Chapter 6 Embers in the Blood
It started with breath.
Shallow. Dry. Like dragging air through splinters.
I blinked awake, slow as syrup. My body was a broken map of pain faint trails of heat still simmered under my skin, like coals that hadn't quite gone out. Muscles twitched in places I didn't know I had muscles. My tongue tasted like old copper and ash.
The fever had passed.
I wasn't dead.
Well that was… something.
The ceiling above me was made of rough-hewn wood, same as always. The walls hadn't changed. The damp smell of moss and smoke still clung to everything. And yet, it all felt unfamiliar. Like I'd been gone for longer than a few days.
I shifted, groaning. My arms responded like disgruntled coworkers on overtime. Legs too. Still there. Still mine. I clenched my fist slowly. Weak, but not gone. I exhaled through gritted teeth.
[System Notification]
Status: Fever Cleared
Internal Recovery in Progress…
Passive Resistance Gained: [Mild Toxin Adaptation I]
"Oh," I croaked, "great. I'm a little more poison-proof. Fantastic."
I tried to sit up. A thousand tiny rebellions lit up my nerves. But I made it. Somehow
At the foot of the bedroll, someone had left a bowl of oats and a chunk of dried meat. A mug of lukewarm water sat beside it.
Aeren's idea of compassion.
I scarfed it all down anyway. Hunger made a convincing argument. I was halfway through chewing when the door suddenly creaked open.
Aeren stepped in, carrying a bundle of dry herbs and a branch that looked suspicious like it had claws.
"You didn't die." he said flatly.
" I'm planning to married before I died, sorry to disappoint. "
He didn't smile. Just nodded and dropped the branch onto the table. "The fever broke last night. Your pulse evened out. Sweated through three blankets."
"I always aim to be memorable."
Still no smile.
He sat across from me, folding his arms. "Now we shall begin."
I blinked. "Begin what? I thought I just survived hell. Isn't there, like, a vacation arc after that?"
"You survived the flame. Now you learn to control it."
Oh. Wonderful. He was doing the cryptic master thing again.
---
We went outside once I could walk without stumbling like a newborn deer.
The clearing behind the cabin was misty, the air thick with morning damp. Aeren sat cross-legged on a mossy stone and gestured for me to do the same.
"You've been breathing wrong your whole life," he said.
"Excuse me? What do you mean."
"You breathe like someone trying not to exist."
I squinted at him. "I was trying not to die. I think I get a pass."
He ignored that. "The body runs on rhythm. Breath controls rhythm. And rhythm controls awareness. Until you understand your own flow, you'll never reach Red Tier."
That shut me up.
I sat. Cross-legged. Back straight. Or, well, straight-ish.
"Close your eyes," he said. "Feel the blood in your limbs. Track it. Where does it hesitate? Where does it throb? That is where your weakness lives."
At first, it was dumb. I felt nothing but sweat and a cramp in my back.
Then… something shifted.
A warmth curled in my chest, just under the ribcage. A twitch in my fingers. My breathing slowed not because I forced it, but because my body remembered something I didn't tell it.
Like the calm before a storm.
Not peace. Not quite.
Readiness.
[System Notification]
Skill Gained: [Inner Awareness I]
Trait Gained: [Steady Breath]
---
We did this for days.
No swords. No running laps. Just breathing, tracking sensations, sitting still. It sounded easy, but It wasn't.
Sometimes, I'd feel something flicker like a spark dancing along my spine but the moment I focused on it, it vanished. It was like chasing mist.
Aeren watched me like a hawk.
"You're chasing it," he said. "Let it come."
"How do I not chase something inside me?"
He tilted his head. "You were a soldier once, weren't you?"
My blood went cold. "What?"
"Your footwork. Your instincts. You're not just a fast learner. You've fought."
I stared at him.
He didn't press.
Just said, "You don't have to tell me. But whatever ghost you're dragging behind you, it's too heavy to handle. Either let it go… or learn to carry it properly."
---
That night, I sat by the fire while Aeren dried herbs he bought .
He spoke without looking up.
"There's a river that runs beneath the skin. Old knights called it the Ember Vein. Mages call it leylines. I call it the breath-path."
"Which is it really?"
He shrugged. "Doesn't matter what you call it. The point is it's how you turn pain into strength."
I stared into the fire.
The flames curled and twisted, casting long shadows across the floor. For a moment, the heat on my skin made my throat tighten. Not from the fever but from my memory.
A night. A sky full of tracer fire. Shouting. Radio static. Sand in my teeth. Metal in my hands.
I blinked it away. Just flames. Just breath.
But the past was like smoke it clung.
---
[Quest]
Category: Sub
Title: Breathe
Clear Conditions:
Complete Breath Meditation for 7 Days Consecutively
Sense Internal Flow
Reward:
+1 Endurance
Skill Unlocked: [Inner Awareness I]
Bonus Objective:
Prolong meditation for 1 hour without wavering
Bonus Reward:
Trait Gained: [Iron Focus]
Penalty for Failure:
Quest Locked for 30 Days
The panel faded. But the words stayed with me.
---
Later that night, I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling.
There were no bullets. No screaming. No explosions. Not tonight.
But there was heat. A low, lingering warmth beneath the skin. Not a fever this time.
The ember Aeren kept talking about.
Maybe it was real.
Maybe it was the first piece of me that didn't belong to the past.
Maybe it was mine.
---