Soulbrand: The Astral Scar
Chapter 1 – The Boy from the Wastelands
The wastelands were not meant for the living.
Scorched earth stretched as far as the eye could see, littered with the bones of the forgotten. The air was dry, thick with the scent of dust and decay. The sun burned mercilessly above, yet despite it all, a lone boy wandered through the ruins.
A boy with nothing.
His clothes were tattered rags, his feet blistered from the endless journey, but his eyes burned with a fire that could not be extinguished.
His name was Rei.
And he had only one wish.
"I want to be a Soulbrand warrior."
The words left his lips, barely above a whisper, but they carried through the silent wasteland.
Before him stood a man unlike any other.
Draped in a long, ragged cloak, his hair wild and streaked with silver, the man leaned against a ruined pillar, watching the boy with unreadable eyes. A legend, a ghost, a warrior who should not exist.
This was Alden the unchained
One of the strongest Soulbrand warriors in history.
He chuckled, his voice rough like the wind over broken stone.
"You?" Alden tilted his head, eyeing the boy's bruised and starved frame. "A kid with no Soulbrand, no weapon, and no power? What makes you think you can become a warrior?"
Rei clenched his fists.
"Because I have to."
Alden raised an eyebrow.
"You have to?"
Rei took a shaky breath.
"In this world, if you're weak, you die. If you have no Soulbrand, you're nothing." His voice trembled, but the fire in his eyes did not waver. "I don't want to be nothing."
For a long moment, Alden said nothing. The wind howled through the ruins, carrying with it the whispers of ghosts long forgotten.
Then, without warning, Alden moved.
Faster than Rei could see, he appeared before him, his hand gripping the boy's wrist.
Rei gasped as a sharp pain shot through his arm.
Alden's eyes darkened as he looked at the scar on Rei's skin—a mark unlike any Soulbrand he had ever seen.
"You…" Alden muttered, his grip tightening.
Rei winced but didn't pull away.
For the first time, the legendary warrior looked at the boy not with amusement, but with recognition.
"This scar… it's not just any wound, is it?" Alden whispered.
Rei had no answer. He only knew one thing:
His journey had just begun!