Volume 8: Garnet Resolve

Light shines, fire blazes, wisdom unveils, life flourishes, space bends, thunder roars, and tides surge—but resolve holds firm against the storm. In the rain-soaked streets of Vietnam, a garnet awakens, bearing the unyielding power of will. This is the story of the eighth chosen, a man forged in sacrifice, and a battle that tests the limits of endurance. Welcome to Garnet Resolve.

Chapter 1: Fire in the Rain

Hanoi, Vietnam, May 6, 2025—eight days after the events in Hawaii. Rain lashed the city’s old quarter, drumming against tiled rooftops and flooding narrow streets. At a small fire station on the outskirts, Nguyen Minh Tuan, 34, stood in the muddy courtyard, his muscular frame soaked through his uniform. His scarred face—etched by burns from years past—glistened under the downpour, his dark eyes fixed on the horizon. A veteran firefighter, Tuan had saved dozens of lives, but the ghosts of those he couldn’t haunted him daily.

Tonight, he’d returned from extinguishing a blaze at an industrial site, the stench of smoke clinging to him. Alone in the gear room, he hung his helmet, when a clatter drew his gaze—a garnet, deep red and glowing like a smoldering coal, rolled from a pile of ash he’d swept in. “What’s this?” Tuan muttered, picking it up. The moment he touched it, a fiery strength surged through him, his muscles tightening with unnatural power.

Curious, he punched a sandbag hanging nearby. It exploded in a shower of sand, the chain snapping. “Chúa ơi…” he gasped, staring at his fist. Before he could process it, the station’s alarm blared—an explosion at a nearby night market. Tuan raced out, arriving to find chaos: flames roaring, people screaming, and black-clad figures controlling the blaze. Cassian Vex stepped forward, rain steaming off his cloak. “Nguyen Minh Tuan,” he said, voice cutting through the storm. “Give me the Garnet of Resolute Will, or this city burns.”