#poor cale

Alright, I’ve had a crazy idea that I’ve been thinking about for a long time.

So let’s say Ashborn was not originally Ashborn. He was Cale Henituse… no, better to call him Thames.

The timeline is tboah but my Au

How to explain it… The Thames are an ancient clan of hunters, descended from the first gods. They possess immense authority and many abilities. The most valuable thing about the Thames is their heart and blood.

We know about the White Star and the God of Despair, and so…

Let’s say Cale (the original one) was 8 years old when he was kidnapped by the White Star. Experiments were conducted on him—his blood was taken and tested for its potential.

By the age of 14, Cale escaped and took with him a black egg, from which Roan hatched.

Together they traveled while avoiding the White Star. Cale wrote in his notes that he wanted to return home to his family. By the age of 18, he and Roan returned to the Henituse district, only to find it destroyed.

Then the army began to move.

Eventually, the White Star managed to capture Cale, who was broken by the death of his family. Right before his eyes, the White Star brutally killed Roan.

Cale’s power went out of control, and he destroyed everything—the entire world, as if it had never existed.

The God of Despair took that moment and possessed Cale’s body, imprisoning him. Cale was already mentally broken and did not resist anymore.

By absorbing Cale’s blood and power, the God of Despair became an absolute being and recreated the world from scratch.

To keep himself entertained, he created the Monarchs and the Rulers so they would fight and amuse him.

But he did not leave Cale alone—instead, he tore out his heart. From that heart, Ashborn was born.

Meanwhile, Cale’s original body became something like a tree. From this tree grew fruits, and from those fruits were born soldiers such as Bellion.

Everything then continues according to the canon of Solo Leveling.

Ashborn is both Cale and not Cale at the same time. When he passed his power to Jin-Woo, he asked him one favor—to destroy his original body.

Jin-Woo was confused, and Ashborn told him his entire story.

Jin-Woo agreed. Ashborn thanked him, and Jin-Woo awakened as the Shadow Monarch and killed the Monarch of the Ice Race and the Monarch of Beasts.

After that, everything follows canon. However, after killing Antares, Jin-Woo—guided by Ashborn’s memories—finds the tree and Ashborn’s original body and destroys it as promised. The Rulers try to stop him, but fail.

Jin-Woo’s final words to Ashborn: — Rest in peace, Ashborn… no… Cale.

After that jin-woo used the cup of reincarnation to save his world and maybe later he can save Ashborn from his fate

Cale in Central Plains be like:

But cale's party has the chance to contact the older cale to win without any losses

So they have two cales living in the same house.

A traumatized one, and another even more traumatized.

And after that they will try to help old cale to deal better with his traumas.

It could be a side thing of his healing ancient power-

He only uses it when he feels like one of his allies injuries was his fault/ could have been prevented or when they don't have enough healing potions/people

Literally anyone who Cale has used this power on is horrified when they find out how exactly it works

Like a scene where Cale was coughing up blood two seconds ago but notices a cut on Choi han's arm and instinctively heals it.

Choi han internally: 'goddamnit Cale-nim-'

Not sure if the injury should be healed by his ancient power or if he has to let it heal normally

---

Ex:

"Here, let me heal you."

'If I hadn't distracted him, this wouldn't have happened'

Cale moved his hand towards Choi han's head injury with a sour face. Everyone was fighting with members from Arm around them, although the battle was mostly one-sided-

Choi han moved his eyes up, only seeing the faint, white glow coming from Cale's hands. The headache that he felt slowly went away leaving a pleasant, warm feeling in it's place.

Choi han felt his energy go back to 100% and moved to stand.

"Cale-nim, please rest for now! We'll take care of this!"

".. Alright, be careful."

The only reason why Cale actually agreed to this was because he was tired and was now taking care of a head wound. It wasn't too bad, though still annoying.

After Choi han left, Cale ran a hand through his hair, said hand coming back with more blood than originally on Choi han's head.

'... this is one thing I don't like about Vitality if the Heart-'

-Human! What happened to your hair!? Are you hurt? I'll kill whoever did this-

"Don't worry about it, It'll heal soon."

Cale quickly began patting Raon to calm the overprotective dragon down while walking towards the carriages.

"Ah- sorry. I got some blood on you."

-...

Raon wordlessly teleported them both inside their carriage.

They took a nap untill the battle was over.

Cale forgot about the head wound and blood on his hair.

---

Now the thing above could go a few ways- when Cale wakes up and moves his head, there's a blood stain. And Choi han or whoever's in the carriage with him immediately notice, Choi han puts together the thing about his healing power and everyone bans him from using it again.

Or he wakes up in his bed with a bandage wrapped around his head and Ron tells him that he smelled the blood when he got in the carriage and scolds him for hiding an injury.

Or they make it back to the villa and when Ron is helping Cale shower, a crap ton of dried blood is coming out of his hair and Ron immediately takes him out and puts him to bed while calling several healers and again scolding him from hiding an injury.

Or they go to the Henituse mansion and Deruth hugs Cale in front of everyone, running his fingers through his hair and feels something wet. Spoiler alert: it's blood. Cale tries to tell everyone he's okay but fails because his head is literally bleeding.

Or Cale just faints as soon as he tries to step out of the carriage to see if anyone else is injured.

alberu: I wake up at 4:30 AM

cale: