The early morning mist clung thick over Nanyue's barren fields, wrapping the shattered earth in a cold, ghostly shroud. Wu Yue stepped outside his humble home, the jade talisman hidden safely beneath his worn robe, his gaze fixed on the horizon where pale sunlight struggled to pierce the heavy clouds.
Though the land seemed dead and forgotten, an unseen pulse stirred beneath the cracked ground — the faint heartbeat of ancient power awakening.
Wu Yue's thoughts drifted to the elders he had glimpsed through the talisman's vision, their cold eyes watching from distant mountains. Why had fate chosen him, a boy without lineage or power, to bear such a burden?
The town around him was still asleep, except for a few early risers who moved silently through narrow lanes, their faces weathered and tired. Nanyue was no place for heroes; it was a place for survival.
Yet, as Wu Yue walked through the empty streets, something within him stirred — a silent vow whispered in the depths of his soul.
---
He paused by the old well on the western edge of town — the same one he had unlocked with a simple copper talisman years before. Its waters were dry now, but its depths held memories of forgotten secrets.
"Is it fate that binds me here, or am I the one who must break free?" Wu Yue murmured, placing a hand on the cracked stone rim.
Suddenly, a faint breeze stirred the dust at his feet, and a voice — soft, distant, like a whisper carried on the wind — brushed against his ear.
"Seek the Path beyond the veil... the forgotten shall rise."
Wu Yue's heart skipped. The voice was neither male nor female, neither young nor old. It was the voice of the world itself, ancient and eternal.
"Who's there?" he called, but the mist swallowed his words.
Only silence answered.
---
He felt a sudden chill sweep through his body, as if the veil between worlds had thinned. Drawing a deep breath, Wu Yue closed his eyes and centered his spirit, focusing on the talisman hidden beneath his robes.
The jade warmth pulsed, and images flooded his mind — a labyrinthine forest of silver trees, an endless river of stars, a hidden door carved into the roots of a mountain.
A place called the Forgotten Path.
The next step on his journey.
---
At that moment, footsteps echoed behind him. He turned swiftly to see a figure emerge from the fog — a slender woman draped in simple gray robes, her dark eyes sharp and unreadable.
"You seek answers," she said calmly, her voice carrying a strange authority.
Wu Yue stared, suspicion and curiosity warring within him. "Who are you?"
"I am Lian Hua, a wanderer of the realms. I've come because your awakening ripples beyond this town. The elders watch, and the game has begun."
Wu Yue's fists clenched instinctively. "The elders? What do they want with me?"
Lian Hua's gaze softened. "They fear you, and they desire you. The thousand-year chess game is no mere legend — it is a battle for existence itself. And you... are a crucial piece."
---
Wu Yue's mind spun with questions, but one thing was clear — his simple life was gone forever.
He was no longer just a boy from a forgotten town.
He was a player on a vast, dangerous board.