Chapter 6: The First Step

The week that followed was a blur of cold mornings and aching muscles. Ryu Jin rose before the bell, slipped through the quiet corridors, and made his way to the Pocket. The clearing had become his sanctuary, the packed earth familiar beneath his bare feet. He practiced the Green Breath until his lungs burned, then moved through the staff forms Vex had sketched in his mind—not with diagrams, but w...