Ash met Ren for the first time in a place she never expected to walk out of alive.
The secret realm was abandoned. The spiritual energy inside was unstable, wild, as if no one had maintained it for years. Ash crouched behind a pile of broken stones, wiped the blood from her hand, and counted the spirit stones she had gathered.
"One… two… three…"
She paused, then sighed. "Well. At least it wasn't a total loss."
That was when the sword light came down.
There was no warning. No hesitation.
The air behind her tightened. A chill ran up her spine. Ash rolled to the side instinctively. A heartbeat later, the spot where she had been standing split open. Stone shattered outward, and the few pitiful spirit stones were crushed into dust.
She lay on the ground for a moment, catching her breath, then slowly looked up.
Someone stood in the air above her.
White robes. A long sword. His expression was calm to the point of coldness. He stood there with absolute control, as if he were used to looking down at others from above.
Ash didn't feel fear first.
She felt annoyed.
"Hey," she called up at him. "Does that count as reckless use of lethal force?"
The man looked down at her. His gaze was flat, unreadable.
"You entered my formation."
Ash lowered her head and glanced at the ground beneath her feet. The formation lines were broken and scattered. Hardly anything remained intact.
She stayed quiet for a moment, then looked back up.
"Then that only means one thing," she said. "Your formation wasn't built very well."
The air went still.
Ren's brow twitched almost imperceptibly.
"There is nothing wrong with the formation," he said. "Your spiritual energy is unstable."
Ash laughed.
"So now it's my fault for being built wrong too?"
Ren didn't answer. He clearly wasn't used to conversations like this.
He raised his hand. The sword turned toward her, and the pressure of his spiritual power dropped like a weight.
"Hand over the core of the realm," he said. "I won't kill you."
Ash stood up and brushed the dust from her clothes.
"Hold on," she said. "Before the killing part—what's your name?"
He paused.
"You're asking that now?"
"Of course," Ash replied calmly. "If I die, I'd like to know who did it. Makes haunting easier later."
Ren looked at her for a long moment.
"Ren."
"Ash," she said, nodding. "Just Ash."
She really had no sense of danger.
Just as he turned to leave, the ground shook.
A deep roar echoed through the realm. The seal shattered.
An ancient fiend burst free. Black mist surged into the air, thick and violent.
Ren's expression changed.
He turned away without another word.
"You're just leaving?" Ash shouted after him.