[Ashley. Behold and witness the birth of your first Core.]
A little boy of no more than eleven stood naked on barren black earth beneath a pitch-black sky. The wasteland stretched out like an endless desert, dotted with isolated puddles of dark, stagnant water.
He was alone... well, except for his reflection, staring back at him.
Ash’s own face should have been twisted with confusion. His reflection wasn’t. It simply looked back at him with that calm and empty expression, as though waiting for something.
After a moment of silence, the reflection’s lips moved, and that same childlike voice echoed through the space once again, making Ash flinch.
[The Fire Core sends its greetings.]
Ash looked up and saw a glowing ball of flame hanging in the black sky, the only source of light in the darkness.
Mustering his courage, Ash spoke.
"Hello... Are you... alive?"
[The Fire Core is offended by the question.]
"Oh. Sorry."
[The Fire Core accepts your apology.]
"Good. Glad we cleared that up."
Ash smiled.
"Alright! Nice to meet you, then. I’m Ashley. But we’re gonna be friends, so you can just call me Ash."
[The Fire Core is already aware of your name.]
"Right..."
Silence stretched between them. Ash had a hundred questions crowding his head: where am I? What are you? Why does the ground look like this? But standing there naked, staring up at a floating ball of flame, he suddenly couldn’t remember a single one.
The voice returned:
[The Fire Core is reading your fate.]
[The Fire Core looks at you with pity.]
Ash narrowed his eyes.
"Huh... what’s wrong?"
A slight ripple passed through the puddle, prompting Ash to look down. His reflection disappeared. In its place were words.
[Soul Records]
The voice read each line aloud as it appeared.
Name: Ashley
Realm: Core
Vessel: Human
Vessel Tier: 5
Mind Level: 2
Soul Rank: 1
Soul Pool: 50/2500
Soul Energy: 100%
Soul Cores: [Fire], [Sealed], [Sealed]
Core Root: [Ashened One]
[Ashened One] Description: A soul of cinders cannot be shared. Any soul who returns your love shall perish.
Souls Aware: 1
[Ashley, your soul is currently at the stage of Awakening.]
The voice paused, then continued.
[Ashley, you have more Roots to discover. Complete the requirements to awaken the other Cores.]
Ash barely had time to process it before the voice spoke again.
[The Fire Core is sorry about your fate. It would like to give you an ability of your choice. Do you accept?]
Ash’s eyes suddenly brightened.
"An ability?"
He grinned.
"Yes!!"
The voice chimed once more.
[The Fire Core says you should name the ability.]
Ash paused to think. Normally, Soul Cores didn’t let their hosts choose their abilities. They simply gave them whatever ability they thought was best.
Apparently, being pitied by a mysterious ball of fire came with benefits. Since he was being given a choice, he wanted to pick something he knew well.
Ash smiled and shouted.
"Fire Palm... I want Fire Palm!"
The space fell silent for a long moment.
Then the voice spoke.
[The Fire Core asks if you are sure about this ability.]
Ash nodded eagerly.
"Yeah. That’s the one I want."
The voice didn’t answer immediately, making the boy nervous. Finally, it spoke.
[Congratulations, Ashley. You have acquired the ability: Fire Palm.]
Ash activated the ability quickly. His hand was instantly engulfed in bright, roaring flames.
"Ah!"
He immediately dismissed it and fell to his knees, cradling his charred hand.
"...Okay."
He stared at the smoke rising from his fingers.
"Maybe I should’ve thought that through."
The voice returned.
[The Fire Core says you should be careful with that ability. It is painful at first, but when you reach a higher stage, you will see its true form.]
Tears pricked his eyes, but Ash forced a shaky smile through the burning pain. He already knew what the ability could do and the burden that came with it. It was the exact same ability his father and second brother had. He knew exactly how destructive it could become once mastered.
"Don’t worry. I know how it works."
Ash wiped his eyes.
"Mostly."
He looked around the dark expanse.
"I should go now. I have to tell them... Dad’s going to be so proud."
As he prepared to leave, Ash glanced back at the puddle. His reflection was back, staring at him with that same calm smile.
He smiled and gave the little boy in the puddle a small wave.
But then he froze. His reflection had lifted its hand and waved back.
Frightened, Ash closed his eyes and immediately left the Soul Space.
*
*
*
When he opened his eyes, Ash was sitting in a bright, white, sterile room. Heavy training equipment lined the walls. In front of him stood a tall man in a lab coat, his brown hair messy and his glasses sitting slightly crooked on his nose. The examiner held a digital tablet as he spoke calmly.
"So... how many did you see?"
Ash swung his legs nervously as he sat on the examination chair.
"There was only one glowing in the sky, but... two others were sealed."
The examiner nodded, tapping on his tablet.
"Mhm. One glowing, two sealed."
His fingers stopped. He looked up.
"Excuse me? Say that again."
"Say what?"
"Everything you said just now."
Ash was confused.
