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Chapter 3 - Chapter 3: Between Ashes and Echoes

Chapter 3: Between Ashes and Echoes

The wind carried ash and memory.

Kael stood beneath the darkened canopy just beyond the village's edge, where the light from the dying fires didn't reach. The world around him reeked of blood and scorched wood, but it wasn't the destruction that kept him frozen.

It was her.

His mother.

He'd seen her — seen the golden thread of dormant divinity pulsing weakly in her core. She had no idea what slept inside her, no idea that her blood carried the fused essence of two ancient lineages. That truth scared him more than the monsters ever did.

He had turned away, clenched his fists, and whispered into the night: *"I'll find you again."*

And yet… here he was. Still here. Still lingering.

He knows that he should go now, turn his back and return later when he is strong enough but.....

Kael leaned against the bark of a charred tree and stared out toward the smoldering village. His instincts told him to run — to disappear before the unstable bloodlines inside him drew attention. But his heart… it rebelled.

He wasn't ready to abandon her. Not yet.

Something crunched behind him.

Kael turned, body instinctively tensing. But what emerged from the shadows wasn't a threat.

It was **her**.

"Kael?" a soft, tired voice asked.

He stepped from the shadows. "Sylva…"

She looked like she hadn't slept in days. Her long silver-black hair clung to her cheeks with soot and sweat, and her usually sharp green eyes were dull, red-rimmed. Her sleeves were torn, hands scraped raw. Yet her presence felt steady — grounded — like always.

"I thought you were dead," she whispered. Then, without warning, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.

She hugged him tightly like she wanted to fuse with him, nuzzling her head against his chest.

Kael froze.

He wasn't used to being touched — not by anyone. But Sylva had always been different. She was the only one who ever tried to understand him, who never made fun of how quiet he was or how oddly he observed things.

They are quite similar I'm the sense that they are the only friend of each other and they are both slightly weird.

They had grown up together. Two quiet shadows in a loud, colorful village.

Sylva, an orphan adopted by the couple next door. Kael, the strange boy with an absent father and a mother who healed better than most doctors in the capital.

"I came back to bury them," she said, stepping back from the hug. Her voice trembled. "I stayed to find you. I saw the blood near the ridge... I thought…"

Her eyes welled again, and she quickly looked away.

"I'm sorry," Kael murmured.

He knows what she is talking about, her parents likely died in the monsters ambush being one of the unfortunate ones to die, he has nothing to say but that as he doesn't know what it feels like, he just had to comfort her

"You always disappear," she said, not accusingly, just softly. "Even before all this."

Kael nodded. "I thought I needed to go again. But…"

"But?"

"I saw my mother," he said. "And now you."

She let go of him almost forgetting that she was holding him, she felt so comfortable in his embrace.

She blinked, snapping out of her thought, eyes meeting his. She opened her mouth to say something, then blushed slightly and looked at the ground.

"You're still weird," she mumbled. "But… you came back."

A faint warmth stirred in Kael's chest, one he hadn't expected to feel tonight.

"We can't stay out here," he said. "Come with me."

He led her to a collapsed shed by the old stable grounds. It was dusty and broken, but quiet. Safe enough.

She took a seat on a cracked bench while Kael leaned against the far wall.

"You feel different," Sylva said after a while. "Not just stronger… but like something changed inside you."

Kael hesitated. He could lie — or tell her what little truth he could afford.

"There's something in me now," he admitted. "Something ancient."

"You mean like… a bloodline?"

Kael nodded slowly. "More than one. It's… complicated."

She didn't flinch or run. She only nodded and said, "I always thought there was something different about me too."

Kael looked at her curiously. "Why?"

She gave a soft laugh. "Plants sometimes react strangely when I pass. I've had dreams… strange visions. And I never really fit in with the others. But I figured that was just because I was adopted."

Kael's eyes narrowed slightly. A quiet hum rang in his mind — the Genesis System activating by command.

> [Scan Initiated…]

> Name: Sylva Thorne

> Bloodline: ??? (Dormant)

> Classification: Fallen Angel (Suppressed – Latent Stage)

> Awakening Level: Sealed due to emotional trauma

> Compatibility with host: 79%

> Current Threat: Low

>Currently can't access the whole information because of the hosts weak power level

Kael blinked.

A **Fallen Angel bloodline**? That explained… too much. She didn't know. She couldn't know. And it was better that way — for now.

And the information wasn't even complete, what will her complete information be like, I also have to scan my mother when she comes back he thought.

"You are different," he finally said.

She raised an eyebrow. "Should I be worried?"

"No," he replied. "But… you might want to stay close to me from now on."

Sylva laughed softly. "Was that your way of asking me to stay?"

Kael didn't answer.

She blushed again.

"I know you're trying to protect me, Kael," she said. "But you don't have to carry everything alone."

"I'm not carrying it alone," he said. "You're here."

A silence fell between them again. The air felt heavier, but not with danger. With possibility.

> [System Notification]

> New Objective Created: Protect Sylva

> Bonus Objective: Aid in Bloodline Awakening

> Reward: Genesis Points + Trait Resonance Shard

Kael ignored the reward for now. He didn't even know what those were yet.

But something told him they'd matter soon enough.

He will ask the system or more like the Genesis soul core later.

Sylva rested her head against the wall, eyes flickering shut.

He watched her for a moment longer, then whispered to himself.

"I'll stay… a little longer."

And for the first time since waking in this new world, he didn't feel lost.

He felt like he had something worth staying for.

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