### Chen Wei
They ran until the sky turned gray.
Chen Wei's legs moved on autopilot. His lungs burned. His vision blurred at the edges. The golden mark on his palm pulsed with every heartbeat, but each pulse was weaker than the last. Like a candle drowning in water.
Lin Yue grabbed his arm and pulled him off the path. They crashed through a wall of bushes and found a stream, narrow and shallow, cutting through the forest floor.
"Down," she said.
He dropped to his knees. Cold water soaked through his pants. He didn't care. He cupped his hands and drank. The water tasted like mud and iron, but it was wet and that was all that mattered.
Lin Yue crouched beside him, scanning the trees. Her knife was in her hand. Her eyes moved left, right, left again.
"I don't think he followed," she said.
Chen Wei didn't answer. He couldn't. His chest was too tight. His throat was too dry. He turned his palm toward the fading light. The mark was dim. Almost invisible. Just a faint gold stain on his skin.
"I overused it," he said.
Lin Yue grabbed his wrist. She pressed two fingers to his pulse. Her face was hard, unreadable.
"Your heart is racing," she said. "And your temperature is high. You pushed too hard. If you keep doing that, the mark will shut down completely."
"What happens then?"
"Then you become a normal boy with no power and a king who wants you dead." She let go of his wrist. "So do not let that happen."
Chen Wei leaned back against a tree. The bark dug into his spine. He closed his eyes.
"Why did he let us go?"
Lin Yue was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "He is playing with you. You are a toy to him. A new thing he has not seen before. He wants to watch you squirm before he breaks you."
"That is sick."
"Yes." She sat down across from him, her back against another tree. "That is Huang Zhen."
They sat in silence. The stream gurgled. Somewhere far away, a bird called out. Then another. The forest was waking up.
Chen Wei opened his eyes. The mark was still dim, but he could feel warmth returning to his palm. Slow. Careful.
"Lin Yue," he said.
"What?"
"Tell me about the Steps. About how power works in this world. I need to understand what I am up against."
She looked at him for a long moment. Then she nodded.
"The Steps are ranks of power," she said. "Step 7 is the weakest. Normal soldiers. Farmers who pick up swords. Thugs like Gunter in the tavern. They are nothing."
Chen Wei listened.
"Step 6 is stronger. Trained fighters. Scouts. Assassins. The man who shot at us tonight was Step 6. Fast, but not fast enough."
"Step 5?"
"Commanders. Elite warriors. The king has two of them. His Left Hand and his Right Hand. They could kill you in one breath."
Chen Wei swallowed.
"Step 4 is rare. Most people never reach it. Step 3 is almost impossible. Only a handful of people in the whole continent are Step 3."
"And Huang Zhen?"
Lin Yue's jaw tightened. "He is Step 3. And he has a Fargement. Phoenix type. Fire and rebirth. He can burn you to ash, die himself, and then come back to watch you scream."
Chen Wei looked at his palm. The golden mark was glowing a little brighter now.
"What about my mark? The Dawn Fargement. How does it fit into all this?"
Lin Yue picked up a small stone and tossed it into the stream. It landed with a soft plunk.
"Fargements come from the 55 god families," she said. "You have to be a descendant of gods to have one. Each family has a different Fargement. Different powers. Different costs."
She looked at his palm.
"Yours is Dawn type. Healing. Speed. Light. Some say it can even slow time, but that is just a rumor. I have never seen it."
Chen Wei frowned. "But I am not a god descendant."
"No. You are not." Her voice was flat. "The mark should not have chosen you. That is why it hurts. That is why it drains you. Your body is not built for it."
"Then why do I have it?"
She shook her head. "I do not know. No one knows. That is why the king is watching you. You are an anomaly. Something that should not exist."
Chen Wei stared at the mark. The golden lines twisted slowly, like snakes under his skin.
"Lin Yue," he said. "How do people rise through the Steps?"
She leaned her head back against the tree. Her scar caught the morning light.
"Normal people pray. They enter trials. Each trial is a fight against an entity tied to your existence. Your fears. Your failures. Your sins."
"What happens if you win?"
