"A chapter spanning Elias's childhood with controlled time-skips. The tone remains mythic but grows more grounded as we enter Elias's early life."
Time skip a year later
Sera ran until she could no longer breathe.
Only when dawn broke over the treetops did she collapse near the mouth of a hidden glade. The forest here was older than nations—twisted roots, glowing moss, ancient trees whispering in forgotten tongues. A place the Regent's soldiers feared.
A sanctuary for monsters.
A sanctuary for miracles.
Sera pressed her back against an old moon-birch, panting, clutching Elias to her chest.
He did not cry.
He only blinked up at her, irises shifting like threaded halos—gold melting into silver, silver into opal, opal into soft, impossible colors that didn't exist in human palettes.
"You survived…" she whispered, brushing a trembling hand across his cheek. "Thank the Goddess… my brave boy."
A soft glow rippled under his skin—
the System pulsing like a heartbeat only he could feel.
[ASCENSION STABLE]
[BONDS: 3 — DORMANT]
Sera did not see it
—but the forest did.
—and far away, the gods did.
Above the canopy, three threads stretched faintly toward him from distant kingdoms, flickering like weak constellations still years from convergence.
The child reached out a tiny hand—
And the threads trembled.
Time skip four years later
They hid in the abandoned caretaker's hut deep within the Thornwood, surviving on foraged herbs and Sera's careful maps. She worked tirelessly to erase every trail, every scent, every hint of their presence.
But fate had never forgotten Elias.
One cold autumn night, a sudden pressure filled the air. Lantern flames flickered sideways. Leaves lifted from the ground as if caught in a silent storm.
Then Elias clutched his chest and gasped.
Sera dropped the bowl in her hands.
"Elias?! What's wrong—?"
Light exploded from his skin. His eyes glowed gold-white. Symbols spiraled across his arms like living tattoos before disappearing again.
He collapsed.
When he woke hours later, Sera held him in her lap, face pale.
"What happened to me, mama?" he whispered.
She couldn't tell him the truth.
That he was being hunted.
That he was born with a System older than the gods.
That three future kings would tear the world apart to claim him.
So she only kissed his forehead and whispered:
"Nothing you need to fear yet."
But the forest trembled that night.
And far away—
In the Northern Palace, Ronan woke screaming again.
In the Southern Clans, Lucien's wolf flared.
On the Warfront, Kael dropped to one knee, choking on a bond he could not explain.
Their threads tugged.
Weakly.
Painfully.
Reaching for the child who had just taken his first step toward destiny.
Time skip three years later Elias is now 7
He wandered too far.
The Thornwood was thick and endless, but Elias loved the river that cut through the stone ridges. Its waters glowed faintly blue at night, reflecting the moon he felt connected to without knowing why.
That afternoon, he chased a dragonfly down to the water—but slipped, tumbling down the slope.
The world spun—
then stopped abruptly as he landed on soft moss.
He stood slowly.
The river was glowing.
No…
responding.
Light rose from the water in shimmering threads, forming shapes—
wolf silhouettes, war banners, moon sigils.
Elias stepped closer, entranced.
The river murmured:
"…Find them…"
He stumbled back, terrified.
When he ran home, Sera grabbed him with a cry.
"Elias! Where were you?! I thought— I thought they took you—"
Her panic shocked him into silence.
That night, she sealed every window.
Double-locked the door.
Held him until he fell asleep.
But the river's voice echoed in his dreams.
Find them.
Find them.
Find them.
The threads were strengthening.
Time skip another three years later
It happened at dawn.
Elias was chopping kindling behind the hut, bundled in a too-big coat with patches Sera had sewn in the shape of small stars.
Suddenly—
his heart lurched.
A violent, magnetic pull yanked behind his ribs.
He gasped and dropped the wood.
His knees buckled.
His vision blurred, filling with three images:
◆ Snow and a golden wolf howling under a fractured moon.
◆ A silver-eyed warrior training in a forest drenched in morning frost.
◆ A battlefield crackling with blue lightning as a shadowed warlord raised his sword.
Elias cried out, gripping his chest.
Sera ran to him, horrified.
Another activation.
Stronger.
More dangerous.
She carried him inside as the Ascension System burned across his skin.
