### Chen Wei
Lin Yue moved fast through the trees. Chen Wei struggled to keep up.
Branches whipped his face. Roots tried to trip him. His lungs burned, and his legs felt like wet paper. But she didn't slow down. She didn't look back. She just walked.
After an hour, she stopped at a wall of rock covered in dead vines.
"Here," she said.
She pushed between two boulders. The gap was narrow. Chen Wei squeezed through after her. The stone scraped his shoulders and left scratches on his arms.
Then the space opened up.
A cave. Not big. Maybe twenty feet wide. The ceiling was low, crisscrossed with cracks that let in thin lines of moonlight. The air smelled like wet dirt and old animal nests. A small pool of water sat in the corner, dripping from somewhere above.
Chen Wei leaned against the wall. His chest heaved. Sweat ran down his face.
"What is this place?" he asked.
"Hidden," Lin Yue said. "That is all that matters."
She dropped her bag on the ground and walked to the pool. She crouched down and splashed water on her face. Then she turned to face him.
"Show me the mark."
Chen Wei held up his right palm. The golden lines glowed faintly, pulsing like a slow heartbeat. He had gotten used to seeing it there, but looking at it still made his stomach turn.
Lin Yue stepped closer. She studied the mark but did not touch it. Her eyes moved across the lines like she was reading a book.
"My father wrote about these," she said. "The Dawn type. One of the rarest."
"What does it do?"
"Healing. Speed. Light." She paused. "Some say it can slow time itself. But that takes years. Right now, you need to learn the basics."
"Basics?"
She stepped back. "Activate it. Make it glow brighter."
Chen Wei stared at his palm. He focused. He concentrated. He willed the mark to grow.
Nothing. The glow stayed the same. Soft. Weak. Useless.
"I don't know how," he said.
"Try harder."
"I am trying."
"Try different."
He closed his eyes. He thought about fire. About heat. About anger. Nothing happened.
Lin Yue sighed. Then she slapped him across the face.
Hard.
His head snapped to the side. His cheek burned. His eyes watered.
"What the hell?" he shouted.
"Anger works," she said. "Try again."
His face was hot. His jaw clenched. He looked at her, and something inside him cracked open.
The golden mark flared.
Bright. Blazing. A burst of light shot from his palm and hit a low hanging tree branch near the cave entrance. The branch caught fire. Small flames licked the dry leaves.
Chen Wei stumbled back. His hand shook. The mark pulsed hard, then dimmed.
Lin Yue nodded. "Good. Now do it again."
She slapped him again.
This time he was ready. The mark flared faster. Another burst of light. It hit the cave wall and left a black scorch mark on the stone.
"Again."
She slapped him. He fired.
"Again."
She kicked his leg. He fired.
"Again."
She threw a rock at his chest. He fired before the rock hit him. The light caught the rock in mid air and sent it bouncing off the wall.
Chen Wei dropped to his knees. His hand was red and hot. The mark pulsed wildly, then slowly dimmed to its normal glow.
He couldn't lift his arm. His fingers felt like they were on fire.
"I can't," he said. "I have nothing left."
Lin Yue crouched in front of him. She grabbed his hand and held it under the dripping water from the ceiling. Cold water. It soothed the burn.
"You did good," she said. "Rest now."
Chen Wei looked at her. The scar on her face looked white in the dim light. Her eyes were hard, but not cruel.
"Why do you know so much about this?" he asked.
She let go of his hand. "Because I spent ten years studying my father's books after the king burned our house. I had nothing else to do."
She stood up and walked to the cave entrance.
"Sleep," she said without turning around. "Tomorrow we try again."
Chen Wei lay down on the cold stone floor. His whole body ached. His hand throbbed. But the mark was still there, pulsing softly, waiting.
He closed his eyes.
---
### Huang Zhen
The throne room was cold and dark.
Huang Zhen sat in his black stone chair. His eyes were half closed. His breathing was slow. He looked like he was sleeping.
He wasn't.
Right Hand knelt ten feet from the throne. His head was bowed. His sword rested on the floor beside him.
"Report," Huang said.
"The insect left Millbrook," Right Hand said. "A girl took him into the forest. Scar on her face. Burn marks on her arm. She moves like she knows the terrain well."
Huang opened his eyes. "Describe her again."
"Dark hair. Sixteen years old. A scar from her lip to her ear. Burn scars on her left arm."
Huang leaned forward. "Lin Yue."
"You know her, my king?"
"She is the daughter of a scholar I killed. I burned her village. I marked her arm with hot oil." He paused. "I thought she would die in a ditch somewhere."
Right Hand waited.
"What are they doing now?" Huang asked.
"Training. The girl is teaching the insect to use his mark. He fired light from his palm. Hit a tree branch."
Huang's lips curled into something that was almost a smile.
"Good."
Left Hand stepped out from the shadows. His yellow eyes glowed in the torchlight. "Good, my king? She is making him stronger."
"That is the point." Huang stood up and walked down the steps. His boots echoed on the black stone. "A weak insect dies too fast. I cannot study a dead mark. I need to see what it can do. What its limits are. How fast it heals. How much power it can hold."
He stopped in front of Right Hand.
"A trained insect is still an insect. But a trained insect might survive longer. I want to study the mark."
Right Hand bowed. "What are your orders, my king?"
"Follow them. Stay hidden. Do not interfere. Let the girl train him. Let him grow." Huang turned and walked back to his throne. "I want to see what this Dawn mark can do before I crush it."
Right Hand stood up. He grabbed his sword and walked out of the throne room.
Left Hand remained. He watched Huang with his snake eyes.
"You are playing a dangerous game," Left Hand said.
Huang looked at him. His face was empty. "I have been playing dangerous games for one hundred and twenty nine years. One more will not hurt."
Left Hand bowed his head. "As you say, my king."
He melted back into the shadows.
Huang sat alone on his throne. The torches flickered. The room was silent.
He closed his eyes.
Somewhere in the forest, a boy with a golden mark was learning to fight. A girl with scars was teaching him.
Huang smiled.
---
### Chen Wei
The cave was dark and cold.
Chen Wei lay on the stone floor, staring at the ceiling. His hand still hurt. His body still ached. But the mark was there, warm and alive, pulsing against his chest.
He heard Lin Yue's footsteps. She walked back from the cave entrance and sat down against the wall. She pulled out her knife and started sharpening it with a small stone.
"Who was your father?" Chen Wei asked.
"A scholar," she said without looking up. "He studied Fargements. He wrote books about them. The king found out and burned our house."
"Did your father burn too?"
Lin Yue stopped sharpening the knife. She looked at him. Her eyes were hard and empty.
"Yes," she said. "Now sleep. No more questions."
Chen Wei wanted to ask more. About the king. About the mark. About everything. But he was too tired.
He closed his eyes.
Outside the cave, hidden in the trees, Right Hand watched. His hand rested on his sword. His eyes never left the cave entrance.
He did not move. He did not blink. He just waited.