"You ascend to the next Step. Stronger. Faster. Harder to kill."
"And if you lose?"
She looked at him. Her eyes were cold.
"You die. Or you go mad. Or your Fargement gets erased if you have one. There is no mercy. The trials do not care about your feelings."
Chen Wei felt a chill run down his spine.
"But I have a mark," he said. "Does that mean I can skip the trials?"
Lin Yue shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe the mark will kill you faster. I do not know. No one knows. You are walking on ground no one has walked before."
She stood up and brushed the dirt off her pants.
"Rest now. We move again in an hour."
Chen Wei closed his eyes. The mark pulsed against his palm. Warm. Alive. Terrifying.
He fell asleep within minutes.
---
### Huang Zhen
The gates of Ashfall loomed against the gray sky.
Huang Zhen walked through them without slowing. His boots left prints in the mud. His clothes were damp from the forest. He did not care.
Left Hand was waiting in the courtyard. His yellow eyes glowed in the dim light. He bowed low.
"My king. Welcome back."
Huang walked past him. "Report."
Left Hand fell into step behind him. "The blind scout you punished three days ago. He was found dead in the forest this morning. Wolves tore him apart."
Huang did not stop walking. "One less failure."
"He had a family, my king. A wife. Two children."
Huang stopped. He turned around slowly. His face was empty.
"Do you think I care?"
Left Hand bowed his head. "No, my king."
"Then do not waste my time with useless information." Huang turned and continued walking. "Send more scouts to the northern border. The insect will try to leave the region. I do not want him to succeed."
"More scouts?"
"Yes. Step 6. Step 5 if you can spare them. I want every path watched. Every road blocked. The insect will not escape."
Left Hand nodded. "As you command."
They reached the throne room. The black stone walls were cold. The torches flickered. Huang walked to his chair and sat down.
"The girl," he said. "Lin Yue. She is taking him north."
"Yes, my king. Right Hand reported that they are heading toward the mountains."
Huang leaned back. His eyes stared at the ceiling.
"There is an old scholar in those mountains. A hermit. He studied Fargements. He taught Lin Yue's father."
Left Hand stepped closer. "Should I send a team to eliminate him?"
"No." Huang shook his head. "Let them meet. Let the hermit tell the insect about his mark. About the Steps. About the trials. The more the insect knows, the more dangerous he becomes. And the more dangerous he becomes, the more I learn."
"You are using him as bait."
Huang smiled. Thin and cold.
"I am using him as a tool. A tool that sharpens itself." He stood up from the throne. "Send word to all scouts. I want the insect cornered. But do not catch him. Not yet. I want him desperate. Desperate people make mistakes. And mistakes are where I find answers."
Left Hand bowed. "It will be done."
He melted back into the shadows.
Huang walked to the far end of the throne room. A painting hung on the wall. Old. Burned at the edges. The canvas was cracked and faded.
It showed a family. A man. A woman. Three children. Two boys and a girl.
Huang stood in front of it. His reflection stared back from the glass that covered the painting.
His jaw tightened.
"Soon," he whispered.
He turned and walked away.
---
### Chen Wei
He woke up to pain.
His palm was burning. Not the usual warmth. This was fire. Needles. Something eating him from the inside.
He sat up fast. His hand was shaking. The golden mark was glowing again, but something was wrong.
The lines had spread.
They now reached his wrist. Thin gold veins crawling up his arm like roots.
"Lin Yue," he said. His voice cracked.
She was already awake. Already looking at his hand. Her face was pale.
"That should not happen," she said.
Chen Wei stared at the spreading lines. "What does it mean?"
She grabbed his wrist and held it up to the light. Her fingers were cold. Her grip was tight.
"The mark is growing," she said. "And not in a good way."
"What happens if it keeps spreading?"
Lin Yue let go of his wrist. She looked at his face. Her eyes were hard, but there was something else there. Something soft. Something scared.
"Eventually," she said, "it will reach your heart. And when it does, you will die."
Chen Wei looked at his palm. The golden lines pulsed. Glow and fade. Glow and fade.
Like a heartbeat.
Like a countdown.