Darkness.
Silence.
A heartbeat.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"Joe..."
A whisper echoed in the void. Gentle. Familiar.
"Wake up, anak."
A figure appeared—bathed in golden-white light, his weathered face illuminated like a memory refusing to fade.
"Lolo... Elmir?"
Joe's voice trembled. He stood barefoot in a glowing mist, weightless in the limbo between dreams and something deeper.
Elmir stepped forward. His long coat swayed with an unseen breeze. The elder's eyes—sharp, warm, and knowing—met Joe's, and in that instant, the fog of pain and defeat wavered.
"You're not done yet," Elmir said, placing a firm hand on Joe's shoulder. "You still carry the flame. So wake up, Joe."
The world began to crack.
"WAKE UP!"
Everything shattered.
—!
Joe gasped.
His body jolted upright, sweat dripping from his brow. He tried to move—his wrists burned. Shackled. His ankles too. He was hanging slightly, suspended by thick enchanted chains, the cold iron humming with suppression runes.
A faint, sickly red light pulsed from glowing glyphs on the stone walls.
Joe looked around—rough stone, no windows, only torchlight and shadows.
A prison.
No. A dungeon.
Underground.
> [ System G: ] Rebooting… partial interface online… movement override in effect.
Joe grunted. "G...?"
> [ You're alive. That's the good news.]
He exhaled shakily.
Then he heard it. Footsteps—slow, deliberate, echoing like judgment.
A door groaned open.
From the shadows came the man who struck him down. Crimson armor. Gray-streaked hair. Cold eyes filled with something deeper than rage—betrayal.
The man stopped before him, arms crossed.
"Aigos Banger," the System whispered.
> [ Name: ] Aigos Banger
> [ Former Bearer of the Aura Flame.]
> [ Age: ] 43
> [ Origins: ] Crimson Mountain
> [ Skills and Summons: ]
> Dark 3 Royal Musketeer
> Dark Crimson Dragon
> Spear of the Dark Aura Flame
"What the hell!" Joe shouted.
Aigos stared at Joe for a moment before speaking. His voice—low, sharp, laced with venom and pain.
"You're the new flamekeeper, huh?"
Joe glared back. "What do you want?"
Aigos smirked, bitter. "What I wanted was justice. What I got was exile, betrayal—and eternal damnation."
He walked in a slow circle around Joe.
"I was just like you. Chosen. Trained. I passed every trial—until the final one. The Eternals... they failed me. They used me. And when I questioned them, when I dared to resist… they labeled me a traitor."
Joe narrowed his eyes. "So you fought them?"
"I did more than fight," Aigos growled. "I burned their lies to ash. But even with all my power, I was no match for the full wrath of the Celestials. They crushed me, chained me, and cast me into Jigoku—the Abyss of Unlight."
Joe scoffed quietly, then looked up sharply. "You seem to know a lot about me for someone who just found out I existed."
Aigos's smirk deepened. "Smart."
He stepped closer again, his shadow falling over Joe's bound form. "Did you think your story was hidden? That no one felt the ripples you made when you came back?"
"What do you mean?" Joe asked.
"I was meditating atop Crimson Mountain," Aigos said, his voice lowering. "Alone. Silent. And then—it happened. A pulse. Like a dying star being reborn. A wave of energy tore through the realm… and I knew."
He touched his temple.
"The Aura Flame had chosen again."
Joe's breath hitched.
"So I sent watchers. My three shadows. Loyal, formless disciples bound by pact and silence. They trailed you. Observed you. From the moment you opened your eyes again in that village... until the raid."
Joe's fists clenched inside the cuffs. "You knew that was going to happen?"
"I didn't plan it," Aigos said, unapologetic. "But I let it happen. Pain is the forge of awakening, after all. And I needed to see if the flame would reject you… or cling to you."
His eyes gleamed with something like admiration—twisted, dangerous admiration.
"And it clung," he whispered. "You survived. That… intrigued me."
Joe spat at the ground near Aigos's feet. "You're twisted."
Aigos didn't even blink. "Maybe. But I know what you are, Bearer. And I know what you will become… if you're not broken first."
He turned toward the door again, the torchlight flickering along the crimson engravings on his armor.
"We'll talk more later. Maybe I'll even introduce you to the ones who've been watching you from the shadows."
As the door opened, Aigos paused once more.
"Oh, and your pet? Still alive. For now."
The door slammed shut.
[Flashback – Years Ago | Crimson Mountain, Ruins of the Fallen Pyre]
Ash fell like snow.
