Drip.
Drip.
Blood traced thin lines down his forearm, dripping off his fingers and hissing against the cold stones beneath. The mist had retreated, the memory beasts vanquished—for now.
But something lingered in the air. A hum. A presence.And it was watching him.
The nameless cultivator leaned on his broken spear, breath ragged, heart hammering in his ears. His hands trembled—not from fear, but from revelation.
"They weren't alive… but they still screamed like people."
He looked at his palm. The root-shaped mark faintly pulsed, as if feeding on the fragment he had absorbed.
Suddenly, the ground trembled.
Then came the voice. Not external, but rising from deep within him.
"You touched regret. Now, will you touch rage?"
Before he could answer, the ground beneath him gave way.
He fell.
He landed hard—stone cracking under his body, lungs seizing. Darkness enveloped him, but a faint glow flickered ahead. He pushed himself up and limped forward, guided by instinct—or something deeper.
It was a cavern.
Walls carved by ancient hands, glowing faintly with inscriptions in a language he didn't know, but somehow understood.
"The Root that remembers... The Flame that devours."
In the center of the chamber, chained to the ground, was a beast.
No larger than a dog. Fur scorched, eyes hollow.
But its body flickered with a flame that didn't burn.
Not red. Not blue.
Memory-colored. Shifting, spectral. Faint images danced within its glow—people, places, moments—all flickering like dying embers.
"You…" the boy whispered, stepping closer.
The beast lifted its head weakly. Its voice was childlike, yet hollow.
"You… are the first to come here without a past. That means you can carry ours."
"Carry… what?"
"The flame. The flame that burns away what should not be forgotten."
The boy stepped closer, then halted. The heat wasn't physical—it burned his thoughts. Every step closer made his own mind feel too loud.
"What is this place?"
"A tomb," the beast replied. "Of sins erased, and truths unburied."
Suddenly, its body convulsed. The flame flared.
Visions assaulted him—
A child burning alive in a house as his clan watched.A secret sect destroying every scroll bearing the truth of his name.A master, weeping, as he smothered his own disciple to protect him from a fate worse than death.
The boy screamed, falling to his knees.
"I can't… this isn't mine…!"
"But now it is.""If you wish to remember who you were… you must remember who others were first."
The flame leapt from the beast's body.
"Take it."
"What if it destroys me?"
"Then you were never meant to remember."
He reached forward.
Pain exploded. His chest seized. The flame buried itself into the root mark on his arm.
He convulsed—visions flashing across his mind like lightning.
Then silence.
[You have absorbed: The Memory Flame (Lv. 1)]Trait unlocked: Soul Imprint DetectionAbility unlocked: Ember Recall – Replay a target's last dying memory.
The beast was gone. Only ash remained.
But within that ash, a single fragment pulsed with color.
He picked it up.
A whisper filled his ears.
"Find the girl who remembers everything."
"She is the key… to your name."
Somewhere far north…
A girl with silver eyes walked barefoot across a lake that reflected stars.
Her hand trembled slightly.
"He's awakened the flame…"
A shadow behind her stepped forward.
"Do we kill him now?"
She looked up, gaze unreadable.
"No. Not yet. Let him remember… just enough."