Location: Kingdom of Altheria – Inner Sanctum of the Grand Cathedral
Rain lashed against the stained-glass windows of the Grand Cathedral, pouring shattered light over the old summoning circle. High Priestess Evalia stood on the edge of the seal, the palms of her hands glowing softly with sacred incantations. Twenty clerics in robes, huddled around her, chanting in man-forgotten dialects.
Finally, the ring burst into flame reads of golden light curling upward like vines climbing up secret towers.
With a flash of swift light, the new Heroes fell.
They emerged, one after another clothes scorched, eyes springing wide, gasping hard as though pulled out of sleep.
1. RIN TAKAHASHI a sharp-eyed schoolgirl from Kyoto, Japan. Tall, reserved, hands trembling but eyes focused like a drawn sword.
2. JACKSON "JAX" WARD a Detroit-born American college boxer. Heavy, defiant, fists clenched reflexively as though the moment demanded punching.
3. SOFÍA DEL VALLE CRUZ a Madrid university student studying poetry. Dark long hair, a silver locket containing her grandmother's photograph around her neck, and a voice that was steel wrapped in silk.
4. LI WEI Hangzhou Chinese surgical resident. Unfazed. Reasonable. The only one who didn't shriek. He had gazed up at the sunlit sky and spoken under his breath, "So… this is the afterlife?"
There was silence in the room.
Evalia stepped forward, arms raised like a conductor before an orchestra. "Welcome, O Chosen ones! You four are at the threshold of prophecy. The world of Eloro cries out for salvation and you have been summoned as its last hope!"
Behind her, a large stone relief depicted the Legend of the Five Heroes five standing figures with
raised blades confronting a monster
figure in darkness the Demon King who haunts this world and might overtake it one day."
"The Demon King has begun to stir. You are the first among the Five to slay him."
Sofía blinked. "Wait first among five?"
The air tensed.
Li Wei's gaze grew tight. "You just said we're the last hope. Four of us. But the prophecy is for five."
Evalia hesitated.
One beat too long.
Then, her voice went into rhythm again, but her eyes slanted around theirs. "One was called too soon. A… false spark. A misfire. The true fight begins with you. Come let us bring you to the Anointed Halls, where your blessings shall be awakened."
She turned around, robes flowing.
Rin lingered behind, still staring at the mural. One hand against the fifth silhouette the deleted figure.
Sofía leaned in close to him and whispered, "They're hiding something from us."
Rin didn't answer.
But the figure on the wall the fifth hero had been charred over, as if someone had tried to delete the figure from history.
Marble corridors stretched for miles inside the sanctum of the royal palace, covered with holy runes and illuminated by torches which never died.
The four explorers stood before the Divine Armory.
A towering wall of arms pulsed in front of them. Each sword, rod, and spear spoke when touched. Some repelled some hands. Others glowed softly to accept.
Rin put her fingertips on a katana-shaped sword it glowed softly, then hissed and rebuked her.
"What's with the Tinder inspiration, but worse," Jax complained, standing awkwardly beside a spear that hadn't seen him.
Li Wei was already testing the weight of a thin silver dagger, and Sofía was inspecting a whip-blade that had prayer beads wrapped around it.
They were given rooms, tutors, custom uniforms, and cryptic compliment. But none of them could shake the feeling that the Kingdom was watching them too closely not with admiration, but suspicion.
At dinner, Rin whispered, "They keep calling us the 'first true heroes.' That's too specific."
Sofía's brow furrowed. "They didn't mention the 'other' again either."
"They won't," said Li. "Because whoever that fifth one is. they're scared of him."
Jax looked around. "Or embarrassed. I've seen it before. Cover up a screw-up, and suddenly no one wants to talk about it."
The Midnight Meeting – Beneath the Grand Cathedral
Deep within the sanctuary, in a blue-fire illuminated crypt sealed from the world outside, seven robed individuals stood in quiet circle.
High Priestess Evalia started.
"The new heroes have adapted faster than expected."
A gruff voice — Grand Inquisitor Halrick replied, "Good. The faster they awaken their abilities, the faster we can cleanse the world of the Demon King's remnants.".
Another, gentler voice: "And the Fifth?"
Evalia hesitated. ".Lost. Beyond the Wastes. He was touched too early by something that should not have stirred."
Halrick chuckled. "Then he's a faulty tool. We not in need that."
"But he still lives i believe," Evalia breathed. "He was summoned by the ancient circle. We don't know what he carried with him when he left."
"Or what was planted in him," breathed the soft one.
Quiet.
And then Evalia gave the order.
Guard the others. If they begin asking questions regarding the Fifth, deflect them. The prophecy needs consistency. Not inquiry."
One of the figures melted back into the shadows.
Down in the crypt beneath the cathedral, silence was all that was heard. and a soft, distant heartbeat, buried deep in the walls of the crypt.
Lucien collapsed again. His arms were trembling, soaked in blood and sweat, fingers raw from gripping the weighted blade they gave him. The chamber around him was suffocating no windows, only flickering glyphs carved into the stone walls that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Above him, Kaela stood with arms crossed, watching.
"That's the fourth time you've dropped it," she said coldly. "Pick it up."
"I can't," Lucien gasped.
"You will."
He didn't move.
Silently, Kaela drew her own dagger and threw it. It landed in the stone an inch from Lucien's head.
His breath caught in his throat.
"I said… pick it up."
Lucien's trembling fingers searched for the hilt. He closed his hand around it once more. The knife was heavier than anything he'd ever known. It felt as though it were made of guilt and iron.
Statues carved into the ring of the room seemed to watch him. Silent. Judging.
Kaela circled him slowly.
"You came into this world in fire. That means either you learn to control the burn"
She struck the flat of her sword into his ribs. He cried out in a gasp.
"or you're consumed by it."
Lucien stumbled back. But something inside him that quiet fury he'd buried kept him upright.
He lunged at her.
Kaela parried effortlessly. He swung again. She knocked it away. Again. He spun with more speed, more emotion than skill and missed entirely.
She kneed him in the gut, sending him sprawling.
"I've seen blind rats fight better," she muttered.
Lucien groaned, spitting blood onto the floor. "Oh i have an idea how about you maybe just maybe use your time and train the rats then. What do you think about it?"
Kaela paused.
Then… she laughed. Quiet, cruel, but genuine.
"That's the first smart thing you've said."
He sat alone in the room, the practice sword beside him. Wounds aching. Hands scorched.
But alive.
He looked at his reflection in a pool of water barely recognizable. Skin torn, eyes sunken, face tightening.
"I won't die here," he whispered.
In the silence, the mark on his chest frail and dormant stirred once.
Unseen. Unfelt.