Chapter 16: Secrets of the Scroll of Breath and Bone – The First Vein Awakens
The Breathstone pulsed in Zayan's palm, soft but relentless, like a second heartbeat.
It was calling him.
He stumbled through the hollow ruins, breath misting in the cold air. His chest tightened. His thoughts scattered. It felt like something—or someone—was peeling his mind apart.
The ancient temple walls twisted. The world cracked open like an egg. And Zayan fell—
—into light.
He landed hard on his knees, but the ground was soft, springy, like the surface of a dream. When he looked up, his heart caught in his throat. He stood on an island floating in endless sky.
Mist curled along the edges. Above, stars moved like schools of silver fish. At the center of the island grew a tree—ancient, colossal, veins of silver running through its trunk like rivers frozen in time.
Its leaves shimmered, whispering in a language Zayan could almost understand. Wrapped around the base of the tree was a figure. Hooded. Cloaked in a robe stitched from stars and old words. As Zayan stumbled closer, the figure raised its head.
No face. No eyes.
Only a feeling—like being seen, completely and without judgment.
"You have touched the Thorn," the figure said. Its voice was strange, a perfect harmony of man and woman speaking together.
"Now you must breathe the Vein."
Zayan (narrowing his eyes):
"What is this place? Am I dreaming?"
The Hooded Figure softly says
"Not dreaming. Remembering. You are standing in the First Breath—the heartbeat of Nurghazira itself."
The Scroll of Breath and Bone floated between them, pages fluttering in a wind Zayan could not feel.
It opened.
Ink bloomed across the parchment, forming something unexpected:
a map.
But not of roads or mountains. This was a map of Veins—living rivers of energy that ran through the bones of Nurghazira.
Where the veins crossed, light blossomed. Where they bled, corruption festered.
Zayan's gaze was drawn to the brightest pulse—a point labeled only as Serpent's Spine.
Visions unfurled around him. He saw a fortress grown from bone and thorn, perched on jagged cliffs. Storms howled above it. Banners—black, silver, crimson—snapped in the wind. At its gates waited three factions:
The Ashen Exorcists, flames dancing on their weapons.
The Lotus Whisperers, moving like living songs.
The Sovereign Alchemists, cloaked in gold and shadow.
A battle was brewing. And the first Vein's fate hung in the balance. Zayan turned back to the figure. "Why show me this?" Zayan said while gritting his teeth
The Hooded Figure says with a sadness beneath its words
"Because you are bound to the Breath and Bone. If the Veins are lost… so is Nurghazira."
Zayan swallowed hard. He was barely trained. Barely even understood half of what he'd seen.
"Then teach me." Zayan said while clenching his fists so hard.
The Hooded Figure nodding slowly says
"The first truth:
Healing is a rebellion against forgetting."
The Breathstone flared in his hand. Power poured into him, overwhelming— like trying to drink the ocean.
He saw flashes:
Sky Pulse Techniques—breathing in time with the stars.
Gurah Mata dan Nafas—tearing open the body to purge the spirit.
Seal Extraction—undoing ancient curses hidden in blood and bone.
And deeper still—
A vision of a girl. Standing at the edge of the cliffs. Her hair a crown of burning petals. Chains wrapped around her soul, not her body.
Zayan knew, if he couldn't reach her, the Veins would fall. And Nurghazira would bleed out all its forgotten dreams.
The tree began to fade. The island dissolved into mist. The Scroll of Breath and Bone whispered one last warning:
"Seek the Serpent's Spine."
"Heal the Weeping Vein."
"Beware the three-faced shadow."
Then everything snapped back.
Zayan gasped, collapsing on the cracked stone of the Hollow Temple. The Breathstone still throbbed in his palm, alive with memory.
He rose slowly, dizzy, new purpose burning in his chest. And far off, cutting through the mist, he saw them—
Three banners approaching. Three fates entwining. Three wars waiting to ignite.
The first faction had come for him.
And Zayan was ready. Or so he prayed.
[End of Chapter 16]