Ethan Cole - The Unlimited System

Ethan and Alden moved quickly, but not carelessly.

To Ethan's surprise, Alden was pretty agile. Nothing like how a normal human would move.

'Is he an Ascendant, too?' he wondered but he kept everything to himself for now. At least until he learned more about this place or this world.

"Is everything okay?" Alden asked.

Ethan nodded. "Yeah. For now."

Alden smiled as he guided Ethan through narrow paths between wooden fences and stacked barrels, avoiding the central roads where people still gathered.

Instead of cutting straight through the plaza, they took side alleys behind weavers' shops and under the shade of tall, stone-walled storehouses.

The air smelled of firewood, earth, and wild herbs. Far above, the sky was painted with streaks of crimson and gold—the sun beginning to set.

Ethan stayed close, footsteps light, his ears alert for every creak, every whisper of wind.

"You chose the long way around," Ethan muttered, glancing back once. "Is everything alright?"

"Because I'm a man with caution." Alden gave a dry smile. "You'd stand out like a shattered sword if we walked the main street. Let's not test our luck just yet."

Ethan nodded, still glancing at the unfamiliar surroundings.

"So… this village. Cahaya, right? It feels… different. Like it's not even a village. More like a fortified town."

"You're not wrong," Alden replied, turning left into a shadowed passage behind a bakery. "The Village of Cahaya is what you'd call a frontier settlement. Bigger than a village, smaller than a city, but more important than both."

"Frontier?" Ethan asked. "Frontier of what?"

Alden stopped at a worn wooden bridge arching over a shallow stream, then crossed it before answering.

"The edge of the Empire of Kannan. This place marks the southernmost border. Beyond this is unclaimed territory, wild lands, and sometimes worse."

He paused before adding, "Oh. There are other empires, too. Allies and enemies."

Empires? The word struck Ethan like a drumbeat.

He had heard many things since awakening the system. He had experienced a lot of illogical things, too. But this—an empire, an actual living empire—it was just a little bit strange to accept of its existence in the modern world.

It was impossible. Or at least, it should've been.

"So… wait," Ethan asked slowly. "You're telling me this place, Cahaya, is part of an empire?"

Alden didn't break stride. "One of the oldest. The Empire of Kannan spans over twenty provinces."

Somehow, he didn't give Ethan that strange look for asking such a question. "Each province is ruled by a Regional Lord, and most frontier villages like this are managed by Elders assigned by the crown. They enforce imperial law and keep things stable."

He chuckled before adding, "That was when they're not busy collecting taxes or picking who gets exiled."

"I see," Ethan responded.

He took a moment to process everything. It was exactly like what had been portrayed in history books and films.

"Definitely not Earth," he muttered.

"What's that?"

"Nothing," Ethan said quickly. "Just taking in everything that you've told me."

They continued in silence for a while, with only the crunch of gravel beneath their feet. Ethan had memorize the winding paths they took, despite every wall and hut started to blur together.

His thoughts were louder than the street sounds.

'This isn't just another location… it's another world entirely.'

The Empire of Kannan. Provinces. Elders. And a village like this—fully developed with roads, defense towers, farms and trade—still being called a village. It was clear now.

This wasn't Earth. At least, not the Earth he knew.

Was this another planet? A separate dimension?

Or was this one of the Twelve Trials shaping him to live in a world beyond his comprehension?

They finally stopped near the southern edge of the village, at the foot of a quiet, ivy-covered house with a stone foundation and a slanted tiled roof. A wooden wind chime hung over the door, swaying gently with a hollow clack.

Alden turned to him. "This is it."

"Whose place is this?" Ethan asked.

"Someone who won't panic when she sees your clothes," Alden said. "She's… unusual. But trustworthy."

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Ethan raised a brow. "Unusual how?"

"She talks to spirits. Dreams of futures. Grows herbs that shouldn't exist."

Ethan nodded.

Alden added, "Some call her a hedge witch. Others call her mad. Me? I call her a friend."

Alden stepped forward and knocked twice on the door.

The chimes stilled.

A long moment passed.

Then the door creaked open just slightly, revealing a single eye framed by dark lashes and silver-streaked hair.

"Alden," came a soft, weathered voice. "You brought someone strange again, didn't you?"

Alden chuckled. "Stranger than usual."

The door opened fully, and there stood a nice-looking young woman no taller than Ethan's chest, draped in layers of dark blue robes. She looked like she had stepped out of an old myth, with faint runes inked across her fingers and beads woven into her braided hair.

Her eyes flicked to Ethan and stayed there.

She stared at him for a long time, her expression unreadable.

Then she said, calmly, "He carries something ancient."

Ethan stiffened. 'Does she know something?'

Alden gave him a glance, then back at the woman. "What did you sense, Hera?"

The woman, Hera, nodded once. "I felt it the moment he stepped near my gate."

She stepped aside. "Come in, Dragon-blooded. You're not safe outside. Not yet."

"Dragon?" Alden was shocked. "Is he the one?"

Hera ignored Alden's question.

But, Ethan's heart skipped a beat. 'It seems like she know something.'

Alden gestured him forward. "Go. Let's go in. She knows more than she lets on."

Still unsure, still full of questions, Ethan stepped inside.

Whatever this village was, whatever this trial had in store, he was now deeper in it than ever before.

