Chapter 1: The Sky is a Lie
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Ash doesn't fall like snow.
It sticks to your skin. It clings to your lungs. It whispers in your ear when the wind dies.
Seventeen-year-old Ban had never seen the real sky. But every morning, he stood at the edge of Sector Three's skyglass wall, staring through the towering dome that protected Valebourne from the world of smoke and monsters outside.
And every morning, he said the same thing.
Ban (muttering):
"One day... I'm going to punch that sky in the face."
From behind him, his sister's voice broke the silence.
Juno (14, sarcastic):
"You say that like it's got one. Maybe aim lower, like escaping punishment for once?"
Ban turned, flashing his usual crooked grin. His ash-gray jacket flapped in the wind.
Ban:
"Hey, I could've escaped. I just didn't want to leave you behind."
Juno:
"You're lucky the guard's shift changed before they noticed the missing rifle bolt."
Their conversation was cut off by a low rumble underfoot. The ground trembled.
A dull thump echoed through the dome — like a heartbeat… no, a footstep.
---
Inside the Citadel
Across the city, alarms rang. Red lights pulsed along ancient stone towers. And from the northern wall, a message was broadcast:
> "WARNING. Ashwalker movement detected outside Dome Perimeter. Grave Level 3 breach risk. All civilians to lower shelters immediately."
In the Ashguard barracks, Commander Varek Draen slid a blade into his shoulder rig and turned to his second-in-command.
Varek (calm):
"Activate the Ember Lines. We're not losing another wall today."
---
Back to Ban
As the warning siren howled across the city, Ban's smile faded. His eyes locked onto the dark smear forming on the outer wall — smoke, seeping in cracks that weren't there yesterday.
Ban (softly):
"They're here again."
Juno:
"Come on, Ban. We have to run!"
But he didn't move. He felt it again — that same pressure in his chest he'd known since childhood. A presence, invisible but suffocating. The same one from that night, 12 years ago, when something had stared through the glass and whispered his name.
A deep, cold voice — not from outside, but from within.
> "You are not supposed to remember."
Then the wall cracked.
Glass like black crystal splintered outward.
Through it stepped a giant — twenty meters tall, masked in rusted iron and burning ash, steam hissing from its limbs like it had walked through fire just to reach them.
An Ashwalker.
---
Ban froze. The world blurred around him.
People ran. Sirens wailed. But the creature's head turned — and locked onto him.
It didn't roar. It didn't charge.
It knelt.
And in the silence, Ban heard it again — inside his skull.
> "We were you. Before you burned us."
Then: blackout.