The blade in Kade's hand hummed like a whispering storm.
Its edge wasn't metal—it was memory. Crimson threads danced along its length, pulsing like veins. The weight of it tugged at his arm, like the weapon remembered more than he did.
The dead lunged.
The first was a priest, robes scorched to ash, jaw unhinged as if he'd tried to scream when he died. His fingers were long, too long, ending in claws that clattered like broken glass on stone.
Kade ducked.
Instinct—not skill—drove him.
He spun, swinging the blade low. It hummed as it cut through air... and sliced clean through the priest's legs.
The corpse fell, head snapping toward Kade, embers blazing in its sockets. But before it could crawl, the blade flared brighter, surged with light, and incinerated the priest in a burst of flame.
Kade stumbled back, panting.
"That... that worked?"
No time to think.
More were coming.
The woman with half her face. A knight whose armor dragged molten chains. A child with empty eyes and a stitched mouth.
Kade raised his sword again, chest heaving, knees shaking.
"I'm not supposed to be here," he muttered.
But something deep inside him whispered back:
You were always supposed to be here.
---
Above the cathedral, unseen by Kade, glowing runes spun in the air—observing, analyzing.
In a chamber stitched into the sky like a parasite, three Veilborne examiners watched.
One, an old man with hollow eyes and a crown of rusted nails, leaned forward. "Unregistered. No ID. Yet the blade responds to him."
The second, a child draped in shadow and stitched cloaks, giggled. "His fear is delicious. But he fights. Ooooh, he fights."
The third, a woman with no face—just a mask of mirrored glass—spoke only one word:
"Watch."
---
Back inside the cathedral, Kade was bleeding.
A gash tore across his arm. His ribs ached. His grip on the blade was weakening.
One more corpse lunged—a knight who moved like thunder, his chains swinging wide.
Kade barely dodged, the chain skimming past his cheek, opening a thin red line.
But then—
The blade sang.
It pulled him forward, guiding his body like a puppetmaster in the wind.
He didn't know how he moved—but he did. One slash, then another. A twist. A leap.
He was dancing. Or drowning.
He didn't know.
But when it ended…
Every corpse was ash.
---
Kade collapsed to his knees, gasping, the blade melting into smoke and vanishing from his hand.
The cathedral shook.
The altar ahead split open—cracked like a wound—and a single black shard floated above it.
> "Arcane Trial Complete.
Class Assigned: Veilborn – Class D
Affinity: Unknown
Path: Fragmented Origin**"
Symbols etched themselves into his skin—glowing briefly on his chest before vanishing. A card of black light formed in the air, hovered before him, then slid into his jacket pocket.
Kade blinked.
"I survived..."
He laughed. Just a little.
Then the doors behind him creaked open, and a new voice spoke.
"Well well... Not bad for a lost pup."
He turned—and froze.
It was Veyne again.
But this time, he wasn't alone.
Behind him were three more figures.
One girl with snow-white hair and a blindfold.
One boy with silver eyes and a robotic arm.
And one massive, hunched man who carried a coffin on his back.
All of them radiated power. Control. Madness.
Veyne grinned. "Welcome to the Broken Dawn, Kade. Hope you're ready to pick a side... before this Veil eats you alive."
---
End of Chapter 6