The Akirus Legacy

The Akirus Legacy

Chapter 2 - The Theif's Son

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Starving and drawn by the sight of festival food, Shinro is suddenly struck by a strange, fragmented vision — over two hundred children standing hopefully before a mysterious cloaked man, who places a baby into a wooden box. The vision vanishes as quickly as it came, leaving Shinro dizzy and shouting a name he doesn't understand: "Yaath." Shaken, he drops the broken bottle he'd been holding and, after calming himself, humbly asks the crowd for food. A kind old man, Mr. Brion, moves to help him, but is stopped when a WRO (White & Red Organization) official slaps the plate away. Other elders warn Brion not to interfere — the WRO controls their comfortable way of life. Reluctantly, Brion turns Shinro away, calling him "Ascot's greatest thief's son," words that cut deeper than his hunger. The WRO member mocks him further, ordering him to pick up the spilled rice by hand while the crowd jeers. Humiliated but not broken, Shinro throws the rice into the official's face, grabs a loaf of bread, and flees — hurling a second hidden handful of rice to cover his escape. The furious WRO man orders Chief Force Officer Katsu to hunt him down. Twenty officers pursue, but internally, the cowardly Katsu resolves to search the market first and let others take the risk of chasing Shinro into the notorious Mountains of Death — a place where over thirty people have died. The search of the market turns up nothing. Shinro has already vanished — arriving alone at the foot of the Mountains of Death, standing before a dark, unknown cave entrance as the chapter ends.

The Akirus Legacy

Chapter 1 - The weakened stems

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The Akirus Legacy Chapter 1: "A Weakened Stem" (Synopsis) In the world of Aether, the nation of Ascot stands as the wealthiest of thirteen nations — a land of luxury, festivals, and prosperity. But beneath its glittering surface lies a dark law: any child born an orphan, abandoned, or disabled is branded a "Weakened Stem" and sentenced to execution. Ten years earlier, a government official tried to abolish this cruel law, arguing that even a weakened stem still gives life — but he died before he could succeed, his death quietly ruled a suicide. Now, in the year 1348, Ascot celebrates a grim milestone: the execution of 10,000 children. Monks, officials, the White-Red Organization, and nobles gather for a festival marking the massacre — treating it as a triumph rather than a tragedy. Away from the celebration, thirteen-year-old Shinro Hakimichi — a thin, hungry orphan with messy dark-blue hair and green eyes — wanders the festival streets, only to be met with whispers, disgust, and hatred from the wealthy citizens who call him "the thief's son." Alone and unwanted, he retreats to his only home: an abandoned temple holding a statue of Lord Lazis, the God of Hope. He prays not for wealth or revenge, but simply for strength. Unable to sleep from hunger, he heads back out and encounters a group of drunken old men. Picking up a discarded bottle, he snaps it in half with his bare foot — silencing their laughter. As they turn toward him, Shinro's quiet sorrow gives way to something else entirely: not fear, not sadness, but pure, burning anger. The chapter ends on that unresolved tension — setting up Shinro as a boy pushed to his breaking point, standing at the edge of a much larger reckoning.