The Dragon's Ember

A Name Erased by History

The heat radiating from Kato's eyes wasn't just a metaphor. The damp warehouse suddenly turned dry, the air around them hissing as if being baked by an invisible, giant furnace. Aigerim took a step back, her brow furrowed. She was no amateur; she had seen many energy practitioners, but the energy emanating from the boy in front of her... it made no sense. This was a pressure that should have been extinct for centuries.

"You... what are you doing?" Aigerim hissed. Her fingers were still locked in the seal formation, but the energy tracker on her wrist began to emit a long, deafening beep before exploding into shards of plastic and scorched wires.

Kato didn't answer. He felt his world tilting. He no longer saw the warehouse; he saw the flow of energy running beneath Aigerim's skin like a glowing system of fiber optic cables. He saw the weakness in the girl's right shoulder joint, the point that would be his access to breaking her defense. However, just as his leg muscles tensed to lunge, a hand gripped his shoulder with a strength capable of crushing bone.

Urum.

"Don't, Kato. Focus," Urum’s voice sounded calm, but its vibration pierced through the chaos in Kato’s head. Urum pulled Kato back, their steps precise, avoiding the volley of energy projectiles Aigerim fired the moment she realized Kato was about to attack.

Bam!

The concrete wall behind them exploded, shards of stone and dust obscuring their vision. Urum pulled Kato behind a stack of old containers, utilizing a narrow gap among the rusted metal remains. They ran, not toward the exit, but toward a drainage hole in the corner of the room covered by a pile of industrial waste.

"Why are we running?" Kato’s breath hitched, the golden fire in his eyes beginning to fade, leaving a sharp pain in his eyeballs.

"Because you’re not ready to kill an Agency operative yet," Urum answered curtly, his voice raspy. "If you take her out now, every detector in this city will lock onto our position. Do you want every hunter in the world to know where we are before we even know who you really are?"

They crawled into a dark, pungent drainage pipe. Aigerim was still shouting outside, her voice echoing through the warehouse corridors, calling for reinforcements. Urum pressed a hidden mechanism on the concrete wall, causing a false wall to slide shut, sealing their entrance. They ended up in a basement that was much deeper, a place that looked like an abandoned old archive.

Kato collapsed onto the floor. His head felt like it was being split by an axe. "I... I couldn't control it, Urum. What was that?"

Urum didn't answer immediately. He lit an ancient oil lamp sitting on a decayed wooden table. The room was filled with termite, eaten bookshelves and yellowed scrolls. Urum walked toward the table, brushed aside a layer of dust, and pulled out a thick leather notebook with a cracked cover.

"This is the answer to why you became a 'disaster' for ShadowBlade," Urum said, placing the book in front of Kato.

Kato leaned in. His still-trembling hand reached out to touch the book's cover. As soon as his fingertip brushed the dragon symbol carved into the leather, an excruciating pain hit his head again, but this time it wasn't anger, it was memory. Visions of the clan, of sacrifice, and of promises betrayed.

"Read it," Urum commanded. "But don't use your physical eyes. Use the energy flow you just released."

Kato closed his eyes. He tried to focus the 'fire' that had appeared earlier. Sure enough, when he opened his eyes, the ancient texts that originally looked like random scribbles became clear. It was a language he hadn't studied, yet he understood it perfectly.

"The history of dragons..." Kato muttered, his voice hoarse from dust and shock. "They didn't go extinct. They were intentionally erased. Wiped from historical records, from schoolbooks, even from people's memories."

"ShadowBlade was one of the clans tasked with guarding that seal," Urum continued, pacing back and forth in the cramped space. "They weren't protectors, Kato. They were jailers. And when the dragon chose a vessel, you, they had no choice but to discard you. Killing you within the clan would have triggered a rebellion from other factions still loyal to the ancient history. So, they threw you out here, hoping you'd die at the hands of thugs or starve to death."

Kato turned page after page. The more he read, the colder his heart felt. Every line in that book was proof that his existence had been predicted, planned, and betrayed since the day he was born. The organization that attacked him earlier? They weren't the real enemy. They were just pawns looking for energy 'anomalies.' His true enemy sat comfortably on the throne of the ShadowBlade clan, sipping tea while waiting for news of his death.

"Why me?" Kato asked, looking at Urum with a gaze full of desperation and a burgeoning fire of revenge. "Why not Arman? Why not Alikhan? They have talent far beyond mine."

Urum gave a faint smile, one that didn’t reach his weary eyes. "Because you’re the only one who has the capacity to ‘receive’ without rotting. The others? They’d explode within seconds of touching this power. You’re special, Kato. And that is your curse."

Kato looked down again, focusing his gaze on the list of names written on the final page of the book. The list was titled ‘Elimination Targets: Subjects Carrying the Dragon Bloodline.’

Kato’s heart skipped a beat. At the very top, in red ink that still looked fresh, as if it had just been written a few days ago, was a name.

That name wasn't just any name. It was his identity.

Kato swallowed hard, his voice dying in his throat as he saw the name directly below his own: ‘Mother.’

"They don't just want to kill me," Kato whispered, his voice trembling violently. "They’re after my mother too."

Urum fell silent, bowing his head deeply. The room suddenly went quiet, with only the sound of water dripping from the ceiling. "That’s why they cast you out to the Slums, Kato. They wanted to bait you into using that power so they’d have an official excuse to eliminate you and your mother for the sake of ‘clan security.’"

Kato felt the world spinning. All the confusion, the pain, and the feeling of being discarded that he had experienced all this time crystallized into a sharp shard of hatred. He wasn't just a victim of bad luck. He was the target of a massive conspiracy involving the very people who were supposed to protect him.

