The flames on Jayden's arms had not yet died out.
Even as he descended the cracked temple stairs, the golden energy coiled around his forearms like serpents made of sunlight. The jade tablet pulsed in his grip—warm, vibrant, and very much alive.
It wasn't just a relic.
It was a key.
And Jayden had just opened a door no one had stepped through in decades.
Back at Isla's hideout—an abandoned metro control room turned underground sanctum—Jayden placed the jade tablet on the stone table in the center of the chamber.
A soft hum filled the room.
Lian watched from her cot, still wrapped in bandages from the rooftop fight. Her eyes were wide. Even in her pain, she could sense the weight of what Jayden had brought.
"Is that…?" she whispered.
Jayden nodded. "A memory. A promise. And a map."
Isla stepped forward, brushing a hand across the glowing surface. Ancient runes lifted into the air like mist, hovering above the tablet in a shifting spiral.
"Encrypted flame script," she murmured. "Lost language of the Dragon Artisans."
Jayden's brow furrowed. "Can you read it?"
"No," she said. "But you can."
Jayden sat cross-legged before the tablet. The runes floated around him like fireflies, humming in harmony with the chi in his veins. As he focused, the flames on his arms pulsed once—then burst into sparks, which danced toward the runes.
One by one, they lit up.
And then the tablet spoke—not in words, but in memory.
Jayden's mind was flung backward, into a sea of crimson and gold.
He stood on a stone platform suspended in the sky, surrounded by flaming clouds. In front of him, a man knelt—tall, proud, battle-worn.
Nathaniel Reed.
His father.
Only, this was a version of Nathaniel Jayden had never seen—cloaked in armor etched with dragons, his eyes blazing with cultivated power.
Nathaniel placed a scroll upon the ground.
"The Flame-Forged Scroll," he said aloud. "Forged in the heart of a dying phoenix. Only the Dragon Heir can inherit its truth."
Jayden—ghost-Jayden—stepped forward. As he reached for the scroll, his father's voice boomed in the clouds:
"Master its secrets… and awaken the True Form."
Jayden touched the scroll.
The vision exploded in light.
When he opened his eyes, his breathing was shallow. Sweat ran down his face. The tablet was gone—burned into ashes. But something new was in his hands now.
A physical scroll. Bound in scales. Laced with flame-sealed silk.
The Flame-Forged Scroll.
The real one.
"Open it," Isla said, though her voice was hushed with reverence.
Jayden slowly unraveled the scroll. Runes glowed on the parchment, forming sigils and diagrams unlike anything Isla or Lian had seen.
Jayden read aloud:
"Dragon Meridian Flow: When the chi river within is realigned, the heavens will recognize your veins. To step beyond mortality, burn away all that is false within."
There were nine stances inscribed below—each a cultivation posture fused with martial movement.
Each one tailored to awaken dormant divine meridians.
This wasn't just a martial technique.
It was a path to immortality.
Jayden's heart pounded. "This… this is what they died protecting."
Isla placed a hand on the table. "You're not ready to learn all nine."
"I don't care."
"You should," she said. "Each time you practice one, it will burn away a piece of your false self. Your mortal body might not survive it."
Jayden closed the scroll slowly. "Then I'll forge a new body."
That night, he meditated deep beneath the sanctuary. The scroll hovered before him, suspended by chi. The first stance—Serpent Coil Awakening—required total internal control. Every breath had to swirl chi through all twelve inner meridians, looping the energy in ways most cultivators never dared.
He stripped down to his waist, closed his eyes, and began.
At first, the chi flowed unevenly—jerky and chaotic. Sweat poured down his face. His muscles trembled.
Then the pain came.
It was as if fire ants crawled through his veins, chewing through old blockages. His meridians screamed under the pressure.
But he didn't stop.
With every loop, every cycle, his control grew sharper. His breathing slowed. His bones creaked.
Then something snapped—and for one eternal second, Jayden's heart stopped.
He collapsed.
But he didn't fall.
Instead, he floated—suspended in a sea of light. His spirit hovered between the material and the divine.
And there, in that space, he saw it.
His dragon.
Not a creature of flesh, but of flame and wisdom. A celestial outline in the shape of a coiled dragon, resting within his core.
Sleeping.
Waiting.
It stirred.
Jayden's soul trembled.
The dragon opened one glowing eye.
And Jayden screamed.
He awoke hours later, coughing blood, but laughing.
Because now he could see it—his first awakened divine meridian.
The Dragon Meridian.
And with it, came new abilities: deeper chi perception, pulse vision, and the ability to draw energy directly from the environment in bursts.
The first stance was done.
But it had nearly killed him.
Isla checked his pulse. "You're alive. Barely."
Jayden grinned weakly. "How's that for false self burned away?"
"You're insane," she whispered, but her eyes were shining. "The Flame-Forged Scroll isn't a myth anymore. And the heir has started the path."
Jayden sat up slowly. "And I won't stop until I master all nine."
Lian, still wrapped in bandages, smiled from the corner. "Then I guess we better start preparing the burial grounds for your enemies."
Jayden's eyes narrowed. "No burials. Just ashes."
He turned toward the scroll, knowing the next stance would be worse.
But he was no longer just a mortal.
He was the spark.
And the Dragon was waking.