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Chapter 1 - Gates Ashes

Tamotsu Masuda, age nineteen, died pushing an old woman away from a robber's gun.

Cold emptiness flooded his chest where his heart had been.

He woke.

Sharp black rocks bit into his palms. Grey ash fell like filthy snow. No sky—only a suffocating ceiling of thick, bruised clouds. That same hollow cold pulsed where his heart should beat.

This… can't be heaven, he whispered, fingers probing his unmarked chest.

Sounds of battle ripped through the dead air. Tamotsu scrambled behind a jagged black monolith, peering out.

Three figures in mirror-bright armor materialized from the swirling ash. Their leader raised a gauntleted hand.

A searing beam of white energy obliterated the spot where a hulking shape had stood moments before. The stench of ozone and char filled Tamotsu's nostrils.

The target was a monster. Glowing crimson fissures split its charcoal skin. One arm ended in a massive, serrated bone scythe. It roared—a sound of pure agony and fury.

It charged the soldiers. Another white beam struck its shoulder. The creature screamed, raw and human, but didn't falter. Its eyes… terrified, furious, humaneyes… locked onto the armored leader for an instant before it vanished into the gloom.

Tamotsu ran. His legs burned, lungs scraping ash. The grey wastes stretched forever.

Then, a shape coalesced in the haze: a cluster of crude stone huts huddled behind a towering wall of fused black rock. A village? Sanctuary? Hope flared, weak but desperate.

He ducked behind a massive boulder near the settlement's only visible gate. Two guards stood vigilant. Not Soulwardens. Not monsters. Just men—but hard-eyed, scanning the wastes like predators.

"Okay," Tamotsu breathed, shivering. The icy void in his chest throbbed faintly. How? Walk up? Say I'm lost? But what if they—

"Lost, are you?"

The voice came from behind. Tamotsu whirled, heart slamming against the cold nothingness. Five figures stood silently, materialized like ghosts from the ash. They hadn't made a sound.

[The Leader] Tall, draped in a black cape that seemed to drink the light. A smooth, featureless dark mask hid his face. Power radiated from him like winter mist—quiet, absolute, dangerous.

[The Stone Man] Immense, shoulders like boulders. Skin like cracked granite. Utterly still, arms crossed over a barrel chest.

[The Quick One] Lean, coiled tension. Eyes flickered everywhere. Twin curved blades rested loosely in his hands.

[The Girl] Wild dark hair tied back, sharp eyes assessing Tamotsu with open curiosity. Maybe his age.

[The Flicker] Impossible to focus on. One moment: a gaunt man in grey robes. The next: just ash swirling on the wind. Unnerving.

The masked leader tilted his head slightly. "We felt the disturbance. Saw the cold light's echo." His voice was calm, devoid of inflection, yet brooked no lie. 

"What ignited the Soulwardens' fury back there, boy?"

Tamotsu swallowed ash. "Uh... soldiers? Shiny armor? Fighting... a big guy. With fire cracks? I ran."

The Quick One snorted. "Soulwardens and a Forged. Obvious. Which way did they go?"

Tamotsu pointed vaguely behind him. "T-towards... the big black spikes?" It sounded feeble even to him.

The Stone Man rumbled, a sound like grinding rock.

The Girl stepped closer, her gaze sharp as flint. "Why's your chest glowing? Like ice." She stared directly at the faint blue pulse beneath his ragged shirt.

Tamotsu clapped a hand over it. The cold surged, biting his palm. "I don't know! It just... started when I woke up here!"

The Flicker seemed to solidify momentarily, his voice a dry rasp. "He hides. Fear. Confusion. And... cold power. Untamed."

The masked leader raised a gloved hand. Silence fell instantly. "And what," he asked, his voice now like frozen silk, "were you doing here, little boy? Hoping Sanctuary's gates open for wanderers trailed by the Wardens' wrath?" He gestured dismissively towards the distant, guarded entrance.

Panic seized Tamotsu. Think! "I was just... looking! For shelter! It's freezing! I saw the gate... thought maybe... people?" His voice cracked. Weak.

The Quick One laughed, a sharp, humorless sound. "Sanctuary doesn't take strays, kid. Especially not ones who shine like a beacon for demons and draw Soulwarden fire."

The icy power in Tamotsu's chest flared, a sudden spike of fear and frustration. With a shink of crystallizing air, a blade erupted into his empty hand—glistening, razor-sharp ice, radiating cold. Frost spread across the rock beneath his feet. He gasped, nearly fumbling the frigid weapon.

The Girl's eyes widened. "Whoa!"

The Stone shifted his weight, a mountain preparing to move.

The Quick's blades snapped up, gleaming wickedly.

The Flicker murmured, "Ah. That kind of gift."

The masked leader went utterly still. A predator sensing rare prey.

He took one slow, deliberate step towards Tamotsu. "A death-gift," he stated, a new, chilling interest in his tone. "Manifesting so swiftly? Uncommon. And ice... rarer still." His hidden gaze studied the trembling, crystalline blade. "Your lies are pathetic, boy. But this..." He tilted his head towards the ice. "...this is compelling."

He glanced past Tamotsu at Sanctuary's forbidding gate, then back to the weapon of frozen light.

"Perhaps," the leader said softly, "you require teachers more suited to your... unique potential than gatekeepers." He paused. "Your name?"

Tamotsu tightened his grip on the freezing blade. It felt alien, yet solid. Real. "T-Tamotsu," he stammered.

The leader gave a single nod. "Tamotsu. We have questions. And you," he gestured again at the ice, "clearly need answers. Come. The wastes have ears."He turned, his black cape swirling like liquid shadow. The others followed seamlessly—the Stone a moving monolith, the Quick a silent shadow, the Girl casting Tamotsu one last piercing look. The Flicker dissolved into the ash-laden breeze.

Tamotsu stood frozen, the unnatural cold of his blade seeping into his bones. Sanctuary's gate seemed leagues away, a dream lost in the ash. These terrifying, powerful strangers were his only path forward. He looked down at the faint blue pulse beneath his hand, then at the retreating figures vanishing into the grey.

He took a shuddering breath. The ice blade dissolved in a puff of glittering frost.

Then, Tamotsu Masuda stepped away from the boulder and followed the path into the ash, towards the unknown.

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