The relationship of the two is complicated, to say the least. In fact, Jones and Kairos had grown up together, because their fathers had been close colleagues.

The two boys always relied on each other when their fathers, who are Rangers, were away managing the forest around their village. However, everything changed when a work accident struck and took the life of Jones' dad on that fateful day. While Kairos' dad survived without so much as a scratch.

Afterwards, Kairos' dad, Vouno, took Jones to live in their tiny log house that is made of decaying oak and smells of summer soil all year round. As playmates, the two boys grew closer at a faster pace, and they developed a bond that isn’t inferior that of real brothers.

This relationship that became something special, unfortunately, did not last.

One day, Vouno returned in a drunken stupor, his robes reeks of alcohol as he slurred incoherently. But amidst his mumbling, the two young boys heard him claim that the death of Jones' dad was all his fault.

At that time, being at the tender age of ten, they did not think to question the words of a drunk nor try and find out what happen. Young Jones became overcome with despair and couldn't stay any longer. Leaving this place that he once called home, he ventured out alone into the harsh and cruel society. 

To survive, he walked a great distance, using what his father taught him to forage for food in the wilds until he found his way to a small town where he did everything that a child could work as. No matter if it was washing dishes and eat leftovers in different restaurants, or jumping from one establishment to another, as long as they would hire him. Yet, even those times are considered fortunate by him, because most of the time he had to go hungry.

At night, will he sleep in public areas or one of the many shelters and even now he could remember the foul smell and constant noise when he shuts his eyes. Yet he stubbornly refused to move back into Kairos' home.

Vouno, of course, went out to find him multiple times, but not knowing how far Jones had travelled, he eventually gave up.

Things finally turned for better when he became twelve. As required by the Empire, all who come of age must enter the nearest Cadet Academy, Saint Cadets Academy. The very same school that Kairos joined. However, unlike Kairos, once there he displayed incredible talents with his powerful physique, endurance and natural strength.

He caught the eyes of Head Instructors and Clan Elders alike, and they discussed among themselves who could bring forth his potential.

And then everything changed for him when the Disciplinary Head Instructor, and Elder of the Solitary Blades clan, decided to adopt him as his personal disciple and successor. Since then, he was carefully instructed with high-ranked martial arts and quickly left Kairos behind.

The man had spared no efforts to groom this new son he adopted, giving him the best resources and training manuals.

It may sound odd for a stranger to treat another this way, but there are many kinds of discipleship and being someone's personal disciple is the strongest kind, and akin to being adopted as a son or daughter into the family. The martial master will groom that disciple with an intention that he or she may one day replace the teacher and spread their martial ways. This is truly a relationship no weaker than blood ties and often even more so intimate.

In the empire, martial arts are differentiated between External and Internal types. External martial arts solely depend on how the muscle strength of one’s body, while Internal martial arts focuses on the flow of energy within the body, slowly strengthening a person from within.

Because of Jones’ superior physique, he is favoured among both Internal and External masters, and given the best materials for his training. Things that Kairos could not even dream of.

This day, Kairos walked to the more expensive part of town, where elaborately decorated buildings stood colourfully side by side, each is decorated with a lush garden and a small stone path to their doorstep.

It is nothing like the poor and foul smelling living quarters with muddy streets and small children running in the dust that Kairos so used to.

As he neared the imposing and plainly designed mansion that Jones is currently living in, he hesitated a little. To face him now after all these years has brought unease into his heart, but.

Steeling himself with a serious expression, Kairos knocked on Jones' heavy mahogany door.

*Tud Tud*

The thick wood gave off a dull sound when he rapped it with his knuckles. In the moment of a heartbeat, Jones who was expecting his god-father, the instructor who adopted him, opened the door but what greeted him was a sight that he didn't expect.

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In a stunned moment, the two faced each other in silence. Their poise a stark reminisce of their childhood as their eyes burned into each other, with words unable to be uttered.

Any onlooker would be astonished by the similarity between the two, though one is dressed in rags while the other clearly of high station. Though they do not notice it themselves, they stood at a similar height, and even their hair are in the same colour of the darkest night, tied back in an identical manner. It is only their eyes that are in startling contrast that truly sets them apart. Just like his long flowing hair, Kairos’ irises glowed like sparkling onyxes. In them, reflected Jones’ zircon-like eyes, with an intense glare that seems to burn like blue flames.

It has been a while since he laid eyes upon this person he once thought as his own brother. When he saw Kairos, his eyes flashed coolly with an unwelcoming stare, as though questioning mercilessly why Kairos came here.

"Jones. Have you been well?" Kairos asked in genuine concern.

"Cut the crap, I’m sure you didn’t come here to exchange pleasantries. Tell me why you are here."

"I…I needed to borrow some material on Ki and External basic training from you."

"And why should I lend them to you? Don't forget I have not forgiven you nor your dad."

Although the boy felt that it was Kairos’ father who is the culprit that caused his father’s death, his uncontrollable anger also spread to Kairos. He knew in his heart that it has nothing to do with him, but he could not help feeling betrayed. This powerful rage and frustration in his heart have taken root within him since long ago, and it relit seeing this familiar face. Spreading through him like wildfire, it threatened to burn everything he held important to ash.

"Jones, I understand you hate my family, but in my heart, you are also part of it. I… I have never stopped regarding you as my brother."

