Part I: The Demon Queen's Ultimatum
Nightfall descended like a black shroud over the world.
The ruins of the sanctuary were now a fortress of shadows. Kael slept in a fevered haze, his body recovering, though his mind drifted through half remembered visions. Lyra sat at his side, her blades across her lap, senses sharpened.
And then ,a scent.Jasmine and blood.
A figure emerged from the darkness.
Tall, regal, impossibly beautiful. Midnight hair, eyes like twin pools of crimson. Skin pale as moonlight, lips crimson as a freshly spilt wound.
Queen Selvara. Demon Queen of Varinthia. Lyra's mother.
Lyra's heart clenched.
"Mother," she whispered.
The Queen's voice was silk over steel."I offered you a throne, child. A kingdom. And yet you choose exile and treason for a human's embrace."
Lyra stood, blades in hand.
"You came to kill me?"
"I came to remind you who you are." The Queen stepped closer, her gaze flickering toward Kael. "And to offer you one final choice before I burn this land to ash."
Lyra's jaw tightened."I'm not yours anymore."
Selvara's smile was cold. "You are mine by blood. And by blood you will watch this world drown. Unless you return to me."
She reached into the air and from nothing, a dark crystal appeared in her hand.Inside it: a vision.Armies. Thousands of winged demons, legions of bone-armored soldiers, siege beasts, war mages. A tide of darkness.
"I march at dawn, daughter," the Queen said softly. "Surrender the boy. Return to me. Or your lover will die as the world crumbles."
Lyra's grip on her blades tightened, fury and grief twisting within her."I won't let you touch him."
Selvara's gaze softened, almost sad."Then you are no daughter of mine."
In a flicker of shadow, she was gone.
And the air reeked of war.
Part II: Kael – Awakening the Bloodline
Kael's fevered dreams turned to visions.Memories not his own.
He stood upon a battlefield of shattered gods.
Blood rained from a black sky. Titans fought in the distance ,beasts of horn and flame, angels of light and ruin. At the center, a man stood wielding a sword of pure shadow.
His face was Kael's.
But older. Harsher. Eyes dark as starless night.
He recognized it now, the founder of his bloodline. The Chosen Betrayer.Drenor the Godslayer.
A voice boomed within the vision.
"Blood remembers, Kael Draven. Every oath. Every betrayal. You are the last vessel. The world will fall… or rise… by your hand."
Kael tried to speak, but the vision collapsed. He woke with a gasp, the mark on his chest glowing brighter than ever, the dagger Vharion humming with power.
Lyra was at his side in an instant.
"You're awake."
"I saw them," Kael whispered, sweat slick on his skin. "The godslayers. My ancestors. I… I'm not just a soldier, Lyra. I'm… I'm the last of their blood."
Lyra gripped his hand tightly.
"And you're mine," she said fiercely. "I don't care what power you carry. Or what fate says. You're Kael. And you're mine."
He smiled weakly.Then his expression darkened.
"Your mother was here. Wasn't she?"
Lyra hesitated."She's marching at dawn."
A long, heavy silence.Then Kael spoke the words neither of them wanted to say.
"Then we leave tonight."