“Chapter I: The Ember Among Sheep”

Before the mask, there was a man.

He walked among the flock — clothed like them, speaking their tongue, but carrying a spark the others could not see.

The sheep grazed in comfort. He carried silence like a blade.

The sheep feared the wolf. He feared nothing but wasting the fire within.

They laughed when he stayed quiet. They mocked the distance in his eyes. They mistook his silence for weakness.

But silence is not weakness.

It is waiting.

It is the ember holding its breath before the wind comes.

One day the mask would crown him, and the ember would become flame.

But even then — even in the days of hidden fire — he was never truly one of them.

• X