"Huh... I have one glowing and two sealed?"
The tablet clattered onto the counter. The examiner didn’t seem to notice.
"No. No, that’s... that’s not in the records. That’s never been in the records."
He pressed a palm to his forehead like he was checking himself for a fever.
"Yeah, you must be joking with me. Yeah, that’s it... you Burns kids love a joke."
Ash shrank back.
"Huh? But I wasn’t joking."
"Sure. You expect me to believe that? There’s never been anyone with three. I’d believe two, but three?"
He shook his head.
"Please... tell me the truth."
Ash frowned.
"I am serious. I have one Fire Core, and two are sealed."
The examiner stared at him, then sighed.
"Alright. Alright. I’ll play along. If you really can manifest three Soul Cores, then..."
He glared at Ash.
"You’re about to be really famous."
Ash’s confusion gave way to excitement.
"So... I’ll be as famous as Dad?"
The examiner let out a breathless laugh.
"Famous? Kid, you were born famous. You’re a Burns."
He shook his head, muttering something about bloodline luck.
Ash didn’t know what to do with his face.
"I knew you were going to be something else the second you walked in."
Ash couldn’t help but blush at the praise. But then the examiner’s tone suddenly shifted, becoming strangely hollow.
"Being as special as you are... why haven’t you been searching?"
Ash’s grin faded.
"...What?"
The room went dead quiet. The air grew frigid. Ash blinked, and the examiner was simply gone. In his place stood a tall, slender woman draped in a heavy crimson cloak, staring down at him with cold, piercing eyes.
"Why haven’t you found what you’re looking for?"
Ash scrambled off the examination chair, his boots skidding against the tile as he stumbled backward into the wall.
"Wait... you? How are you here?! What do you want from me?!"
The woman suddenly stepped toward him. She reached out from beneath her crimson cloak and touched the boy’s face.
"Oh, Seeker..."
The room shattered.
The world shook violently as the white walls fractured like glass, tearing away to reveal a howling, raging storm outside. In an instant, the little boy was gone. A young man now floated aimlessly in a bizarre, chaotic void.
"...I want you to find the Root."
Ash stared at her, utterly bewildered.
"Lady, I don’t know what you’re talking about..."
"Find the Root... Find the Root... Oh, Seeker... find the—"
*
*
*
Ash snapped awake with a violent gasp, his chest heaving.
Above him, a gray sky hung low, barely visible through the fog. He was slouched against the rusted iron paneling of a heavy supply cart.
"Bad dream?" a voice asked from right next to him.
Ash dragged a palm down his face.
"Yeah... they’re getting worse. I can’t even get an hour of..."
He trailed off, turning to look at his companion. Staring back at him was a man wearing a smooth, featureless metallic mask. The man was armored in a sleek, form-fitting gray tactical suit complete with heavy padding and utility pouches. Seeing that Ash wasn’t going to finish his sentence, the masked Trooper turned his gaze back to the horizon.
Ash followed his gaze.
Through the thick fog, he could make out the massive silhouette of a mutated, glowing moth-like horror surrounded by armored Troopers.
A barrage of crimson laser beams tore through the fog.
The creature shrieked as the beams struck its glowing hide, burning holes through its massive wings. It thrashed violently, the force of its wings sending clouds of fog rolling across the battlefield. One Trooper was caught in the blast and sent flying several meters.
Yet, Ash couldn’t bring himself to care about the chaos. His thoughts remained trapped in the dream.
’What the hell was all that? Why did I suddenly dream about the past... and that woman again?’
It had been five years since Ash awakened his Fire Core. Since that day, his life had never been the same. Over those five years, Ash had lost things he could never recover... and it was all because of that damn Fire Core.
Back then, he had been too naive to understand the true meaning behind the description of the [Ashened One]. He’d learned it the hard way... first with his closest friends, one by one, and finally with his mother.
After she was gone, there was no more room for doubt. He finally understood how dangerous he was to anyone foolish enough to love him.
Ash had tried to find an alternative. He had tried killing himself so that his loved ones could finally be free of his curse. But even that failed. He simply couldn’t die, no matter how hard he tried.
That was why Ash had run away from home. That was why he was still here, five years later, working under Apex — not because he’d given up, but because Apex was large enough, cruel enough, and far enough away from anyone he might still love for him to disappear inside it without hurting another living soul.
Ash let out a slow laugh.
"If any of those Ascended from headquarters see me now... I’m as good as dead soon—"
A high-pitched screech tore through the fog, cutting him off, followed by several bursts of gunfire.
Then, silence.
The battle seemed to be over. A group of armored Troopers stood around the corpse of the glowing moth. Its massive body lay sprawled across the earth, its shredded wings twisted beneath it.
Ash’s eyes moved past the Troopers and settled on a man standing among them. Unlike the armored Troopers surrounding him, his face was uncovered.
’He must be the commander.’
Ash pushed himself off the metal cart and stepped toward the group.
"Alright. Let’s get this over with."