They were not meant to rise. But they did.
They came from dust, silence, and ruin.
No divine birthright.
No celestial blood.
Only a spark — a memory of something before.
And the flame answered.
1. Path of Time – Saerin of the Hollow Clock
She was born in a prison where time stood still — where days never passed and memories decayed.
But when the flicker reached her, the chains rusted in seconds.
Now, she walks with a thousand selves, speaking with her past and future as if they were siblings.
> "Time is a cage for those who forget they once lived outside it."
2. Path of Space – Korr the Silent Map
A cartographer who bled stars onto parchment.
He carved portals into the stone with his bare hands.
Space bends when he speaks — and sometimes, even he doesn't know where he is.
> "All distance is illusion. There is only here."
3. Path of Nature – Vei of the Verdant Grief
She cried beneath a tree that had forgotten how to bloom.
When the flicker touched her, she became Spring itself — even in a battlefield of ash.
Now, vines tear through celestial palaces, obeying her grief.
> "I do not fight. I reclaim."
4. Path of Humanity – Daro Flame-Tongue
A beggar, a liar, a lover of stories.
He convinced a dying god to laugh.
The flame lit behind his words, and now his voice can move hearts, break minds, and rewrite fate.
> "I speak. You change."
5. Path of Heaven – Yian the Shardbearer
Once a celestial scribe.
She saw the fracture in Heaven before it was spoken.
Now she carries pieces of the divine mirror in her skin, bleeding light with every strike.
> "I will not shatter heaven. I will make it see itself."
6. Path of Death – Morrow the Quiet
She never feared death — she was born dead.
When the flicker reached her, she stood up.
Now, spirits walk with her, not behind.
> "Death is not the end. It is where the forgotten wait."
7. Path of Defiance – Nien, Child of Stone
A child who stood in front of a burning temple with a wooden sword.
He struck down a divine executioner with one blow.
Now, mountains kneel when he shouts.
> "Because someone said I couldn't, I did."
8. Path of the Evil One – Relith, Crown of Flies
Once called a monster.
Once made into one.
She took the name they cursed her with — and wore it like a crown.
Her cultivation defies logic, mercy, and time.
> "Even your hate feeds me."
9. Path of Omnipotence – Elun, Last of the Flicker
She walks alone.
The world bends around her, but she does not notice.
She has no fear, no anger, no sorrow — only the memory of light.
She is not trying to win.
She is trying to remember.
> "To become everything… is to become nothing again."
And so the Nine rose.
Not by permission.
But by memory.