A long, long time ago, there was a world in chaos.
No distinction between heaven and earth.
Only great trees, immortal Everlasting Dragons, grey rocks—and everything shrouded in thick fog.
Then one day, a flame ignited beneath a great tree.
It illuminated its surroundings.
And from that moment, the world had light and dark.
New beings were born from the darkness.
They gathered around the First Flame, drawing power from it.
Having gained power, they became kings.
They built civilizations—glorious civilizations—in this new world where the flame burned and gave life to all things.
And to make their civilizations even greater and stronger, they launched a crusade against the former overlords of the world.
Against the immortal Everlasting Dragons.
After years of brutal war, the newborn beings won.
They slaughtered the immortal Everlasting Dragons—the ones who represented the past—and the world entered a new era.
These beings of the new era named this era—the Age of Fire.
Beneath the flame’s light, the world grew prosperous.
The lives of its inhabitants became more and more pleasant.
But flames will eventually die.
The First Flame was no exception.
To keep it burning, one could only feed it with kindling.
The great king who had first claimed the flame’s power stepped forward.
Without hesitation, he entered the flame—offering everything he had for the continuation of the world.
The king’s sacrifice extended the world’s life by a thousand years.
But he eventually burned out.
The First Flame needed new kindling.
From then on, a ritual began.
It was called the Linking of the Fire.
Countless heroes stepped forward, giving everything they had for the world’s continuation.
These great sacrificers were respectfully called Lords of Cinder by the people.
But this continuation was merely drinking poison to quench thirst.
The flame would dim.
It would eventually go out.
Their efforts only postponed that day indefinitely.
The world grew more dilapidated by the day.
A curse—the curse of the Undead—began to spread everywhere.
Despair seeped into the entire world.
Everyone was Linking the Fire simply for the sake of Linking the Fire.
When everything was about to grow numb, someone finally ended this ritual.
They called him the Ashen One—the residue left behind after a flame had completely burned out.
He ended the endless cycle.
He defeated the former heroes—the past Lords of Cinder.
He extinguished the flame.
He returned the world to chaos—and quietly awaited the arrival of the next new era.
And now, that former Ashen One—now the God of Fire—held the First Flame in his hand, examining it carefully.
“Good heavens.
I didn’t expect this thing to follow me through the transmigration.”
Looking at the flame in his hand, Hephaestus’s face showed both apprehension and struggle.
Apprehension because if this thing went wrong, it could cause a great disaster.
He didn’t want to experience that kind of horror again—not like in his previous life.
Especially since there was no gentle, serene Fire Keeper in this world.
If it hadn’t been for the Fire Keeper back then, he would have completely lost consciousness in endless death and despair.
He would have become nothing but a walking corpse.
“Fire Keeper…” He sighed softly.
He remembered that warm, small hand—the one he had held from beginning to end in the final darkness.
That was the only warmth he could feel in the endless void.
But she was, after all, no longer there.
Pulling himself together, Hephaestus looked at the First Flame in his hand.
Slowly, realization dawned on him.
What did the First Flame represent to him?
It represented hope.
The hope of changing his future fate.
According to the Greek mythology he knew before transmigrating, his life as the God of Fire hadn’t been bad.
He became one of the chief gods.
He married a beautiful wife.
He occasionally appeared as a background character in later myths.
No major disasters.
No repeated defeats.
But he also didn’t want to become a hat wholesaler!!
Yes, the Goddess of Love and Beauty—Aphrodite—was stunning.
It was said her graceful figure gave off a soft scent like milk and honey.
Her delicate skin was smoother than any fabric.
Her beautiful face could steal hearts with a single glance.
Her sweet voice was more mesmerizing than heavenly music.
In short, a peerless beauty.
The kind that made men want to, shall we say, invest everything in her.
But Hephaestus chose to refuse!
He definitely didn’t want to wake up every morning and find he had a few extra brothers!
So his primary problem now was to avoid being betrothed by Zeus—who would marry Aphrodite off to him.
And to avoid that marriage, the most important thing he should do was—
“Tsk.
First, I need to change the impression the other gods have of me.”
Hephaestus pinched his chin, deep in thought.
Before awakening his past-life memories, Hephaestus could be described as an old softie.
Or rather, an old, soft god.
He wasn’t eloquent, but he was friendly to the other gods—and extremely filial.
Besides taking care of his adoptive mother, Thetis (the original goddess of the sea), he was also unfailingly filial to his birth mother, Hera—the one who had abandoned him.
He constantly offered his respects.
Even when Hera wouldn’t give him the time of day, he accepted it gladly.
He could be called the most filial child in all of heaven and earth.
But while that earned him a good reputation among the gods, it also meant they saw him as a soft-hearted pushover.
Easy to bully.
Easy to manipulate.
Especially Zeus.
That was exactly why, after failing to pursue Aphrodite himself, Zeus had unhesitatingly betrothed her to Hephaestus.
Besides wanting to get back at Aphrodite, there were likely other ulterior motives at play.
And now, what Hephaestus wanted most was to draw a clear line with a certain wretched mother—and tell all the gods that he had changed.
He was no longer the soft-hearted weakling they remembered.
So first, he had to transform himself from the ground up.
“Hoo~”
Hephaestus slowly exhaled—a breath of stale air.
He calmed his emotions.
Then he slowly pressed the First Flame in his palm into his brow.
The small flame merged into his forehead without resistance.
In that moment, the world seemed to fall silent.
The next second—
“!!!”