Kael gasped, pain ripping through him.
He reached for the small blade at his belt—his only weapon.No fear.No panic.Just breath... and focus.
"Fight with your mind, not just your fists," he recalled Soren's words.
The vampire came at him again, aiming straight for Kael's face.
Kael ducked low, spun, and plunged the blade into the creature's throat.Dark blood sprayed as the vampire staggered.Without hesitation, Kael yanked the blade free and drove it into the skull.
Silence.
The vampire collapsed, lifeless.
Kael stood still, breathing hard.
Then—pain. A strange pain. Not from the blow, but deeper… inside him.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his chest.Was it from the fight… or something else?Something was changing.
Kyle leaned silently against a tree, his breath shaky, his body trembling. Blood still dripped from his hand, soaking into the cold soil beneath him.
The pain was fading… but something inside still burned.
Something that wouldn't go away.
As he turned to leave, his eyes caught something strange—
A handprint.
Carved deep into the bark. Large. Rough. Like a powerful hand had gripped it with unnatural strength.
Kyle froze.
His heart raced.
That wasn't his.
He returned to the camp, stained with blood.
Garo rushed to him, alarmed.
"What happened?!"
But Kyle didn't answer.
His eyes were hollow—
As if something inside had broken.
As if something died the moment he killed.
He collapsed onto his bedroll and shut his eyes. Not from peace… but exhaustion.
His first kill.
The next morning, Kyle woke up… smiling.
Like nothing had happened.
The group gathered under the pale morning sky.
Soren, their leader, stood tall and steady.
"Today," he said with quiet resolve, "our journey begins."
Beside him stood Elster, as silent and unreadable as ever.
Garo glanced at Kyle with concern, trying to read the boy's emotions.
Lysa tightened her gloves and checked her gear, calm as always.
Golem, the quiet giant, hoisted his weapon without a word.
Kyle arrived last—his dagger strapped to his side, eyes steady, voice silent.
Garo broke the silence.
"Our next target… is Nars."
Everyone went still.
Soren narrowed his eyes. "That bastard still walks among the living?"
"They say he lives inside an old crypt," Garo added. "One of the king's loyal hounds. And the most ruthless of them all."
A heavy silence followed.
No one spoke. No one needed to.
And so, the group began their march toward the shadows.
Toward the unknown.
Toward death, perhaps.
But in their hearts, it wasn't fear that haunted them—
It was the questions.
Was Kyle truly ready?
And that handprint on the tree…
Was it just a trick of the mind?
Or a sign of something darker…
End of Chapter 2