High above the world, Aigos sat cross-legged on a jagged outcrop, the ancient pyre ruins of Crimson Mountain behind him. The skies above were veiled in a stormless gloom, the wind whispering curses long buried.
He had been still for days.
Breathing.
Remembering.
Forgetting.
Then—it happened.
A pulse.
A surge of blinding heat and soul-deep resonance ripped through the air like a thunderclap without sound. Aigos's eyes snapped open, glowing faintly red from within.
"…No," he muttered. "It can't be."
But the truth sang through every cell of his being. The Aura Flame… had returned.
He stood slowly, his long cloak billowing behind him. Far in the distance, a streak of gold light vanished into the horizon, as though reality itself had cracked open to birth something ancient—and new.
Aigos raised his gauntleted hand. From the black stones beneath him, three elongated shadows peeled themselves from the ground, rising in silence. Humanoid in shape, but faceless—pure darkness draped in ragged, whispering forms.
"My shadows," Aigos said, his voice calm, but resolute. "He has returned."
The shadows twitched, as if in silent acknowledgment.
"Follow the ripple. Find the bearer. Watch. Do not interfere… unless his flame dares to awaken."
A gust of cold mountain wind swept past them. The three shadows bent at the knee, then vanished—melting into nothing, heading toward a boy who had just opened his eyes to a ruined world.
Aigos turned to face the sky, voice barely a whisper.
"Let's see what kind of fire you carry, reincarnated one."
[Flashback – Shortly After the Village Raid | Irigan Village]
The cavern was alive with silent flame—crimson braziers flickering without heat. Aigos stood at the center of a massive circular chamber carved into the mountain's heart. His back was turned, cloak trailing like smoke, as he stared into a pool of blackened glass: a scrying mirror tethered to echoes of chaos and memory.
A faint shimmer stirred behind him.
One of the three shadows emerged from a swirling crack in the wall, kneeling low. Its form rippled, cloaked in living darkness, eyes glowing faintly violet.
"My Lord," the shadow spoke, its voice hollow, as if whispered from ten places at once.
Aigos didn't turn. "Report."
"Target located. Spiritbound territory. He was… ordinary at first—clumsy, unaware, afraid. But during the raid… something ignited."
The scrying pool flickered—showing a blurred glimpse of Joe in his final moments, the red aura flaring around his broken body.
"I watched him die," the shadow continued. "And yet… his flame persisted. It called out. Rebirth followed."
Aigos finally turned, his expression unreadable, eyes gleaming like smoldering embers.
"The flame chose again," he muttered.
"He does not yet understand what he holds," the shadow said. "But he's growing—fast."
Aigos approached the shadow slowly, eyes narrowing. "And the wolf?"
"Unclear. The spirit beast is bound to him. Protective. Unusually sentient."
Aigos's mouth twisted slightly into a half-smirk. "Of course it is. The flame always finds loyal beasts…"
He placed a hand on the shadow's head. "Continue observation. I want every flicker tracked. Every choice logged. If he breaks… we move."
"And if he ascends?"
Aigos's eyes darkened.
"Then we end him before he becomes what I failed to be."
The shadow bowed lower, then vanished—leaving Aigos alone once more, watching Joe's image ripple in the darkened mirror.
"This time," Aigos whispered, "I'll burn before I let the Eternals crown another pawn."
[Present – Spiritfang's Cell]
Spiritfang thrashed inside a separate prison—enchanted runes glowing with silver light, keeping him locked in wolf form. He snarled, scratching at the ground with bleeding claws.
Chains coiled around his limbs. Energy surged when he moved too fast.
He howled in fury.
Then—footsteps.
Aigos entered, arms behind his back.
"So the loyal wolf still bites," he said calmly.
Spiritfang growled, fur bristling. "Touch Joe and I'll rip your throat out."
"Admirable loyalty. Pity it won't save either of you."
Aigos leaned against the wall. "You know… you're strong. Impressive even. But strength alone isn't enough in this war. You'll see soon. When the world burns, and the skies bleed chaos, remember this moment."
Spiritfang lunged forward, snapping, but the chains pulled him back with a flash of painful energy.
"Enjoy the wait," Aigos said coldly as he vanished into the dark.
The obsidian sky above Jigoku twisted, and black winds howled. Aigos knelt before a throne of suffer and shadow intertwined.
Nyxul sat with arms outstretched, white tattoos glowing like living stars across his dark skin.
"Report," Nyxul said in a voice that echoed across realms.
Aigos bowed. "The Bearer has awakened. He burns with the same fire I once held."
Nyxul smiled faintly. "Then let the game begin."