Suddenly, a loud thud echoed from above. The ceiling of the room shook, and dust rained down onto the ancient notebook. Someone, or something, was forcibly breaking into their basement.

"Urum," Kato called out in a cold voice that made the hair on Urum’s neck stand up. "They’re here, aren’t they?"

Urum took a long breath, drawing two short daggers from beneath his cloak. "It seems so. The Organization never works alone when it comes to a threat of this level."

Kato stood up. He no longer felt tired. The pain in his eyes vanished, replaced by a cold sensation spreading throughout his body. He didn't need to ask what to do anymore. His logic worked quickly: he had to leave, he had to protect his mother, and he had to destroy anyone who tried to stop him.

The wall in front of them burst open. Dust billowed thickly, obscuring their vision. However, behind the cloud of dust, Kato could see the silhouette of a man standing tall. It wasn't Aigerim. It was someone much larger, carrying a crushing aura, a first, class executioner from the ShadowBlade Clan who had apparently been lurking from afar since the beginning.

Askar. The leader of the assassin team that had once been ordered to ensure Kato didn't return alive from the slums.

Askar stepped inside through the ruined wall, his sharp eyes fixed directly on Kato. He carried no weapon, only metal gauntlets that glinted in the darkness.

"Interesting," Askar’s voice was heavy and dismissive. "So this gutter rat is still breathing. I thought my job was done when the first team failed to return."

Kato didn’t answer. He stepped forward, letting the golden fire in his eyes blaze without holding back anymore. This time, he wouldn't run. This time, he would rewrite the fate they had written for him.

"Askar," Kato said his name in a flat tone. "Do you know why you won't make it out of here alive?"

Askar laughed, a coarse laugh full of contempt. "Show me then, you little outcast. Show me what a failure who just found his ancient toy can actually do."

Askar moved as fast as lightning, vanishing from sight and appearing right in front of Kato, his metal, clad hand swinging toward Kato’s neck. Urum tried to move to intervene, but Askar kicked him, sending him crashing hard against the wall.

Kato didn't dodge. He let the fist almost reach him, then at the very last second, he bent his knees and twisted his body, letting the golden energy in his palm touch the energy core in Askar’s chest.

Wush!

A blast of pure energy erupted at the point where Kato’s hand met Askar’s chest. Askar’s eyes widened, not from pain, but because he felt something impossible: the energy inside his own body was being siphoned, absorbed by Kato like water going down a drain.

"This is impossible..." Askar whispered, his arrogant face suddenly turning pale.

Kato stared at him with a blank gaze, his golden eyes burning brighter than ever. "So the ShadowBlade clan is nothing but a pack of energy thieves, huh?"

Kato twisted his wrist, locking Askar in place, preparing for the decisive strike that would change the course of this battle. However, amidst the tension, another voice echoed from the darkness of the corridor, the sound of slow, rhythmic clapping.

Someone else had just arrived, and from the aura he radiated, this person was far more dangerous than Askar. Someone who had been watching everything from the shadows since the start.

"Quite an entertaining show," the voice sounded calm and authoritative.

Kato turned his head slightly, and there, stood a man in a black cloak embroidered with silver thread. He wasn't from ShadowBlade, nor was he from the Organization. He bore an emblem Kato hadn't seen before in the ancient notebook.

"Who are you?" Kato asked, still holding his grip on Askar, who was now trembling in fear.

Pria itu tersenyum tipis. "Someone who should have collected you ten years ago, Kato. But it seems the ShadowBlade clan was a bit too greedy to let go of the vessel they stole."

Kato felt his instincts screaming: Danger. This time, he wasn't facing an assassin, but someone who knew exactly the secrets behind the bloodline flowing through his veins. And worst of all, the man held an ancient seal in his hand that looked exactly like the symbol in the notebook, the symbol written next to his mother’s name.

Kato realized one crucial thing: he couldn't win this fight with just the power of one dragon. He had to be more than just a ‘vessel.’ He had to become the ‘owner.’

With one rough motion, Kato flung Askar’s body toward the wall, then turned to face the mysterious man. "If you came to collect me, you came at the wrong time. I’m not going anywhere until I know where my mother is."

The man laughed softly. "Your mother doesn’t need saving, Kato. On the contrary, she’s waiting in a place that no one in this city can reach. The question now is, do you have enough guts to open the gate that leads there?"

Kato fell silent. The choice before him seemed simple yet impossible: hand over the power to this stranger, or annihilate everyone in this room so he could walk toward the truth on his own.

On the brink of the basement's destruction, Kato realized that every step he had taken since leaving the gates of the ShadowBlade clan was no coincidence. Everything was part of a predetermined path, and the ancient hit list he had seen earlier was only the beginning.

Kato looked at the man, then at Urum, who was struggling to stand, gasping for air. He knew there was no going back. He had to choose, and his choice would determine whether he would become a savior or the very disaster the world had always feared.

The man held out his hand, and in his palm, a golden symbol identical to the one in Kato’s eyes began to glow. "Come with me, or watch the ShadowBlade clan burn what’s left of your life here."

Kato took a deep breath. The golden fire in his eyes dimmed, receding back into his veins. He didn't choose either. He chose the third way.

"I'm not siding with anyone," Kato replied coldly. "I'm walking my own path, and if anyone gets in my way, I'll make sure they never stand up again."

Kato leaped backward, crashing through the fragile back wall into a deeper underground passage, leaving a sprawled Askar and the mysterious man behind, who could only watch in silence at the "outcast kid's" resolve.

The real journey had only just begun, and in the depths of these city ruins, Kato would find what ShadowBlade was truly searching for. Not power, but something far more terrifying: a truth about his origins that could shatter the world order.