Later that year.
One morning, I chased a floating ember down a hallway I'd never seen before.
The ember shouldn't have been floating. It wasn't attached to any lamp. It seemed to be… waiting for me.
When it zipped under a heavy door, standing before was the ever-elusive Ashencrest Family Library.
I looked around, this time no one will stop me. I followed it in.
Inside, I froze.
The room was huge, taller than any building I'd known on Earth. Shelves climbed toward the ceiling, covered in scrolls, books, and old carved tablets. Golden lanterns hung from the rafters, their flames steady and elegant.
I reached out toward a scroll when a voice spoke behind me.
"Young master, this is not a room for wandering feet."
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
A stern man with silver hair stood behind me, hands tucked into long scholar sleeves. He didn't look angry… just disappointed. That felt worse.
"S-Sorry," I mumbled. "I didn't mean to get lost."
He studied me for a long moment. Then his expression softened slightly.
"Curiosity is a noble flame," he said. "Recklessness, less so."
I blinked at him. "I… think that means I'm in trouble?"
He sighed. "Not yet. I am Velran, historian of House Ashencrest. And starting today, your tutor."
"My… tutor?" I echoed.
He nodded and gestured to a long scroll already unfurled on a table.
"Your father has approved lessons on the history of our world. After some persuasion from Lady Marielle and the other elders, it seems he thinks you are now ready to learn. And since you found your way here, we might as well start now."
I wasn't sure if I was proud or terrified. This was finally it. Something I wanted so bad is now just handed out.
But I Shaked my thoughts out and I followed.
While trying to keep pace with his long steps that a mere five-year-old could never hope to keep. I say quietly in my mind as if he would hear my thoughts. "System, show me his Status"
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[STATUS — VELRAN QUILLSHADE]
Age: 62
Tier: III — [Resonant] Rank 2 [Artisan]
Concept:Mind-Weave(Thought + Perception )
A non-combat Concept focused on perfect memory, patten recognition, and lie detection
Attributes:
• ???[Authority Not High Enough]
Titles:
• Keeper of the Ember Archives
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"Interesting" I thought to myself. "So, there can be non-combative concepts, I guess there's reason to believe that any concept could be manipulated into a force that's wieldable."
We reached the back of the library, where a giant mural was showcased along the entire wall.
The mural was a clear indication showing the history of humanity in this world. At least the know history….
He didn't start with dates.
Or kings.
Or long-winded explanations.
Velran began at the far-left side showing a monstrous shadow swallowing entire cities. The people of the cities were wilting away once touched by the shadow. Almost like a flower that has been dehydrated of its water.
"Tell me, young master," Velran said, "when you see this, what do you feel?"
I blinked. "Scared."
"Good. Fear is honest."
He tapped the cracked earth. "This is what the world looked like during the Calamity. A thousand years ago."
I leaned closer.
Upon closer inspection, beneath the large shadow. Almost as if they were appearing from the abyss that was the shadow. The mural showed twisted figures with hollow faces, crawling from jagged fissures in the land. Some as large as buildings, some with multiple eyes, some even shaped like humans.
"We called them the Withered," Velran explained quietly. "Beings of decay. Not born, not alive… merely hungering. They devoured forests, cities, and entire nations."
I leaned closer, goosebumps prickling my arms.
He continued, "No one knew where they came from or how they invaded our world. Only that they had one ambition, to inflict Decay upon the world."
"How did anyone survive?" I asked
Velran turned to the next image: Giant ancient beings of legend stood upon a battlefield opposite of the Monstrous Shadow and its hollowed army. "First it was the Primordials that fought back. The first wielders of the World's Laws, and the only beings to hold the Origin Concepts.
I watched as the mural depicted creatures of myth bathed in different elements charging the Withered.
Western Dragons on four legs, Eastern Dragons coiled in the air like serpents, A Radiant Phoenix, A massive serpentine that looked like he bended time, A Roc with wings that created a storm, A giant Stag with antlers shaped like crescent moons, Qilins made of Lightning and Stone, And many more… So many more….
"There were so many Primordials." I whispered, "Where did they come from?"
"They've always been here, living in our World of Vera." Velran responded, "Either asleep, hiding, growing. Some have been here since the birth of Vera. Some evolved into their power. All long before humanity was created."
He continued, "But even they did not stand a chance against the invaders."
Gazing upon the giant Shadow and five distinctly different but all-powerful beings on the Withered side of the battlefield. "Compared to the Hollow Sovereign and his five generals…They all lost one by one."
I was at a lost of words. Truly enthralled by the history of the world, that I am now embroiled in. "Then how did the world survive?"
Velran turned to the next image: silhouettes of people wreathed in strange flames, lightning, and shifting shadows. Standing side by side a few Primordials.
"They survived," he said, "because humanity discovered something new. Something older than the idea of science, older than the world itself. With the help of the Primordials we awakened something…"
He looked at me, eyes sharp.
"Concepts."
A chill went down my spine.
He continued. "When everything fell apart, people with extraordinary will touched the fundamental truths of reality—Guided by the Primordials ideas had the ability to become so powerful they became weapons. Fire was no longer heat alone, but could become Will itself. Light could become Judgment. Earth could become Endurance."
He pointed to a man standing before the shadow, white fire swirling around him in the shape of a dragon. Behind him stood a massive Dragon made of Fire.
"Your ancestor. The Ashencrest Progenitor. One of the first True Concept Wielders. Behind him our stands our Guardian Beast, The Great Kaelren, The World-Kiln Dragon, The True Fire Dragon of the East."
Something inside my chest thumped—warm, heavy, familiar.
I didn't say anything.
"Is… is a True Concept strong?" I asked.
"Stronger than any of its concept variants. Strong enough to save the world once."
His eyes narrowed curiously. "Why do you ask?"
I shrugged too quickly.
"No reason."
He continued, "He along side the other first concept awakeners pushed back the horde of Withered. But to banish them from to the Abyss from which they invaded from, Most of the strongest Primordials used their last remaining life force to seal our world from theirs."
I didn't want to tell him about the warmth that sometimes pulsed under my ribs.
Or how fire bent toward me when I walked by.
Or how I felt something… ancient… watching me whenever that warmth grew.
Before Velran could ask more questions, Yunai's cry and a Woman's voice echoed from the hallway.
"That will be your mother," Velran said. "Go. We will resume tomorrow. The next few lessons will be focused on this Era of Calamity and the Primordials"
I bowed, mostly because it felt polite, and ran out of the library.
But the warmth in my chest didn't fade.
It grew.