Darkness.
Dense, silent, infinite.
It was an absolute void, where time and space didn't exist. But suddenly, something changed. A sound echoed. A distant pulse.
Tum... Tum... Tum...
Kael felt something. A pressure, as if he were enveloped by a warm, silent ocean.
His body didn't move. His lungs weren't breathing. But he was conscious.
And then the memories came like a flood.
The smell of burning metal. The vibration of war engines. Orders shouted by desperate soldiers.
"General Kael, the offensive has been a success! The enemy fleet is retreating!"
He could see himself standing in the midst of the chaos, analyzing holographic graphics, watching the enemy's movements as if they were pieces on a chessboard. He had always seen battle as a game where calculation and precision overcame emotion and instinct.
And he won.
But then came the betrayal.
"I'm sorry, General... but the high command can't allow someone like you to continue to exist."
A blade pierced his back.
The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth.
The hologram in front of him shattered, and the voice that had announced his victory now seemed distant and meaningless.
An ally. A subordinate. Someone he trusted...
And everything went dark.
Kael opened his eyes.
Flickering lights filled his vision, blinding him. There was a gentle warmth enveloping his body, a stark contrast to the biting cold of his previous death.
He tried to breathe deeply, but his lungs were too weak. He tried to speak, but his throat produced only a fragile sound.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
His body wasn't responding properly. His movements were limited, uncoordinated.
What's happening...?
Before he could analyze the situation, voices echoed around him.
"He's been born!"
A female voice. Tired, but full of emotion.
"Is he... is he healthy?"
A male voice. Deep and anxious.
Kael tried to focus his vision, his eyes still adjusting to this new reality. His field of vision was limited, as if shrouded in shadows, but gradually, he began to make out the shapes around him.
A woman held him in her arms, her moon-silver hair stuck to her forehead with sweat. Her eyes shone like sapphires bathed in starlight, full of tenderness and exhaustion.
Next to her, a tall, broad-shouldered man with a scarred face and eyes as deep as an abyss looked at him with a mixture of astonishment and pride.
His parents.
Kael didn't need much to realize: he had been reborn.
The silence was broken by distant thunder, as if the world itself were reacting to his birth.
He felt a strange energy in the air. It was unlike anything he had experienced before. If in his past life war was fought with plasma weapons and tactical intelligence, here, strength was measured in another way.
Spiritual energy.
And then Kael realized something was wrong.
The air around him was distorting. Waves of black and silver energy mixed together, forming chaotic patterns.
And then he saw it.
A black flower floated above his body.
A lotus, made of pure spiritual energy, slowly turning as if it were alive.
An omen.
His mother, Aria, widened her eyes in shock. His father, Zorin, clenched his fists, his face growing tense.
"No... it can't be..." Aria murmured, her voice trembling.
Zorin looked out the window at the sky, where three suns were being eclipsed simultaneously by a black moon.
The Spiritual Eclipse.
Legends spoke of a child born under such an eclipse—a being destined to bring either balance or destruction to the world. They foretold that one day, someone with the power to control all the Spiritual Essences would be born during this event.
And now, there was Kael.
"Zorin..." Aria grabbed her husband's arm, her voice tinged with fear. "The Archons... if they find out—"
Before she could finish her sentence, a crash echoed outside.
Kael, even with the frail body of a newborn, felt the overwhelming spiritual pressure emanating from the sky.
Far away, in a golden tower covered in glowing runes, a group of hooded figures opened their eyes in unison.
One of them, a man with silver hair and golden eyes, rose from his floating throne.
His gaze traveled across space, settling on the exact location where Kael had been born.
"The chosen one has been born."
A deep voice answered from the shadows. "He must be eliminated immediately."
The golden-eyed man closed his eyes briefly before nodding. "Send in the Spirit Hunters."
Kael's fate had already been sealed.
But what they didn't know...
...was that Kael Zhan was not someone who accepted his fate without a fight.