The night was quiet.
Not the peaceful kind of quiet, but the kind that made the air feel heavy. The kind where even the wind seemed afraid to move.
In a small wooden house on the edge of a forgotten village, a woman sat beside a cradle. A single candle burned on the table, its flame shaking with every breath she took.
The baby inside the cradle was fast asleep.
His tiny chest rose and fell steadily. His fingers curled around nothing. His face was soft, unaware of the world waiting outside.
The woman watched him with tired eyes.
Her name was Delyra.
She had seen wars. She had killed men who were stronger than armies. She had walked through shadows so deep that even light feared to follow her. But at this moment, sitting in a poor house in the middle of nowhere, she felt something she had not felt in a long time.
Fear.
Not for herself.
For the child.
"They will find you one day," she whispered softly. "If they know you still live… they will never stop."
The candle flickered.
Delyra stood and walked to the small window. Outside, the village slept. Old houses. Dirt roads. Weak guards who could not stop even a single low-level beast.
Perfect for hiding.
Terrible for surviving.
She closed her eyes and memories flooded back.
Flames.
Blood.
Two figures standing in front of a collapsing gate of light.
One was a man with a body like a dragon forged from steel and rage.
The other was a woman surrounded by glowing runes, magic bending to her will.
Both of them were monsters in their own right.
Both of them were hunted.
And both of them had trusted her with the one thing they could not protect.
Their son.
Delyra turned back to the cradle.
"Your father was too strong for his own clan," she said quietly. "Your mother was too brilliant for hers."
She knelt beside the baby and brushed a finger against his tiny hand.
"They loved each other anyway."
The baby stirred slightly, but did not wake.
Delyra swallowed.
"Because of that love… the world decided you should not exist."
Outside, thunder rolled in the distance.
She stood again and walked to a hidden panel behind the wall. Her fingers pressed against it, and a small compartment opened. Inside lay a black ring, cracked and dull.
Once, that ring had allowed her to walk freely through the Upper World.
Now, it was nothing more than a reminder of what she had lost.
She closed the compartment.
"You will grow up here," she said. "You will live as a normal child. No clan. No bloodline. No destiny."
She looked at the boy again, her eyes hardening.
"And when they finally realize who you are… you will be strong enough to face them."
The candle went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Phael dreamed of fire and water.
He did not understand what he was seeing. He only knew that something warm wrapped around him, while something cool flowed through his body like a gentle river.
Two lights floated in the darkness of his mind.
One burned like a red sun.
The other shone like a blue moon.
They circled each other slowly, silently.
And somewhere deep inside, a voice whispered—
Grow.
Five years later.
The village square was crowded.
Children stood in uneven lines, some nervous, some excited, some pretending not to care. Parents gathered around the edges, whispering to one another.
This was the day of awakening.
The day when every child would learn what kind of power they were born with.
Phael stood near the back of the group.
He was smaller than most boys his age. His clothes were simple. His black hair was messy, as if he never cared enough to fix it.
But his eyes were different.
Calm. Sharp. Focused.
They did not look like the eyes of a child.
Delyra stood at the edge of the square, arms crossed beneath her cloak. Her gaze never left him.
One by one, the children stepped forward.
Some summoned small animals.
Some formed simple weapons.
Some produced glowing stones, plants, or strange objects.
The village elder announced each result loudly.
"A stone shield!"
"A fire lizard!"
"A wind feather!"
Each awakening caused gasps, cheers, or quiet disappointment.
Then Phael's name was called.
He stepped forward.
The stone platform in the center of the square felt cold beneath his bare feet. The awakening crystal before him glowed faintly, waiting.
He placed his hand on it.
For a moment… nothing happened.
Whispers spread through the crowd.
"Is he unawakened?"
"Did it fail?"
Delyra's fingers twitched.
Then—
The crystal flared.
Red light burst from one side.
Blue light followed from the other.
The wind howled.
