Undercore - Deep Containment
Kaizen stared at the shattered mirror. It hadn't just broken—it had dissolved into embers, vanishing into the cracks of the chamber.
His reflection was gone.
Instead, Nerovar's voice still echoed faintly, not from any source Kaizen could see.
> "You and I were never meant to be apart."
A shiver crawled down Kaizen's spine. Not from fear. But from recognition.
---
Southern Command Tower - Council Room
Ayaka's hands clenched the scroll tightly. The ancient prophecy had now unfolded completely:
> "Twin Flames are one soul cleaved. Their fates entwined, their dooms sealed. To destroy one is to unravel the other."
General Okabe looked over the readings. Vein activity was spiking at levels previously thought impossible. Entire regions were trembling with pre-eruption energy.
"We have two Veinborns, and both are awakening," Tsura muttered.
Ayaka looked up. "Then we have to decide who lives."
Everyone in the room fell silent.
---
Flashback - 12 Years Ago
A hidden chamber beneath the ruins of Flamecourt. Two children. One cry pierced the silence—Kaizen.
But the other boy, silent and watching, reached out toward Kaizen's hand. They touched for just a moment—and a flare of golden-red light burst outward.
A masked figure pulled them apart violently.
> "They must not be joined. If the tether fully forms, nothing will stop them."
The children were taken in opposite directions.
---
Present - Southern Wastes
Nerovar stood atop a jagged obsidian monolith. Around him, the Shrieker swarms coiled, awaiting command.
He raised a single finger. The ground pulsed.
Flames erupted in a spiral, forming a massive glyph only visible from the sky. A sigil known only in forbidden archives:
THE BOND-VEIN.
> "Kaizen," Nerovar whispered. "Come find me before this tether becomes our tomb."
---
HQ - Below the Archives
Kaizen descended alone. Each step closer to the deep chamber made the markings on his skin pulse harder.
He reached a door sealed in obsidian veinstone. It only opened with two Flamebloods.
But as Kaizen raised his palm to the door, it opened anyway.
Waiting inside was an ancient relic: a floating crystal vein-core, pulsing with the same rhythm as his heartbeat.
As Kaizen stepped forward, the core hissed to life.
> "Twin flames... forged from a dying god..."
Visions poured into his mind. He saw Nerovar, not as an enemy—but as a fragment of himself.
> Nerovar's pain. His memories. His isolation. The experiment that cleaved their soul in two to save a collapsing Veinborn bloodline.
Kaizen fell to his knees. Tears fell.
> "He didn't choose to be this..."
Then came the final vision—Ayaka, begging the priests to save Kaizen. Choosing one. Leaving the other.
---
South Sky - Next Morning
Kaizen stood atop the tower. Ayaka joined him, silent.
"You knew," Kaizen whispered. Not angry. Just... hollow.
She nodded.
"He was the first to open his eyes. I was told to choose the one with fire in his soul."
Kaizen turned to her. "But what if we both had fire?"
Silence.
Then, a voice echoed from the air.
> Nerovar: "You finally hear it too."
A rift opened in the sky—not blood red, but silver.
A gateway. One only the tethered could enter.
Kaizen looked down at his hands.
> "I'm going after him."
Ayaka grabbed his arm. "What if you merge? What if you vanish?"
Kaizen smiled.
> "Then at least I'll understand what I really am."
He stepped into the silver flame.
And vanished.