The square was ruined. Where laughter and music had been only hours ago, there was now a crater, a hollow scar gouged deep into the city's heart. Ash drifted in the air like snow. People huddled at the edges, too afraid to draw closer, whispering like ghosts.
Caden stood at the center, trembling. His throat was raw, his hands numb. He kept staring at the hole, as if his family might crawl back out if he just looked long enough. But there was nothing. Only absence.
A voice broke the silence.
"Seize him."
Soldiers surged forward, boots crunching rubble. Rifles leveled at his chest. He tried to step back, but the circle of steel was already closing.
One soldier spat at the ground. "That thing isn't human."
Another whispered, "He saved us from the beast…"
"By eating half the damn square."
Caden's legs gave out. He fell to his knees, hands raised, though he knew surrender wouldn't help. His voice cracked, "I—I didn't mean—"
A rifle barrel struck his temple. The world went black.
When he woke, the air stank of mold and iron. He lay on a stone floor, wrists bound in shackles too heavy for his arms. Chains rattled when he tried to move. The cell was small, walls damp, only a single torch flickering in the hall beyond.
Memories flooded back. Mara's scream, Taren's hand torn away, the void swallowing everything. His chest clenched. He bit back a sob. If he let it out, he was afraid the hunger would come back with it.
Footsteps echoed.
The warlord himself appeared. He was not a king, not anymore. He wore scavenged armor polished bright, a cloak draped over one shoulder, and rings on every finger like trophies. His face was lean, sharp-eyed, lips curled in a smile that didn't reach those eyes. Soldiers trailed behind him.
He looked at Caden as one might look at a strange weapon dug out of the earth.
"So," the warlord said. "The Devourer of Ash." He circled slowly, boots echoing. "You killed dozens. Soldiers. Citizens. Perhaps even your own kin. And yet… you swallowed the beast whole. You ended what no army could."
Caden forced himself to meet his gaze. "It wasn't me. It was—"
"It is you." The warlord leaned close, voice sharp as glass. "Power. Unfathomable. Terrifying. And mine."
He straightened, turning to his men. "Chain him. Feed him. Train him. We will aim him at our enemies and watch them vanish into the void."
One soldier stepped forward, different from the others. His armor was worn but kept, his stance precise, his eyes calculating. A scar ran from temple to jaw. Unlike the rest, he didn't look at Caden with fear. He looked at him with measure.
The warlord nodded toward him. "This one will watch you. Teach you. If you can be taught."
The soldier gave a curt nod. "Yes, my lord." Then his gaze met Caden's. "Stand, boy."
Caden tried, chains dragging at his arms, legs trembling.
The man studied him a long moment before speaking. "My name is Ravel." His tone was flat, unreadable. "If you want to survive, you'll listen to me."
They dragged Caden from the cell into an abandoned courtyard, ringed with guards. Ash still clung to the air from the previous night's destruction. Ravel stood opposite him, arms crossed.
"Show me," Ravel said.
Caden shook his head violently. "I can't. I don't know how."
"You didn't know yesterday, yet half the square is gone."
"That wasn't me," Caden whispered. "It was… it was something else."
Ravel stepped closer, voice low so the others wouldn't hear. "Listen carefully. If you don't learn to control it, they will break you open and use what's inside until you're empty. Or kill you trying. Your choice."
Caden's hands trembled. He remembered the shadows, the void, the silence after. He clenched his fists until his nails dug blood.
Nothing happened.
Ravel sighed. "Good. Better to choke it back than let it consume you blindly." He motioned to the guards. "Enough for today. He needs rest."
As the guards dragged him back to the cell, Ravel walked beside him, speaking low.
"You think you're cursed. Maybe you're right. But curses can be weapons. If you let the warlord own you, you'll never breathe free again."
Caden swallowed hard. "Then why are you helping me?"
Ravel's eyes were hard. "Because I've seen what the cults do with children like you. Better you live as a weapon than die as their key."
Caden said nothing. He stared at the shackles biting his wrists.
That night, as Caden lay on the stone floor, whispers slithered through the cracks of the cell. Not human voices, deeper, wrong, curling into his ears.
Devourer.
Key.
The void is hungry, and it knows your name.
He pressed his hands over his ears, trembling. The guards outside heard nothing. Only he did.
And in the dark, he realized he wasn't just chained by the warlord. Something else had already claimed him.