When Jones heard that, he felt an ache in his chest and slammed the door on Kairos without another word. But, neither left.

For a while, the two stood there, separated only by a piece of wood.

 Moments later the door opened again, with Jones now holding a stack of training manual in his arm, "Take them and leave. I don't want to see you ever again."

"Thanks", said Kairos, his voice soft like a whisper, then he left dejected and feeling rather defeated.

Back at the school's dorm, Kairos intensively studied the different techniques mentioned in the books he borrowed. This is the first time he has touched a new book, and for quite a while, he marvelled at the smell of new leather which wafts through the air with each turning of the page.

These training manuals are filled with charts and words which explained how to use the power in one’s body efficiently, however, as these manuals are made for young children the explanations are very basic.

Kairos studied the manuals with extreme focus, his background had deprived him of such privilege in the past. Now that there is such an opportunity, his suppressed desires to learn bursts forth uncontrollably.

Being the first time reading a training manual, it took him some effort to understand even a child’s version of the book.

In Saint Empire, Martial Arts are separated into Internal and External. Traditionally, the Internal Martial Arts strengthens a person’s internal organs with a powerful flow of energy, called Ki, allowing it to slowly improve one’s constitution starting from within.

Mastering the Internal Energy allows one to empower one’s movements, power their attacks or even deflect impacts by reinforcing their bodies.

This Ki is formed from cultivating the energy born of the world, into one of the sixteen attributes that a practitioner has an affinity to. Then, stored within one’s Ki Centre, the Dantian, and used to activate powerful martial techniques.

The External Martial Arts, on the other hand, strengthens one from the exterior. From the skin to the muscles. It focuses on improving a practitioner’s physical strength and endurance, allowing one to efficiently spend the body’s stamina.

This form of martial arts allows a person to fight while bypassing their Ki centre and use the strength hidden within their flesh to unleash powerful attacks. Unlike internal energy, the sources of energy for external practitioners are muscles as numerous as the stars.

Though it is theoretically possible to train in these two schools of martial arts concurrently, the amount of effort and time needed to master each type means that practitioners are seldom able to master them both, because the sources of energy used are different.

"Various energy source huh? It seems that the internal and external martial arts have always existed with different schools of thought.

However, why is it that the human body is only one, yet we train it like it is two separate entities? “Kairos mumbled to himself as he studied the manuals.

Like most practitioners when they started out, Kairos has a deep interest in mastering both schools of martial arts to the top levels.

Most people give up after a while when they realise that the time and effort to master one type is far too daunting by itself. In fact, the word ‘master’ is merely a term coined by the masses, but in actuality, there are no limits to how far one can go in Internal or External arts and many grandmasters aspire to reach greater heights than no one had before.

Instead of spreading one’s training into two different paths, most chose to focus on one, while dabbling a little in the other for its supportive benefits.

However, Kairos instinctively felt that it is not just wishful thinking to tread this path where most deemed impossible, but an actual possibility.

It did not take him to set his mind on this matter, and in a moment of inspiration, he had an impossible thought in his mind.

In the boy’s mind, if none exists, then he would be the one who creates a new form of martial arts that could become a perfect synergy between Internal and External Martial Arts.

Any practitioner with a few years under his belt would have laughed at this naïve idea, but Kairos had no one to deter him, and he has a secret only people closest to him knows.

“Could it be, that old book was talking about martial arts?”

Fumbling through the few pathetic looking, plainly coloured, and ragged robes that he owns, he retrieved a large tattered book from the pile. A tome with pictograms written on old sheepskin.

Just by pulling that manuscript out into the open, the entire room smelled of old leather.

The book is written from an unknown, lost, language, but fortunately, because each letter is carved onto the leather in beautiful pictograms, Kairos can roughly guess their meaning.

In the past, because he did not even have the basic knowledge of cultivation, the words of this tome are undecipherable, but now things are different.

He opened the first page of the book, where it was written, "For one became two, and two became many, and many develop everything and achieve all."

The picture to explain this is clearly drawn but, previously Kairos had believed that this phrase was referring to an ancient story that he had heard once before. A commonly known myth in Saint Empire that ‘all people were once a single perfect being but a curse has split them into two, to forever be looking for their other half.'

As a twelve years old who loves hearing the legends of old, Kairos had lugged this book around, hoping to find another version of that myth. But the outcome of what he discovered is far greater than he had hope.

Unknowingly, things had turned out completely in his favour just when he needed it, as he realised it is actually an ancient book on cultivation methods.

He fervently scanned through the pages, taking in as much as he could understand. The tome mentioned another source of energy that exists before it turns into Ki for Internal Arts or physical strength for External Arts.

While this may sound similar to the martial arts system that Saint Empire already has, there is a difference as large as the distance between the heavens and Earth between what the book says and what the people have been practising.

Internal and External Martial artists had believed that the source of their martial arts comes from the energy either from the Dantian or from their muscles, while the book goes one step prior to even entering the Dantian or the body. A source that he comes to call the Origin, Soul Force.

A power that is prior even to power born of the world, the Heavenly Energy.

Excitement glowed brightly in Kairos eyes as he deciphered the cryptic old tome, "It finally makes sense! Yay, we have a chance now!"

The pictograms oddly seem to burn into his mind, as a new cultivation method slowly surfaces.