Two small shapes appeared above the crystal.
Two fish.
One crimson, glowing like molten iron.
One azure, flowing like living water.
They swam through the air in slow circles, leaving trails of light behind them.
The square fell silent.
The elder's eyes widened.
"Two… powers?"
Gasps erupted from the crowd.
"Is that even possible?"
"I heard rare ones can be born with two…"
"Fish? That's strange…"
Phael stared up at the two koi with quiet curiosity.
He did not feel afraid.
He felt… familiar.
As if he had known them for a long time.
The red koi swam closer to him, brushing against his chest. A sudden warmth spread through his body. His heartbeat grew stronger. His muscles felt tighter, more alive.
The blue koi followed, circling his head. Cool energy flowed into his mind. His thoughts sharpened. The world felt clearer.
The elder swallowed.
"Name?" he asked.
Phael hesitated.
He had no family name.
No clan.
Just a single word Delyra had given him.
"Phael," he said.
The elder nodded. "Two powers: physical-type and magic-type. Animal form: koi fish."
The crowd erupted again.
Some stared in envy.
Some in disbelief.
Some in quiet fear.
But to most… it was just another rare awakening.
Nothing more.
Delyra released the breath she had been holding.
They did not know.
Good.
That night, Phael sat outside the house, staring at the stars.
Delyra joined him, handing him a bowl of soup.
"You did well today," she said.
He nodded.
"I saw two fish," he said. "They feel… alive."
"They are your power," she replied. "They will grow with you."
Phael looked at his hands.
"I felt stronger," he said slowly. "And… clearer. Like my body and my mind changed."
Delyra's gaze softened.
"That is how it begins."
He hesitated before asking the question that had been on his mind all day.
"Am I… different?"
She studied him carefully.
"Yes," she said.
"But not in a bad way."
He thought about that.
After a moment, he said, "I don't want to be weak."
Delyra's lips curved slightly.
"You won't be."
He looked up at her.
"Will you teach me?"
She met his eyes.
"I already am."
Years passed.
The village remained small and quiet. Beast attacks were rare. Life was simple.
But Phael was not.
From the moment he could walk, Delyra trained him.
Not with magic.
Not with powers.
With his body.
With his breath.
With discipline.
She taught him how to stand, how to strike, how to fall without breaking, how to control every movement.
It was not the training of this world.
It was something older.
Something sharper.
Phael did not know where it came from.
But it felt… right.
By the time he turned ten, he could defeat adults twice his size without using his powers.
By the time he turned twelve, he had already fed beast cores to his koi.
The red koi grew larger, its scales sharper.
The blue koi shone brighter, its aura deeper.
Yet he never boasted.
Never challenged others.
Never drew attention.
Delyra made sure of that.
One night, after returning from hunting beasts in the forest, she finally spoke the words she had kept buried for twelve years.
"Phael," she said quietly, "there are things you deserve to know."
He looked at her.
She had never looked uncertain before.
"Your parents were not villagers," she said. "They were not ordinary."
His heart tightened.
"They belonged to two of the strongest clans in existence. Clans that rule over countless lives. Clans that stand at the edge of another world."
He said nothing.
"They loved each other," Delyra continued. "And for that… they were destroyed."
The words struck like a blade.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because some powers are not meant to be united," she said. "Because your existence threatens an order that has ruled for thousands of years."
He clenched his fists.
"What about them?"
"They are alive," she said. "But not free."
Silence filled the room.
After a long moment, Phael asked, "What am I supposed to do?"
Delyra met his eyes.
"Grow."
The same word from his dream.
"Get stronger," she said. "Strong enough that no clan can chain you. No world can deny you."
He nodded slowly.
"When do I leave?"
She answered without hesitation.
"The academy," she said. "You will go there next."
Phael looked out the window, toward a future he could not yet see.
Somewhere far above this small village…
Another world waited.
And one day—
He would reach it.