I_am_RK

In a future where reality is stitched together by unstable dimensions and ancient codes, Kael Riven is a broken warrior haunted by a past he can't remember—and a future he fears. Branded as a failed Reclaimer, Kael is assigned to purify corrupted Gate fragments left behind by dead kings and forgotten gods. But when a mission goes wrong, he awakens a power long sealed beneath his skin: the Seed—a sentient, living force tied to humanity’s original fall.

As Kael collects fragments of the Seed, his strength grows—and so does the voice in his mind. It belongs to a mysterious girl in red, a ghost who claims to be more than just memory. Each fragment awakens visions of a life he never lived: a throne, a war, and the truth that he may not be a man at all… but the very King who shattered the world long ago.

When the forbidden Gate XIII begins to stir from within him, Kael must travel beyond known space to confront his past self—while resisting the pull of a throne that remembers everything he tried to forget.

Teamed with Yanis Drae, a sharp-tongued warrior with secrets of her own, Kael must navigate collapsing realms, corrupted Seedborn, and the emergence of factions who believe Kael's return means the end of all timelines.

But the greatest enemy lies inside.

Because Kael didn't just carry the Seed…

He created it.

Ascension Protocol: The Last Reclaimer

The glyph hovered above Kael's palm like a living flame — ancient, forbidden, thrumming with a resonance he felt deep in his bones. It wasn't just knowledge. It was memory rewritten into essence. A truth lost to time.

And he was about to fuse it into himself.

Yanis stared at him, disbelief etched across her face. "You'll break the Seed bond. You might even die."

Kael didn't look away. "Or I'll become what I'm meant to be."

Aeyra handed him a blade — not her own, but one from the old Breach Guardians. It shimmered faintly with unaligned magic.

> "If you're doing this, do it fast. Before the Glyph fades."

Kael took a breath, then plunged the tip into his shoulder just beneath the collarbone, letting blood spill.

He pressed the glowing symbol into the wound.

The moment it touched flesh, the world screamed.

Flames engulfed his vision. His soul twisted violently between his current Seed and the alien imprint of the Origin Glyph. He saw flashes — of Virel forging the first Seed with trembling hands, of Reclaimers rebelling, of the Forgemother sealing away the glyph's truth before vanishing.

The voice of the Seed itself — not mechanical, but terrifyingly sentient.

Kael stood before a black flame, the "Seed Entity" flickering like a corrupted god.

> "Then consider this my resignation."

He raised his hand — the glyph now pulsing like a second heartbeat — and drove it into the flame.

The Seed howled. Its chains cracked.

Yanis caught him, barely. His skin seared, his shoulder still glowing with the symbol — now burned into his body, not as a scar but a living sigil.

Aeyra whispered, stunned, "He did it…"

Kael's eyes snapped open. They were no longer gold.

They were ashen white, the same as the Forgemother's.

> "The Seed's leash is gone," he murmured.

> "What did you see?" Yanis asked.

> "That we were never meant to ascend this way. Virel corrupted the code to rule. The true ascension starts with breaking the lie."

Kael stood apart from the group, staring into the distance. The Glyph of Origin pulsed faintly under his skin, reacting to something in the night.

And then, like a whisper on the wind, a voice returned:

And remember: you are not the last Reclaimer.

You're the first of the Forged Truth."

Chapter 57: Mark of the Origin