The first rays of dawn painted the village of Hollow's End in pale gold as Kael Ardent wiped sweat from his brow. His calloused hands gripped the wooden handle of the water bucket tightly, the morning chill making his knuckles ache. He'd been up since before first light, hauling water from the well to the mill - backbreaking work, but honest. The kind of work that kept a man's mind from wandering to dangerous thoughts.
Kael's gaze drifted across the dusty courtyard to where Lira knelt, gathering scattered wheat into her apron. The morning breeze played with strands of her chestnut hair that had escaped from her braid, sticking them to her damp forehead. She looked up suddenly, as if sensing his stare, and for one breathless moment their eyes met.
Then she quickly looked away, cheeks flushing pink.
Kael clenched his jaw and turned back to his task. That was the third time this morning. The twelfth time this week. Each glance like a spark threatening to ignite the tinderbox of his carefully controlled existence.
In the Kingdom of Solstice, love was not a feeling but a law. The Celestial Church decreed that each person could only love one other - their Eternal Bond. To desire more was heresy. To act on it was death.
"Daydreaming again, Ardent?"
The gruff voice startled Kael from his thoughts. Old Man Harren leaned against the mill's weathered wall, his right sleeve pinned up where the hand used to be. The missing limb served as a constant reminder of the price of transgression.
"Just working," Kael muttered, hefting the bucket.
Harren's single good eye narrowed. "I see how you look at her. You think I don't recognize that look?" He raised his stump. "This is what happens when you forget your place."
Before Kael could respond, a horn blast shattered the morning calm.
The sound sent ice water pouring down Kael's spine. He knew that horn - the deep, mournful bellow that only meant one thing.
Inquisitors.
The village square erupted into chaos as people scrambled for their homes. Kael dropped the bucket, water sloshing over his boots as he turned toward the commotion.
Five silver-clad riders thundered into the village center, their white cloaks billowing behind them like ghosts. At their lead rode Inquisitor Dain, his polished armor gleaming cruelly in the morning light. The silver sunburst emblem of the Celestial Church glared from his breastplate.
"By decree of the Celestial Church!" Dain's voice carried across the square like a death knell. "This settlement stands accused of emotional excess! You will submit to purification - or be purified in flame!"
Kael's stomach twisted. Emotional excess. The Church's favorite accusation for any village that showed too much... life. Too many songs sung at the tavern, too many widows who dared smile again, too many young people exchanging glances that lingered a heartbeat too long.
A hand grabbed Kael's wrist. He turned to see Lira's wide, terrified eyes. "Kael, run! They're here for -"
CRACK!
A whip of blinding white light lashed across Lira's back, sending her sprawling into the dirt. Kael lunged for her, but strong hands held him back - Elios and two other village boys.
"Don't be stupid," Elios hissed in his ear.
Inquisitor Dain dismounted slowly, his armored boots crunching in the dirt as he approached the fallen girl. He nudged her onto her back with one foot, his lip curling in disgust. "Lira of Hollow's End. My son tells me you've been... distracted lately. Sighing at his friend during your bonding lessons?"
Lira shook her head weakly, tears cutting tracks through the dust on her face. "N-no, my lord, I -"
Dain backhanded her across the mouth. "Liar!"
Something inside Kael snapped.
He tore free from Elios' grip and charged.
Dain turned just in time to catch Kael's fist with his nose. There was a sickening crunch, a spray of blood, and then the Inquisitor was stumbling back, howling in rage and pain.
For one glorious moment, Kael thought he might actually win.
Then Dain's gauntlet glowed white-hot and slammed into Kael's ribs.
Agony.
Pure, blinding agony unlike anything Kael had ever known. The smell of his own burning flesh filled his nostrils as he collapsed to his knees, vision swimming. Distantly, he heard Lira screaming his name.
As the pain threatened to drag him into darkness, Kael became aware of something else - a steady, pulsing rhythm beneath him. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
Lira's heartbeat.
But not just sound - he could feel it vibrating through the earth, through his very bones. And with it came... heat. Not the searing pain of his wound, but a deep, primal warmth pooling in his chest.
Dain raised his boot to crush Kael's skull.
Kael moved without thinking. His hand shot up, grasping the Inquisitor's wrist.
The moment their skin touched, the world exploded.
Golden light - thick as honey and twice as sweet - erupted from Dain's chest. Kael gasped as it flooded into him, filling every empty space inside. The pain in his ribs vanished. His muscles sang with newfound strength. And the hunger... gods, the hunger he'd spent his whole life suppressing roared to life.
Dain's scream cut off abruptly as his body convulsed, then went limp. When Kael released him, the Inquisitor crumpled to the ground like an empty wineskin, his face frozen in an expression of pure terror.
Silence.
Then chaos.
The remaining Inquisitors scrambled back, their weapons trembling. "H-heresy!" one choked out. "The Primordial Sin!"
Kael barely heard them. He was too focused on the warmth coursing through his veins, the way Lira's pulse now thundered in time with his own. When he looked at her, he didn't see gratitude in her eyes - only fear.
A shadow moved at the edge of his vision.
"Well, well," purred a voice like smoked velvet. "What have we here?"
Kael turned to see a woman emerge from the smoke of burning wheat fields. She moved with unnatural grace, her curves wrapped in black silk that seemed to drink the morning light. Obsidian horns curled from her temples, glinting wickedly.
When she smiled, Kael saw fangs.
"Running already, little godling?" she murmured, stepping over a dead Inquisitor as if it were a fallen log. "And here I thought you might be... entertaining."
Kael's blood ran cold even as the strange heat in his chest flared in response. "Who are you?"
The woman's grin widened. She reached out, tracing a clawed finger down Kael's chest - right where Dain's gauntlet had burned him. The wound sealed instantly under her touch.
"Your first disciple," she whispered. "Or your doom. That depends entirely on how interesting you prove to be."
Behind them, the village burned.