebrow. "He's perfect?"
"Not emotionally. But strategically? We need someone who understands tech meets flame. Especially now that EchoCorp is watching."
Kael nodded slowly. The footage of his last fight had been leaked online. Low quality. Shaky. But clear enough that EchoCorp flagged it as "unauthorized Awakening event."
Selene had smashed the drone responsible with a crowbar.
"I thought they weren't supposed to monitor Awakened," Kael had asked.
"They're not. But EchoCorp doesn't ask permission. They ask who survives."
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Now – West Docks Warehouse
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Zeke glanced up from his work, eyes narrowed behind tinted goggles. "So you're the ghost boy."
Kael stood awkwardly in the doorway, hands in his hoodie pockets. "I prefer flame boy, actually."
Zeke smirked. "Too late. Nickname sticks. You glow blue, shoot fire, killed a shadeborn with your bare hands. And apparently the big corps are crawling over each other trying to ID your soulprint."
Kael stepped closer. "You're well informed."
Zeke tapped the device on his workbench. "I built a sub-channel intercept that piggybacks on the EchoCorp surveillance grid. Lets me see what they see, before they flag it."
Kael raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that dangerous?"
"Yup." Zeke grinned. "That's why it's fun."
Kael gave a small smile, then let it fade. "Selene said you might be able to help me."
Zeke leaned back in his chair. "With what? Reconnecting your soul to your body? Hiding from death cults? Or figuring out why your fire doesn't obey the rules of known physics?"
Kael blinked. "Yes?"
"Cool. Let's test something."
Zeke grabbed a small drone from the table—a sphere covered in rotating glyphs and micro-wiring. He tossed it in the air. It hovered, clicked, scanned Kael with a light beam.
Then it sparked. Wobbled. Exploded.
Smoke filled the room.
Zeke coughed, waving it away. "Okay, so that confirms one thing."
Kael frowned. "Which is?"
"Your soul-field is completely unstable. Any semi-sentient tech linked to magical glyphwork short-circuits when you get within five feet."
"Is that… normal?"
"Not unless you're packing the spiritual equivalent of a sun in your chest." Zeke paused. "You're lucky you haven't fried a subway yet."
Kael sat on the edge of a bench. "I don't know how to fix it."
Zeke raised an eyebrow. "Don't. Let's learn to use it instead."
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One Hour Later – Rooftop Testing Pad
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They stood on the rooftop of the warehouse, surrounded by junked drones, solar panels, and a small forge Zeke had built out of salvaged AI casing.
"Okay," Zeke said, cracking his knuckles. "Let's talk about your flame."
Kael stepped forward. "It's not normal fire."
"Nope. It's Azure Flame, capital A, capital F. Legendary stuff. Records say it burns essence, not just matter. Meaning it disassembles identity. Memories. Intent. Will."
Kael's chest tightened. "That's why the shadeborn screamed."
"Exactly. It didn't just feel pain. It felt erasure. You didn't kill it. You unmade it."
Zeke opened a box and pulled out a gauntlet, metal reinforced with arcane etching.
"Put this on. I want to see what happens when you try to channel through a focus."
Kael hesitated. "This won't explode?"
"Probably."
Kael sighed and slipped the gauntlet over his forearm.
Instantly, the metal glowed blue.
The glyphs flared. The panel sparked. Then…
A pulse of flame shot from the gauntlet, arcing into the air like a guided bolt of lightning.
Zeke ducked, wide-eyed. "Okay! Okay, that's… insane!"
Kael blinked. "I didn't even say anything."
"You willed it. Your flame isn't channeled. It's bonded. It doesn't need incantations or spells, it needs conviction."
Kael flexed his fingers. The flame retreated.
"I need control," he said.
Zeke nodded. "Then let's build you something that gives you that edge."
———————-
That Night – Selene's Clinic
———————-
Selene didn't like Zeke.
He talked too much. Moved like a squirrel on caffeine. Had a smart mouth and worse hygiene. But she had to admit, he was brilliant.
They gathered in the war room below the clinic, Kael, Selene, and Zeke.
On the table sat a blueprint.
"Gauntlet-core with insulated channels," Zeke said. "Rune dampeners to minimize soul-field bursts. Think of it as a breaker box for your power."
Kael nodded. "And the weapon?"
Selene tapped the design.
"Reforging your old blades would be a waste until your memory catches up," she said. "But I found something you might like."
She pulled a wrapped bundle from a hidden compartment and set it on the table.
Kael unwrapped it and his breath caught.
A half-melted saber, charred along the spine, hilt wrapped in white cloth.
He touched it and the spiral in his palm burned hot.
"It… remembers me," Kael whispered.
Selene met his gaze. "It's one of your old swords. Or part of it. Dug out of a crater in Nevada during a failed excavation of a Fade Ruin."
Kael stood there, transfixed.
Zeke leaned over. "I can reforge it. Might not be pretty. Might explode. But we can give it purpose again."
Kael nodded, slow and steady.
"Then let's begin."
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Elsewhere – EchoCorp Blacksite, 2:22 a.m.
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The surveillance chief reviewed the new intel.
Kael Morgan.
Zeke Ward.
Selene Navarro.
Three names. One convergence.
The man's fingers danced across a holo-screen.
"Activate Red Envoy Cells Theta and Gamma," he said.
"Orders?" asked a synthetic voice nearby.
"Observe. Do not engage. Not yet."
He stared at Kael's image.
"Let the Sovereign burn just bright enough to draw the others."