[BOND STRENGTH: 2%]
[MATES: RONAN — LUCIEN — KAEL]
[WARNING: FORCED ATTRACTION SYNDROME DEVELOPING]
Elias whimpered.
He didn't understand.
He didn't know who these men were.
Only that they felt like a part of him was missing.
And that terrified him more than anything.
Time skip two years later Elias is now 12
Sera's nightmares finally reached reality.
The Regent's soldiers found their trail.
Elias was outside gathering herbs when he heard the thunder of boots through the forest—
the snap of branches—
the metallic hiss of drawn steel.
"Search every direction! The ascended brat should be around twelve by now!"
Elias froze.
Terror gripped him so hard he couldn't breathe. His Ascension System kicked in automatically:
[THREAT DETECTED]
[RUN]
He did.
He sprinted through the woods, leaping roots, sliding under fallen logs. His heart pounded so loudly it drowned out everything else.
A hand grabbed him.
He screamed—
—but it was Sera.
"Elias, look at me," she whispered sharply. "We're leaving. Now."
They fled deeper into the Thornwood, where the paths turned impossible to follow. But the soldiers pursued relentlessly—arrows embedding into trees inches from Elias's legs.
One grazed his arm.
He stumbled.
Sera caught him, pulling him faster.
Her breath was failing.
Her strength was failing.
But she didn't stop.
Behind them, soldiers shouted:
"Don't let the Omega escape! The Regent wants him alive!"
Elias's vision blurred with fear and pain.
The System surged.
[ASCENSION INSTINCT: PROTECTOR MODE]
[BOND THREADS ACTIVATED]
And far away—
Ronan, Lucien, and Kael all felt it at the same time.
A desperate cry.
A frightened spark.
A bond flare that hit their souls like lightning.
Kael dropped his blade.
Lucien gasped and clutched a tree trunk.
Ronan collapsed to one knee, growling with a feral rage he'd never felt.
All three whispered the same word:
"…Mate."
Time skips another two years later
By now, Elias understood they could never stay in one place too long. They lived like ghosts—moving from grove to cave to abandoned watchtower.
But on the night Elias turned fourteen, Sera baked a small honey cake using stolen ingredients and kissed his forehead.
"For one night," she whispered, "we celebrate."
They lay beneath the stars, Elias's head resting on her lap as she hummed an old lullaby.
He didn't know it would be the last night he'd ever feel safe.
But Sera did.
She traced the fading moon-sigil on his wrist.
"You're becoming stronger," she whispered, voice trembling. "Promise me… promise me you'll survive long enough to choose your own fate."
Elias nodded sleepily.
"Promise."
He didn't see the tears she hid.
Time skip to another two years later
The Thornwood burned.
Flames tore through the treetops as soldiers surrounded the hidden cavern they'd been using as shelter. Sera shoved Elias into a narrow escape tunnel.
"Run," she whispered. "Don't turn back."
"Mama—"
"Run!"
The tunnel sealed behind him.
The last thing Elias heard was metal clashing…
and his mother's scream.
The world broke.
He ran until his lungs tore, collapsed in the ash-covered clearing of a dead grove, and sobbed until dawn.
The Ascension System flickered violently.
[BOND THREADS SURGING]
[OMEGA INSTINCT COLLAPSE]
[EMOTIONAL CORE BREACH]
He was AL0NE.
He was HUNTED.
He was PR0PHESIED'S.
He was D00MED.
And at sixteen, he made a decision that rewrote his future:
"I will survive. Even if the world doesn't want me to."
Time skip two more years later Elias was finally now 18
Elias stepped onto the merchant road alone, cloak pulled tight around him, a satchel of herbs on his back, jaw set in quiet fury.
Behind him lay a childhood of running.
Ahead lay a world waiting to devour him.
The Ascension System hummed.
[CHAPTER ONE COMPLETE]
[ASCENSION PHASE: ADULTHOOD]
[MAIN THREADS ACTIVATED]
Far away, three men lifted their heads at the same moment—
their instincts snapping as the bond surged with new intensity.
Mate.
Mate.
Mate.
The pull was now undeniable.
And the story truly began.
. . .
Next chapter the main story begins!