Book One: Rise of the Demonborn
Chapter 2: The Beast That Bowed
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The forest wasn't silent anymore.
Kael could feel it breathing with him—listening. The air shifted when he moved. Birds never sang where he walked. The trees no longer whispered in dread, but in reverence.
Days had passed since the shadowflame burst from his hand. He hadn't summoned it again, not yet. Whatever had awakened in him, it was still raw. Uncontrolled.
But something else was growing inside him. Hunger—not for food, but for strength.
For revenge.
He wandered deeper into Blackthorn, drawn to a presence like thunder beneath the soil. The trees grew thicker here, twisted with veins of silver bark. The light never reached this far. Even the beasts dared not cross the stone arch that marked this place.
Kael did.
As he passed beneath it, the mark on his arm—black and jagged like a lightning scar—flared hot. Something old stirred ahead. Something ancient.
A clearing.
In its center lay a beast unlike the others. Its fur shimmered like obsidian metal, horns curled like blades, and its eyes glowed blue fire. It was chained to a tree that bled black sap, snarling at him.A voice entered Kael's head—not from the creature, but *through* it.
*"You walk on cursed ground, fledgling. Turn back or be consumed."*
Kael didn't flinch. "I wasn't born to kneel."
The beast rose. The earth shook.
*"You speak as though you were king. But you are a child, left to rot by your own kin."*
Kael raised his hand. The black mist gathered.
The beast's eyes narrowed.
*"Ah… the old flame. The mark of Ruven."*
It bowed.
Not fully—but enough.
*"Then test your claim, Demonborn. Break my chains."*
Kael didn't hesitate. He stepped to the tree, placed both hands on the metal, and *called*.
The forest screamed.
A pulse of magic, thick and hot like blood, burst from Kael's chest. The chains shattered in a flash of red-black light, and the sigils on the tree died.
The beast rose.
And knelt.
"Then I serve," it said aloud, no longer through thought. "I am Vaarkos. And you… are no longer prey."
Kael stood taller, the pain in his limbs fading.
He had claimed his first bond.
His first follower.
His vengeance had begun.