The sky above the Moonlight Monastery began to tremble.
Invisible to ordinary eyes, thin ripples stretched across the air like threads unraveling from reality itself. No one could see them—except Kael.
He sat in his room. Yet around him, the walls felt thinner, like paper ready to tear at the slightest touch.
Kael closed his eyes.
> "If I'm not part of this script... then who is rewriting the story?"
The question rose on its own. And with it, something moved within him—not blood, not breath, but something deeper. A response.
He opened his eyes. On the wall opposite him, the mark appeared.
A mark he had never seen, yet it felt familiar. Like a hidden piece of himself. It didn't shine—but instead absorbed the light around it.
The symbol was alive.
And Kael knew: this wasn't granted... it was summoned.
—
Meanwhile, in a hidden chamber beneath the monastery, the Guardian stood before an empty altar. He watched as the symbol of the Ladder began to shift. Its lines cracked. Its directions misaligned.
Father Eluon emerged from behind the curtain.
"He's seen something?" Father Eluon asked.
The Guardian didn't answer immediately. He merely exhaled, then said, "If he is what I fear... there's no turning back."
"Is it... time to activate the Inner Ladder?"
The Guardian gave a slow nod.
"And send word to the High Church. Tell them: one of the Shadows has begun to hear its answer."
—
Elsewhere, Kael stood before the mark that hovered in mid-air. He reached out to touch it.
Instantly, the world stopped.
Everything froze—except his mind. Thousands of whispers flowed in a language he did not know, yet somehow understood:
> "You have not ascended... because the Ladder is not ready to bear you."
> "But this world... is beginning to reshape itself for you."
> "The choice is not ascension... but rewriting what ascension means."
Kael withdrew his hand.
His body trembled. But his eyes remained calm.
He had just realized one thing: the world was not a stage he performed on. It was a script... he could revise.