Chapter 1: A Debt Paid in Venom
The air in the deep-shell cavern tasted of wet stone and ancient rot. It was a dead, still atmosphere that was heavy in the lungs. Kairo moved through the gloom, a small shadow swallowed by larger ones. His bare feet made no sound on the slick, shale-covered floor.
Every muscle in his frail body burned, the protest of a child's constitution being pushed far beyond its limits. A tremor started in his hands, a familiar weakness. With a force of will that felt like grinding glass behind his eyes, he crushed the tremor into submission.
Focus. The voice in his mind was cold and weary. The target's Aetheric signature is pulsing twenty paces ahead. Unaware. No mistakes.
His obsidian eyes, large in his young face, scanned the darkness. The mind behind them was a predator's. He ruthlessly shoved aside the phantom ache that bloomed behind his right shoulder blade. Emotions were a vulnerability. Control was survival.
A low, grating hiss slithered through the silence. It wasn't the sound of a snake, but of stone scraping against stone. Kairo froze behind a dripping stalagmite, melting into the shadows. In his mind's eye, the world was overlaid with faint, golden script, the interface of the [Founder's Codex]. A pulsing, crimson light throbbed in the darkness ahead. A C-Class Lesser Beast.
The creature came into view. A Shell-Backed Viper. Its body, thick as a grown man's thigh, was covered in overlapping scales of a dull, granite-grey. The gnarled, dome-shaped shell on its back was scarred from past battles. This creature was a lethal threat for a team of trained Aether Initiates. For a lone, unawakened seven-year-old, it was a death sentence.
But Kairo wasn't here for a glorious hunt. This was an assassination. He wasn't after glory. He was after its venom.
[Shell-Backed Viper - Class C]
[Threat Analysis: Extreme. Target's unarmored underside presents the only viable point for physical attack. Senses are poor, relying heavily on thermal and Aetheric detection.]
His plan was a tapestry woven from desperation and obsession. Slowly, he reached into the worn leather satchel at his side. He ignored the gnawing hunger in his stomach as his fingers closed around a thick, bloody chunk of Sky-Elk steak. It was smeared with a pungent green paste made from a moss vipers found irresistible. His other tool was a shard of obsidian, sharpened against the cavern walls over the last week. The skin of his palms was a mess of small cuts from the effort. It was a crude thing, but it was sharp enough.
He took a slow, deliberate breath. The viper, having caught the scent of the bait, began to move towards his position, its ugly head swaying.
Patience. Let it commit.
Now.
With a fluid motion, Kairo tossed the baited meat. It sailed in a perfect arc, landing with a wet slap in a small clearing twenty feet to his right.
The viper's head snapped towards the sound. The overwhelming scent sealed the deal. It moved with a newfound purpose, its powerful muscles propelling it forward.
As the viper lowered its head, fangs extending, Kairo exploded from his hiding spot. His movements were a perfect contradiction. The body was frail, his physical stats barely double that of a common man.
KAIRO AKASHI
TITLE: Unawakened LEVEL: 1
AETHERIC RESONANCE INDEX (ARI)
Physical Attributes
STR: 18DUR: 15AGI: 22
Aetheric Attributes
AET: 1 (dormant)OUT: 1 (dormant)CTL: ?? (unmeasured)
The stats were a humiliating reminder of his weakness. But the mind directing him was a duelist's. He crossed the distance in a silent, deadly rush.
He didn't aim for the shell. That was a fool's gambit. As he closed the final few feet, he went into a controlled slide on the slick floor. He shot forward, ramming his sharpened obsidian dagger upwards with both hands.
The blade plunged deep into the soft, unprotected flesh of the viper's throat.
A geyser of hot, dark blood sprayed across Kairo's face. The creature let out a horrifying, wet shriek of agony. Its powerful body convulsed, and its thick tail whipped through the air where his head had been a moment before, smashing into a stalagmite and shattering it. Kairo was thrown clear, tumbling hard across the jagged stones.
He ignored the fire in his shoulder and the sharp pain in his ribs. The wound wasn't meant to be fatal. It was meant to make it bleed. It was meant to make it angry.
The viper, thrashing in a pool of its own blood, finally fixed its baleful yellow eyes on him. The dim bestial instinct was gone, replaced by a focused, singular rage. It reared back, its massive head rising high above him.
The Shell-Backed Viper struck.
It moved like lightning. Kairo threw himself sideways, a desperate, rolling dive.
CRACK!
The sound of the viper's fangs smashing into the stone floor where he'd been standing echoed like a thunderclap. He scrambled to his feet. The chase was on. He became a flickering ghost in the gloom, his small size his only true advantage. He led the enraged viper on a deadly dance through the forest of stalagmites.
But the gnat was getting tired. The fire in his lungs became an inferno. His Aether-starved muscles felt like they were being shredded.
[Stamina Depleting Rapidly: 32% Remaining]
[Warning: Physical stress approaching critical limit for current DUR value.]
Damn this body! The thought was a raw snarl.
