The moment the crown touched Kael's head, the world shrank into a single point of pain. It wasn't the kind of pain you could grit your teeth through—it was the kind that clawed its way into the bones, dug into the skull, and set every nerve screaming.
Kael gasped, clutching the sides of his head, but the metal seemed to sink deeper, as if it had a will of its own. He felt it fusing with him—hot as molten iron, yet cold as the grave at the same time. The smell of something burning filled his nostrils, and for a heartbeat, he feared it was his own flesh.
Then came the voice.
"Rise… Ashbearer."
It wasn't spoken aloud. It slithered into his mind like smoke through a crack, curling around his thoughts. The words were heavy, ancient, and drenched in something that felt too big for his body to hold. His knees buckled, but he didn't fall—because the ground itself seemed to bend beneath him.
A wave of power surged through him, not gentle, not kind—wild and hungry. His vision blurred, and the edges of the world glowed with an ember-like light. Shapes twisted. Shadows writhed. He could see things in them—eyes watching from the dark, teeth grinning where no mouth should be.
"Kael!" Lira's voice cut through the haze, sharp with panic. She was reaching for him, but stopped short, her face pale. "Your eyes… they're—" She didn't finish.
Before Kael could speak, the air shuddered. The soldiers who had been closing in stumbled back, their armor rattling. The ground beneath them cracked open, thin lines glowing with a deep, red light that pulsed in rhythm with Kael's heartbeat.
The crown tightened against his head, and another thought bled into his mind.
"They will kneel… or they will burn."
Kael's hands moved without him willing it. Black ash rose from the cracks in the ground, swirling upward in a cyclone, wrapping around him. It hissed and snapped like fire, though no flame touched it. The nearest soldier screamed as the ash brushed against him, leaving behind scorched armor and blistered skin.
Kael's breath quickened. Part of him wanted to stop. The other part… didn't. That other part felt good. Powerful. Untouchable.
Lira grabbed his arm. "Kael, this isn't you!"
He turned toward her, and for a flicker of a moment, he saw fear in her eyes. Not for herself—but for him.
Then the voice came again, louder this time, filling every corner of his mind:
"Feed me."
Kael staggered back, the crown's weight no longer just on his head—it was inside his skull, in his veins, in the beat of his heart. He could feel it digging deeper, rooting itself where nothing could reach.
The soldiers recovered their nerve, circling again. Their captain barked an order, voice trembling despite his best attempt at authority.
"Bring him down! The witch too!"
Lira's grip tightened on Kael's arm. "You need to fight it—"
But fight was the last thing Kael's body wanted. The voice in his mind pulsed with an intoxicating certainty:
"You are not prey. You are the fire they fear."
A soldier lunged. Kael didn't even raise a weapon—his shadow did. It stretched forward like something alive, wrapping around the man's legs and yanking him to the ground with a bone-snapping crunch. The others froze for half a heartbeat too long, and Kael moved.
Or rather… the crown moved him.
His steps left scorch marks in the dirt. His fingers burned with black ember-light. When he swung his arm, the air shimmered as if the heat of a forge had passed through it—and where it touched flesh, armor blackened, skin blistered.
Screams filled the clearing.
"Kael, STOP!" Lira's voice cracked like breaking glass.
He turned toward her again, chest heaving, eyes glowing a deep, ember-red. "I can't—" His voice was ragged, distorted. "It won't let go."
"Why would you want me to?" the crown's voice whispered silk-smooth. "They've hunted you, hurt you, spat on your name. Let me answer them. Let me show them your worth."
Kael's vision wavered. In it, he saw two versions of himself—one, the boy he had been, clutching a rusted sword and trembling in the dark… the other, a figure wreathed in ash and fire, feared by all, kneeling to none.
And that second version… felt right.
The captain rushed him with a spear. Kael didn't move aside. The point pierced his shoulder—yet he felt no pain. Instead, the crown's power flared, and the spear's metal glowed red before crumbling to ash in the captain's hands.
The captain's eyes widened. "Monster—"
Kael's hand shot forward, gripping the man's throat. Heat surged from Kael's palm, the smell of burning flesh filling the air.
"KAEL!" Lira's voice was raw now, desperate.
Her hand brushed his cheek—and for the first time since the crown touched him, something cut through the haze. Her eyes, shining with both fear and stubborn faith, locked onto his.
"This isn't who you are," she said. "Don't let it decide for you."
The shadows lashed forward like living whips, hungry to wrap around Lira's throat. She didn't move. Didn't flinch. Her gaze stayed locked on him—on Kael, not the thing the crown wanted him to become.
"Don't do this," she whispered. "Please… come back."
The voice in his mind became a roar, drowning out even her words.
"She'll bind you to weakness. To fear. Cut her loose and be what you were meant to be!"
Kael's hands shook. The air around him shimmered with unbearable heat. He could smell the singe of her hair as the shadows crept closer.
He saw himself—again—split in two.
One path was fire and glory and fear in the eyes of every living soul.
The other… was her hand, reaching for his.
His breath hitched. The crown pulled. His chest burned. His vision narrowed to the space between his palm and her throat.
One heartbeat.
Two.
And then—
White light erupted behind his eyes, sharp and blinding. The ground fell away. The last thing Kael saw before the darkness swallowed him was Lira's face… and the flicker of horror in her eyes.
For a moment, the voice faltered. The ash storm slowed. Kael's grip on the captain loosened.
Then—
The crown tightened.
A searing bolt of agony shot through his skull, and the voice roared in fury:
"She is the leash. Cut her, and you are free."
The shadows surged toward Lira.
Kael's heart stopped.
And in that frozen heartbeat, he knew—either he would stop the crown now… or it would stop being him forever.
—