Kael stood alone in the scorched valley
Ash clung to his cloak and blood soaked into his boots
Behind him the last of the corrupted priests were nothing more than charred shadows burned into the stone
Their screams had already faded
But silence never lasted
From the distant ridge a cloaked figure still watched
Its face hidden beneath layers of rotting cloth
Its eyes were not glowing but void
Hollow holes staring into something beyond death itself
Kael did not ask who it was
He did not speak
He simply walked forward
Each step cracked the earth beneath him
Not from weight
But from the pressure of power
Power no mortal should hold
Power born from rebirth
From torment
From death
From the pact he had made beneath the altar of bones
The figure began to move
Floating rather than walking
It drifted down the slope into the valley
No sound
No breath
No life
Kael did not move until it reached him
Then the figure spoke
Its voice like blades tearing through wet flesh
It said
You have killed too many
The balance is broken
The doors are opening
Kael said nothing
He did not believe in balance
He did not fear warnings
He raised one hand
And summoned a blade not of steel
A weapon forged from red flame and etched with black runes
A blade that screamed as it moved
The figure did not flinch
Instead it reached into its own chest
Pulled free a long chain of pale bones
And began to spin them like a whip before charging
They collided in a violent eruption of force
Kael moved like a beast not a man
Each strike of his burning blade split the air in half
The figure met him blow for blow
But Kael did not slow
Did not retreat
He pressed forward
Each step heavier than the last
Until the figure cracked
Its body split open from shoulder to waist
And something inside let out a scream
Not of pain
But of awakening
The bone weapon shattered
And from the figure's torn body spilled a flood of leeching spirits
Pale things with hollow mouths and endless hunger
They rushed him
Hundreds
Thousands
Drawn by hatred
Feeding on sorrow
Living through vengeance
Kael did not run
He welcomed them
They latched onto his body
Tried to feed on him
But he absorbed them instead
Their memories
Their rage
Their curses
He consumed them all
And grew darker
Stronger
His veins pulsed with energy
Not light
But hunger
His body twisted further
Not from pain
But from rebirth
He was no longer man
Not demon
Not god
He had become something else
Something ancient
Something reborn through suffering
He looked at his hands
Clawed and encased in dark crystal
And in the distance he felt the tower again
Not a building
But a throne
A monument of blood that called to him
Then he heard her voice
Soft
Cold
Familiar
It came from behind a wall of shattered stone
And it said
You finally look like what you were always meant to be
Kael turned
She stepped forward
Her silver hair long and unbound
Her eyes like shattered glass
She wore the robes of the priestesses
But hers were soaked with the blood of her own order
Kael knew her
Elira
Once the high priestess who had betrayed him
Now twisted into something new
She smiled
A cruel smile without warmth
I've waited for this Kael
For your transformation
He said nothing
But he remembered
She had fed him to the altar
Lied to the elders
Sealed his soul inside the demon gate
Now she stood before him
Not ashamed
Not regretful
But proud
She raised one hand
The ruins behind her trembled
From the ground rose new beasts
Twisted hounds without faces
Worms thick as trees
A giant stitched together from the corpses of old sorcerers
All of them turned their hollow gaze toward Kael
Elira said
I made these for you
For this reunion
Let us see if you are truly worthy of the hatred you carry
Kael felt no fear
No emotion at all
Only hunger
He stepped forward
And the ground shattered beneath his feet
The sky above darkened
And behind him
The tower began to rise
Its shape formed of shadow and bone
Not built
But summoned
Kael raised both arms
From the sky fell blades of fire
From the earth burst chains of frost
Poison fog spilled from his torn cloak
And lightning flickered in his eyes
All ten of his mastered skills awakened
Each star on his soul burned with power
The beasts charged
But Kael was already among them
He cut down the hounds with blades of wind
Crushed the worms with fists of stone
The stitched giant roared
But Kael impaled its heart with a beam of blood magic
The battlefield turned into a graveyard
Elira watched
Blood dripping from her eyes
And she laughed
You are perfect now Kael
But perfection is not enough
Come find me
At the summit
Where the gods once sat
Before we burned them
She vanished in a spiral of black runes
Leaving only ruin and echoes
Kael stood in the silence
His cloak torn
His body glowing with power
And behind him
The tower continued to rise
Calling him upward