Kai was sitting on a log in the forest, just outside of the damaged village. He had a flashback of massive armies clashing across a burning field. Towers of energy exploding in the distance. The sky split in half. One side bright with refreshing light and the other swallowed in abyssal darkness.
They called it the war of the fracture. Heroes and tyrants fought to claim the Sacred Eclipse, but none understood it's power... Until it shattered. From the ashes, monsters were born... Fracture beasts, cursed Aether and Hollow souls. A silhouette stood at the centre of the chaos and battlefield. He held a bright shard of the Sacred Eclipse. His eyes glowed with madness, this figure was Zerath. "They thought the Sacred Eclipse brought peace, but piece was just a pause before the chaos" Zerath said to himself in a menacing tone. Back in the present, Rhea hurried Kai off the log and continued walking along side him. Kai: "Where are we headed again?" Rhea: "to the Solstice citadel. It's one of the few places where Aether is studied and practiced properly." Kai: "Sounds like a drag. You sure this is the only place I can learn to control my Aether?" Rhea: "it's either this or the Twilight order (One of the many factions/ guilds, they are an outlaw faction that believes in the freedom to use Aether without restraint) Kai: "Twilight order... Sounds interesting." Rhea scoffs and says "As expected of your likes" Kai was offended but kept quiet. They arrived at cliffside ledge. Rhea pulls out a medal and presses it against a nearby stone glyph. The rock parts, revealing a glowing elevator platform made of Aether. The two step on the platform. The platform teleports them to the citadel which is a massive tower spiralling upward into the clouds, built from smooth white stone veined with blue Aether lines, the tower is surrounded by statues of the Solstice guild's strongest Eclipsers. Inside of the tower, Rhea leads Kai through the grand hall, filled with all sorts of inexperienced Eclipsers. They enter a large chamber where and elder in robes is waiting. This is elder mage Seran. Seran: "So you're the one who's nearly burned himself alive using raw Aether, Kai Johan. Aether isn't firewood boy... It is thought, will, memory. Let's see how much you have anyway. Seran placed a glowing of hand Aether on Kai's head. The elder was petrified at the boy's Aether patterns. Seran: "your Aether is... Unstable. You were born near a shard and the shard poisoned you Aether. Kai: "so..." Seran: " so your Aether isn't controllable, that's why you weren't able to harness it. Miss Miya, this boy is cursed" Rhea: "apologies elder... I thought that he was just unpolished." Seran: "see him out before he poisons my students."
Elsewhere in the dark fortress floating in between the void and fractured lands, Zerath stands before a giant map glowing with the locations of the Eclipse shards, when he sees a shard traveling within a boy (Kai). Zerath: "oh, so the child of the shard ... Survived." A cloaked figure suddenly kneels to Zerath, ???: "should I dispatch the Hollow Blades (the Hollow blades are one of the many factions/ guilds that have mastered the art of hollow Aether, a cursed form of Aether that consumes it's user) Master? Zerath: "Yes, let's see what he becomes when the darkness calls."
Back at the Solstice citadel Kai exits the tower alone and walks back to the Aether platform. Suddenly the sky above him splits open as three masked cloaks appear. The Hollow blade commander speaks first "you... You bear the shard. Come with us or be broken! Boy." Kai's eyes glow with raw Aether as her speaks. Kai: "I'm not the one to be ordered around." They all take assume their battle stances.