Chapter 1

The Yates family, tech giants of the city, claimed I was their long-lost son.

They brought me back to their mansion from a remote mountain temple.

But the moment I arrived, my father called me a fraud.

He looked at my traditional robes and mocked my beliefs as primitive superstition.

Milo, the fake son who took my place, spread rumors that I was a freak practicing dark arts.

My uncle, Jude, pretended to be concerned while warning me to stop my nonsense.

"Asher," he said with a sigh. "The Yates family is built on technology. If you keep up this spiritual act, don't blame us for disowning you."

I looked at their ignorant sneers and felt nothing but pity.

Who told them I came here for a family reunion?

I came down from that mountain to save their miserable lives.

Couldn't they feel the catastrophe looming over their heads?

I was driven into the Yates villa in a luxury car, still wearing my handmade linen robes.

The car door opened, and a middle-aged man stood there with a deep scowl.

He was my biological father, Arthur Yates, a man I had never met until today.

"Is this what you're wearing?"

He scanned me with unfiltered disgust.

"You're an embarrassment. Go change immediately."

Before I could speak, a young man in a designer suit approached, swirling a glass of red wine.

He looked about my age and had a polished, fake smile.

"Dad, don't be so hard on him. He just got here and isn't used to our world yet."

He raised his glass to me, his eyes cold and mocking.

"Welcome home, brother. I'm Milo."

Suddenly, he tripped.

The red wine splashed perfectly onto the cloth bundle in my arms.

The dark liquid soaked the scrolls my master had painted for me.

Those were the protection charms my master spent weeks creating specifically for the Yates family.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Asher. It was an accident."

Milo apologized, but his face was filled with triumph.

I looked up and stared at him silently.

Arthur waved his hand dismissively.

"Fine, it's just a set of rags and some scrap paper. No big deal."

"Asher, listen to me. This is the Yates household, not your temple. Keep your spiritual hocus-pocus to yourself!"

The butler led me to a tiny attic room on the third floor.

It was a storage space with nothing but a bed and a small desk.

I opened the wet bundle.

The scrolls were ruined, the cinnabar ink blurring into red smears.

The first protection charm was destroyed by the very people it was meant to save.

I looked at the glittering city lights outside and then at my outdated robes.

Fine.

If they wanted me to be an ignorant fraud, I would play the part.

I wanted to see how long they could survive without these charms.

The dark energy swirling over their heads was already thick enough to suffocate them.

%%%

I didn't touch the designer clothes in the closet.

I kept wearing my mountain robes.

The attic was small, but it was quiet.

I used my suitcase as a makeshift altar and lit three sticks of incense to clear the air.

Even if they didn't believe me, the energy in this house was a mess.

If I didn't stabilize it, something terrible was going to happen.

The incense had just started to burn when the door was kicked open.

Milo stood there with Arthur, pointing at me with a look of heartbreak.

"Dad, look! I told you he was acting strange. What is he even doing?"

Arthur's face turned bright red when he saw the incense.

He stormed in and kicked my makeshift altar over.

The incense burner shattered, scattering ash across the floor.

"Asher Yates!" He pointed at my nose, trembling with rage. "What did I tell you?"

"Instead of studying science, you choose to be a con artist. Do you think this is a joke?"

I looked at the mess on the floor, my heart completely calm.

"I was only trying to bless the house."

"Bless the house?" Arthur let out a harsh laugh.

He spotted a red string peeking out from my pocket.

He reached out and violently snatched a jade pendant from me.

It was a spiritual artifact from my master, carved with intricate protective runes.

"This piece of junk?" Arthur sneered, holding it up.

"Did you buy this for ten dollars at a flea market?"

"And you treat it like a treasure?"

I looked at the jade and said softly, "It can stop a fatal disaster once."

"Ha!" Arthur laughed until he turned purple. "A fatal disaster? You're just a useless failure!"

He raised his hand and slammed the jade pendant onto the floor.

The sound of shattering stone echoed through the room.

The jade was in pieces.

I felt the last bit of spiritual energy vanish into the air.

I looked at the fragments, then at my furious father and the smirking Milo.

The last bit of family connection I felt shattered along with that jade.

He had no idea that he didn't just break a rock.

He had just destroyed half of his own father's life force.

Fine.

People who won't listen always have to pay a price to learn their lesson.