The early morning mist clung to the earth like memories unwilling to let go.
Kirozan stood silently at the edge of the crumbling path, his cloak fluttering softly in the chilled wind. Behind him, Rei adjusted the strap on his satchel, the silence between them thick with something unspoken — respect, curiosity, perhaps even fear. The village behind them had faded into nothingness, just another forgotten corner of a vast and brutal world.
They walked in silence for the first few hours, the crunch of dirt underfoot and the chirping of unseen birds their only companions. It wasn't until the sun had risen high and the trees grew sparse that Kirozan spoke.
"Rei," he said without turning, "you've grown strong. Your fists, your footwork, your mind — all sharpened. But brute strength will not carry you far in this world."
Rei looked up, puzzled but intrigued.
"You've trained me every day for years," Rei replied. "Pushed me until I bled. And now you're telling me strength isn't enough?"
Kirozan's mouth curled slightly. "I trained your body. Now, it's time to train your presence."
They stopped by a stream running across the path, water clear and fast-moving. Kirozan crouched down, touching the surface.
"See this water?" he asked. "Unstoppable… but formless. Speed and flow. That's what we'll mold your body into now."
He stood and stepped back onto the trail. "It's time you learned a technique that could one day save your life — or end another's."
Rei blinked. Kirozan rarely spoke of techniques. He was old school. Raw. Traditional. This was different.
Kirozan raised his right foot and vanished.
CRACK!
A tree thirty meters away quivered violently as bark exploded outward. Rei's eyes widened. Kirozan now stood behind that tree, not even breathing heavily.
"That was the third stage," Kirozan said, his voice calm but his eyes burning. "The Phantom Flash. Not teleportation — it's compression and eruption of aura in a single heartbeat. And unless your aura obeys you... your body will tear itself apart attempting it."
He walked back toward Rei, eyes sharp. "The move is called Echo Step — mastered by only a handful across the kingdoms. It has three stages."
He raised a finger.
"Stage One: Pulse Dash. Channel aura into your legs in a single, focused burst. You'll move faster than the eye can track — for a split second."
Another finger.
"Stage Two: Mirage Veil. Move with such rapidity that your outline lingers. You leave an echo behind — afterimages. This requires not only speed, but timing, and emotional stillness."
And the final finger.
"Stage Three: Phantom Flash. You become soundless. Weightless. As if reality forgot to hold you. Few who attempt this survive."
Rei swallowed. "And you want me to… learn all this?"
Kirozan crossed his arms. "Ten days. We reach Velkarth in ten. Master Stage One before we get there."
Rei stepped forward, eyes shining. "What happens if I don't?"
Kirozan smirked. "Then you keep practicing while I drag your unconscious body through the city gates."
Rei laughed nervously. But deep down… he was thrilled. Something inside him stirred — like a song finally being played after years of silence.
---
That night, they camped near the forest ridge. The fire crackled low, casting golden shapes across Rei's face. He sat alone, panting, bruised, soaked with sweat. Kirozan had instructed him to try the Pulse Dash up a slope of shifting gravel. He fell thirty-six times.
His legs throbbed. His lungs screamed.
But he had felt it once. A flicker. A blur. Half a heartbeat of motion that wasn't human.
Kirozan, sitting on a higher rock, looked down at Rei and said nothing. Only watched. The boy's will was like forged steel — malleable but unbreaking.
Kirozan looked up at the stars, the crimson hue of a distant moon bleeding into the sky. "So," he muttered to himself. "Will you awaken something more than strength, boy? Will you make the world listen?"
---
A sudden breeze stirred the flames. Rei looked up at Kirozan's silhouette against the red-stained sky. "Sensei…" he said, his voice raw from exhaustion, "why did you really take me in?"
Kirozan's eyes flickered, then narrowed. He stood and walked down beside Rei, his steps slow.
"I told you before. I saw something in you."
"But why train me? Why keep me alive all these years? I'm not your blood."
Kirozan stared into the fire. For a long moment, the only sound was the wind rustling through trees. Then he spoke, voice low.
"You reminded me of someone."
Rei's eyebrows furrowed, but he stayed silent.
Kirozan continued, "There was once a boy… defiant, loud, always charging forward even when the world beat him down. He died in my arms during a battle that should've never happened."
He looked at Rei, the firelight dancing in his eyes. "When I saw you — bruised, hungry, but still ready to fight the bullies with broken hands — I knew. If I didn't train you, the world would devour you. Or worse… make you ordinary."
Rei's lips trembled. "I don't want to be ordinary. I want to be worthy."
"You already are," Kirozan whispered, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "But to survive what's coming… you'll need more than worth."
The fire crackled louder for a heartbeat, as if it too were listening.