The room was warm, dim, and scented with dried lavender and crushed mint leaves. Candles flickered across wooden shelves lined with odd trinkets—glass jars filled with powder, bones, feathers, and small runes etched on clay tiles. A kettle hissed gently over a fire pit, casting long, dancing shadows across the stone floor.

Hera moved without sound, setting down a carved wooden bowl and motioning for Ethan to sit. Alden remained by the door, arms crossed, eyes cautious.

Ethan sat, his thoughts still reeling.

Hera faced him with the calm of someone who had seen too much to be surprised anymore. She knelt by a low table, fingers gently tracing a spiral drawn in ash and red pigment.

"You carry the mark of Kaelthor," she said, "though I've never seen it worn by a mortal."

Ethan froze. "You know his name?"

"I've dreamed of him since I was a child," Hera replied, eyes distant. "A dragon made of stars and storms. A voice like thunder wrapped in sorrow. He waits behind a door of fire, watching the world forget."

Ethan looked at Alden. The man simply gave a small shrug, as if to say, 'She's always been like this.'

Hera turned back to the spiral, her finger still circling its pattern.

"You ask yourself, Why here? Why now? Why you?" she said, eyes still lowered. "You think this is just a trial. A test Kaelthor conjured to sharpen your resolve."

She looked up sharply.

"But it is more than that. Much more."

Ethan leaned forward. "What do you mean?"

"There is a storm coming," Hera said. "One that will tear through kingdoms and faiths. The veil between worlds grows thinner with each passing year. The Empire of Kannan, peaceful for two hundred years, stands at the brink of collapse."

Ethan said nothing, but she continued.

"There is a prophecy in the old tongue, carved in the bones of dragons. When the soul of the sky chooses a vessel, and the ash of fire meets the root of earth, a war unlike any other will begin."

Her eyes fixed on him.

"You are that vessel."

Ethan's breath caught.

He didn't feel ready to be anyone's chosen anything.

"Wait a minute," he said, his voice low. "I've barely scratched the surface of what Kaelthor wanted to give me. And I have things waiting for me in my own world. People who need me. Problems I haven't even solved yet…"

His family. Jessica. Jordan. The system. The Five Ghosts. The truth about the Mark's whereabout and situation.

Everything was piling up.

He couldn't be two people at once. Not like this.

Alden was looking at him. By now, Alden should had known that Ethan was not from this world.

Ethan pressed a hand to his forehead.

"What am I even supposed to do? Stop a war here and fight another one back home?"

Hera's voice softened, like the breeze before a coming storm.

"You won't have to fight both at once," she said. "But you will have to understand one to conquer the other."

She stood slowly, walked over to a set of scrolls tucked in a wall rack, and pulled one free. It was sealed with wax and marked with an old sigil.

"This village is not what it seems," she said. "Neither are its leaders."

Ethan looked at her.

"The Elder of Cahaya, Harran knows the truth behind the empire's silence," Hera continued. "He has met with forces from across the sea—forces preparing for conquest."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Everything."

She stepped forward and placed the scroll into his hands. "Study everything

The system chimed in his mind, Ethan knew what it meant.

His another mission was on its way.

=====

[New Mission: Trial of the Dragon - Part 2]

Objective: Gain access to Elder Harran's private library and uncover the truth about the impending war.

Optional: Do not alert the Elder.

Reward: 45 Dragon Soul Fragments

Time Limit: 2 Days

Note: This mission will shape your understanding of the Twelve Trials and your place in this world.

=====

Ethan's grip tightened around the scroll.

Forty-five fragments. That was nearly half the total needed to complete the Dragon Soul Fragments.

But it wasn't just the reward. It was what came with it—the weight of responsibility, the shifting pieces of fate tying his trial not just to strength… but to purpose.

A part of him wanted to refuse. To run. To say he didn't ask for this.

Then, he remembered that he needed to complete the First Trial as quickly as possible in order to form the Dragon Core.

With Dragon Core, he believed that he would be more than ready to go against the LaRues and rescue Mark.

He looked up at Hera.

"Then tell me how to start."

She smiled faintly. "You already have."

"Wait..." Ethan fixed his eyes on Hera. "You know?"

Hera nodded and her smile widened.

Alden looked at the two of them with confusion.

Alden looked between them, confused. "Know what? What are you two talking about?"

Hera didn't look away from Ethan. "His thread of fate. The one that binds the past to the future. The war that's coming… will follow him, whether he stays or runs."

Ethan's chest tightened.

"Then tell me," he said quietly. "What happens if I fail this mission?"

Hera didn't answer.

She turned toward a cabinet and took out an old scroll, yellowed with age. She unrolled it carefully on the table. It wasn't parchment—it was thin bark, etched with deep, curling lines that formed a detailed map of Cahaya.

Her finger circled a section near the village center.

"The Elder's library is hidden beneath the council chamber. Few know it exists. Even fewer know how to reach it."

Ethan leaned in, eyes narrowing.

"There's no door?"

"Not a normal one," Hera said. "The passage was sealed by two layers. The first is a magical barrier only visible to those with imperial authority. The second is architectural. The hidden panels, misaligned stonework, false hallways."

She looked up at Ethan. "You'll need someone who knows the layout."

Alden's brows drew together. "Who could know something like that?"

Hera's voice dropped.

"Duran."

"The blacksmith?" Alden asked.