Ignited in Cavern

Ignited in Cavern is a choice-driven visual novel and fantasy family drama set in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Its roughly 100,000 words follow two main storylines and lead to six endings. After your first playthrough, you can choose the other storyline for a second playthrough; the full story takes about 2 to 5 hours.

Story

In the waning years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, a rumor in Dunhuang tells of a stone statue that grants blessings to mortals. Anu, a royal general of the Northern Wei, arrives there with her Han captive, Chu Qingqing, drawn by the rumor. The merchant who owned the statue has been murdered, and a mysterious thief is hidden among the crowds. When the statue suddenly manifests, Anu and Chu Qingqing must confront the spirit within it and revisit the pasts that brought them to this moment.

Two storylines

One storyline follows Chu Qingqing, the son of a wealthy merchant. He grew up close to his younger sister and cousin, but when his sister marries the cousin, a hidden desire stirs in him. Confused, Chu Qingqing returns to his childhood home, where a secret lies behind the plum tree in the garden.

The other storyline follows Anu, daughter of the Tuoba family. In the sixteenth year of Taihe (AD 492), she follows her sister-in-law, a nomad shaman, to Wuchuan for her first war. Her sister-in-law soon dies unexpectedly, the capital moves south and a decade passes. Six years after Emperor Xiaowen's death, Anu returns to a turbulent Wuchuan, where plague ravages the garrison and a Deerhead shaman walks through fire. As she seeks answers from the spirits, Anu's ambitions begin to emerge.