Another lunge. Kairo dodged, but his foot slipped on a patch of wet moss. He fell, sprawling. The viper's shadow fell over him. It reared high, its maw gaping, preparing for the crushing blow. And in that moment, Kairo saw it. As its head tilted back, a thick glob of amber venom dripped from its fangs, sizzling on the stone floor. The prize.
A new, desperate surge of energy coursed through him. He rolled clear as the viper's head slammed down. He was up and running again, but his goal had changed. He led the beast towards a clear patch of ground, then skidded to a halt. As the viper launched itself, Kairo dropped flat onto his back. The monster shot over him, its jaws snapping on empty air.
Lying on his back, he swung his leather satchel in a low arc, scraping the cavern floor. The bag scooped up dirt, gravel, and, most importantly, the glistening puddle of amber neurotoxin.
A roar of fury shook the cavern as the viper twisted its long body around. It had him pinned. He got to his feet, reaching into a small pouch at his belt. His fingers closed around a clay vial no bigger than his thumb. His trump card. The real reason he'd risked infiltrating the Kurogane-controlled wing of his own home. Kurogane Salt.
As the viper surged forward, its mouth opening wide for the kill, Kairo flicked his wrist. The small clay projectile sailed through the air and disappeared directly into the beast's gaping, blood-flecked maw.
A sickening, sizzling sound filled the air. Acrid, white smoke poured from the viper's jaws as if it had swallowed a torch. The chemical reaction was instantaneous and explosive. The beast let out a choked, agonized shriek that was cut short as its throat dissolved from the inside out. It crashed to the ground, thrashing blindly in its death throes.
Kairo didn't stay to watch. The moment the salt found its mark, he turned and fled. He didn't look back. He just ran, his small legs pumping, fueled by the last dregs of his stamina. The wet, gurgling death rattle of the dying beast pursued him through the darkness.
He burst out of the cave mouth and finally collapsed against a cold stone wall, clutching the precious satchel. He had won. He had survived.
He sat there gasping for air, a wave of dizziness washing over him. The world began to swim. The phantom ache behind his eyes bloomed into a throbbing migraine. The air, thick with the smell of damp earth and rot, was suddenly replaced by another scent.
The scent of old parchment, sealing wax, and the rain-slicked stones of the Ducal Spire.
His consciousness fractured.
The cold, damp stone of the cavern floor dissolved from under him. The memory, the one he held at bay with a wall of ice every waking moment, did not gently return. It shattered his defenses and dragged him back into the fire.
He was nineteen again.
The study was warm. The scent of rain on the air. He was holding a piece of parchment, his hands trembling not with weakness, but with a giddy, life-altering elation. [Alchemical Formula: The Phoenix's Rebirth]. A permanent cure.
A friendly face, Lord Fendrel, smiling. "Is this… the antidote? The real one?"
"The final piece of the puzzle," Kairo heard himself say, his voice buzzing with a hope he had forgotten existed. "It will work. I know it will."
Fendrel's smile widened, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You deserve it, Kairo. More than anyone." The words were a venomous lie disguised as a kindness.
Betrayal, cold and sharp, pierced him through.
CRASH!
The memory shifted. The heavy oak door of his study splintered inward. Two hulking figures in crimson-and-black Kurogane armor filled the doorway, their faces hidden behind grim helms.
And between them, his half-brother, Lord Tiberius Akashi, stepped into the room. He wore a cruel, familiar smirk, his crimson eyes gleaming in the firelight.
"Brother," Tiberius drawled, his voice a weapon of condescending amusement. He snatched the precious formula from Kairo's grasp. "Fendrel told me everything. I cannot abide a rival. Clean this up."
A guard grabbed Kairo from behind, pinning his arms. Kairo smelled the leather of the man's gloves, the sweat of his exertion. Tiberius drew a simple, unadorned dagger from his belt, its steel winking in the light of the hearth.
"Don't worry, brother," he whispered, his voice a venomous hiss in Kairo's ear. "I will tell Father you passed peacefully in your sleep. A final mercy for the family failure."
The memory became a pure, physical sensation.
There was no more sight. No more sound.
Just the feeling of a single point of searing, impossible cold plunging into his back, right below the shoulder blade. A supernova of agony that incinerated every thought, every hope. His breath was stolen. His muscles locked. The guard released him.
He was falling.
His vision tunneled. The last thing Kairo Akashi of the first life saw was a flash of steel, the sneer on his brother's face, and the cheerful, indifferent crackle of the fire in the hearth.
Then, there was only darkness.
A violent gasp tore from his throat.
Kairo's eyes snapped open to the oppressive gloom of the deep-shell cavern. He was on his hands and knees, his body convulsing, drenched in a cold sweat. The phantom pain in his back was so real he could barely breathe. He shuddered, wrapping his arms around his small chest, trying to hold himself together.
He was seven years old.
Frail. Weak. Powerless.
But he remembered.
He had been Kairo Akashi, the blind scholar. He had been nineteen years old.
And he remembered every second of the night he was murdered.