Year five of the Firefolk Era, spring.
The Starfire River of the Nine Provinces suddenly dimmed.
Not in one place, not in one region, but from south to north, from sea to desert, the Starfire River's flowing light slowly dried up as though its soul had been drawn out, its fire fading until it finally went dark.
The lights of countless homes still burned, yet the river of sparks that spanned heaven and earth and linked the people's hearts fell silent in the night sky, like a river whose flow had been severed.
"The source of fire... has been cut off?"
The blind girl A Mian stood before the Fireheart Platform, the fragment of a copper pot cold against her hand. She reached out with her Heart Flame, only to touch utter, deathly silence.
"No, it hasn't been cut off... it's fallen asleep."
The people were shaken.
Some cried out in fear, "Could the remnants of the Fire Smith Alliance be behind this?"
Some lamented, "The Starfire River was an illusion after all. Splendor scatters so easily."
Others from the "Fire-Silence School" stood on high platforms, threw up their arms, and shouted, "Fire is inherently impermanent! Force it to burn forever, and heaven will punish you! Now we must extinguish our fires and return to stillness, return to the old ways and preserve simplicity!"
But just then—
A boy set out from Gray Ridge Village, carrying a dying starfire lamp on his back and holding half a scroll of the "Fragmentary Treatise on Fire," embarking alone on the road north.
His name was Zhaoming, and he had been born without any sense for fire. No one in the village believed he could command it. Yet that night, he dreamed of the Three Night Watchers standing amid wind and snow, saying