The ground cracked beneath Kael as he stepped forward
The forest behind him had vanished swallowed by the smoke of his vengeance
Now he stood at the edge of a warpath carved by old gods and forgotten beasts
Each breath he took burned his lungs like fire scraped across his insides
But he did not stop
Pain was his language now
And the world would understand it soon
Before him stretched a valley torn by ancient magic once home to a thousand tribes now nothing more than dust and bones
Ruins stabbed the sky like broken swords shattered towers split mountains cracked bridges hanging from cliff to cliff by cursed vines
Kael moved forward slowly his footsteps echoing like drums in the empty world
His eyes behind the mask glowed faintly not with light but with memory
He saw the echoes of the past as he walked
Children screaming in smoke warriors dying with curses on their lips kings drowning in blood trying to hold their thrones
None of it moved him
Not anymore
He reached the first gate
It was not guarded by men
It was guarded by hunger
A beast waited its body twisted with centuries of corruption its arms made of blades its face hollow except for a single burning eye
It did not growl
It did not threaten
It simply existed to devour
Kael raised his hand
Shadow poured from his palm thick like oil catching fire with his rage
The beast charged
Kael leapt to meet it steel and darkness colliding in the air with the force of a quake
Blades tore across his chest but he did not flinch
He drove his fist through the creature's ribs shadow exploding outward ripping it apart from within
Its scream echoed across the valley like the cry of a dying god
Kael landed hard the dust swirling around his feet
The beast melted into ash
And the gate opened
He entered the old kingdom
No one had walked these streets for centuries
The buildings leaned as if weeping their stones blackened with forgotten war
In the center of the city was a well
But this well did not give water
It gave memory
Kael approached it drawn by something deeper than instinct
He stared into the void at its bottom
And it stared back
He saw a child
Himself
Tied to a post as nobles laughed as flames lit the air
He saw his mother reaching for him with burned fingers as soldiers held her down
He saw the priest smile
He saw the king turn away
Kael clenched his fists the veins in his arms glowing again with the cursed power within
He did not scream
He had screamed enough
He whispered one name and the well cracked
From the broken stone rose an echo of himself not as he was but as he could have been a boy of light not shadow
The echo smiled and asked if this was what he wanted
Kael crushed the echo with his hand
There was no other path now
He turned from the well and fire began to pour from its mouth rising into the sky like a signal
Something ancient had awakened
And it had seen him
Thunder shook the ground
From the east came the first of the watchers
A towering knight with no face a helmet filled with chains floating above the ground carried by dozens of shadow tendrils
It did not speak
It judged
Kael charged
Their clash shattered windows and cracked towers
The knight summoned swords from the sky each one falling like lightning Kael dodging leaping carving his way through the storm
One blade pierced his side but he twisted through it letting the pain fuel him
He struck the helm with his palm unleashing raw energy that shattered its metal
The knight fell
But its body did not bleed
It disintegrated into thousands of black feathers each one whispering a curse as it floated away
Kael stood in the ruins of the square blood dripping from his mouth breathing heavy
He looked to the sky
Three more were coming
He was not afraid
His path was clear
Let the world come
He would meet it with fire shadow and silence
He would make the gods themselves kneel before his wrath
And he would not stop
Not until the final seal was broken
Not until the last light was drowned
Not until they all remembered what they did to him
What they took
And what he had become