The cavern was still. Only the faint glow of the egg lit the stone walls, casting the girl's small shadow against Kael's looming form. She held onto the warm shell with trembling hands, her eyes shimmering with the kind of joy only a child could carry.
Kael knelt before her, his tone steady, though his chest felt heavier with each word."They brought you here… not because they adored you, little one. You were meant to be a sacrifice."
The girl blinked, her smile faltering. "N-No… that's not true. Everyone… they were so kind to me. They gave me sweets, they said I was special. They… they wouldn't—"
Her voice broke. Tears brimmed, spilling down her cheeks as she shook her head violently. "You're lying! They all loved me!"
Kael's heart twisted at the sight. For all his power, for all the blood on his hands, watching a child's innocence shatter felt crueler than any blade.
He placed a hand over hers, steady and firm. "No. They loved the idea of what you would give them. They wore masks, little one. Behind them were only liars, willing to feed you to a monster for their safety."
Her sobs echoed through the cavern, small and fragile. And Kael… felt it. The ache. Not the cold satisfaction of vengeance, not the detached calculation of strategy—but a piercing sorrow that demanded to be silenced.
He leaned closer, his voice softer."Come with me. No one will ever lie to you again. You'll be cared for, protected. Not as a sacrifice. Not as a tool. But as… family."
Her tear-streaked face tilted up, hesitant. "Like… mother?"
For the first time in years, Kael's words almost caught in his throat. He nodded slowly. "Yes. Like mother."
The cavern pulsed with warmth, the egg resonating to her touch as though acknowledging the vow.
Kael rose, his shadow stretching across the walls. With a wave of his hand, three figures tore themselves into existence—the Abyssal bosses he had once unleashed upon Greyspire. Their forms warped the air, grotesque silhouettes of power bound to his will.
And then came Pyraflame. The fire lizard, resurrected and reforged in abyssal flame, emerged from the darkness. It bent low, allowing the girl and Kael to climb onto its massive back. The egg nestled carefully in its claw, molten veins glowing as Pyraflame's body heat kept it alive.
Kael's gaze turned toward the village nestled at the mountain's base. His eyes burned with unyielding resolve.
"No more masks. No more lies."
He raised his hand. The abyss answered.
The bosses surged forward, shadows blanketing the land. Pyraflame roared, a guttural echo that split the night, before exhaling a torrent of fire that washed over the rooftops. Screams erupted, but none carried meaning to Kael anymore.
From Pyraflame's back, Kael stood like a sovereign of death, the girl pressed against his side, clutching the egg as it pulsed with growing life. Together they watched as the village burned, swallowed by fire and darkness.
The child's tears slowed, replaced not by joy but by something steadier—trust.
And Kael knew in that moment, both the girl and the egg would change everything.
The fires of the border village still smoldered behind them when Kael and the little girl descended upon his lands atop Pyraflame. The abyssal bosses melted back into shadow, their task complete, while the fire lizard landed with deliberate care near the dungeon's heart.
Kael leapt down, the girl clinging to his cloak with one hand while clutching the warm egg with the other. He gently pried it from her arms, carrying it with both hands as though it weighed far more than it did.
Before stepping foot into the house, he diverted to the core chamber. The Dungeon pulsed faintly, runes shimmering along the stone walls in response to his presence. Kael placed the egg carefully upon the pedestal near the core, letting the mana-rich air wrap around it. Almost immediately, faint cracks of light traced across the shell.
It's already stirring.
The girl tilted her head, eyes wide with awe. "It's… alive."
Kael gave a rare smile, brief but genuine. "Yes. And here, it will be safe."
Only after ensuring the egg was cradled in the dungeon's mana flow did Kael guide the girl into the warmth of his home.
Inside, his mother was at the hearth, humming softly while Reina fiddled with a half-finished doll. Both looked up as Kael entered, the little girl half-hiding behind his leg.
His mother's eyes softened instantly. "Kael… who is this child?"
Reina, ever sharper, let out a playful gasp and then broke into a mischievous grin."Brother! Don't tell me you finally married someone in secret and this is your daughter!"
Kael froze. His expression didn't change, but his silence was all Reina needed. She burst into laughter, rolling onto the rug, clutching her sides.
The little girl blinked, confused, and whispered to Kael, "What's… marry?"
He sighed deeply, rubbing his temple. "Ignore her. She's being difficult."
Reina only laughed harder. "Difficult? Oh no, brother, I think this is the first time I've ever seen you bring home a girl. And now you're already a father!" She leaned closer to the little one, grinning conspiratorially. "What should I call you? Niece?"
The girl tilted her head, uncertain, then clutched Kael's hand tighter. "Can I… call her sister too?"
Kael's mother approached, kneeling before the child with a kind smile. "Of course you can, little one. In this house, there are no strangers. You're safe now."
For the first time since the mountain, the girl allowed herself a small smile—tentative, fragile, but real.
Kael watched, his chest easing ever so slightly. He had destroyed a village tonight, reaped vengeance without hesitation… but here, in this small home, he felt the weight of another truth: he wasn't building for himself anymore.
Somewhere behind them, deep in the dungeon's heart, the egg pulsed again, a sharp crack running down its shell.
The beginning of something new had arrived.
The border village's ashes smoldered for days, smoke twisting upward like a grim beacon visible from miles away. News traveled swiftly. Merchants, survivors who had fled before the night of destruction, and soldiers who arrived too late to save anything—each carried fragments of a tale that warped as it spread.
By the time it reached Greyspire, the report had already taken on the weight of disaster.
Arlen sat in the council chamber, jaw clenched as the mayor of a nearby town trembled before him. "The entire village… gone, my lord. Burned to the ground. Every building flattened, every soul erased. And the sacrifice—" The man's voice broke, his throat dry. "—the chosen maiden is missing."
Arlen's eyes narrowed. Impossible. The ritual should have bound her fate the moment she entered the cave.
"Send scouts," Arlen ordered, his tone cold as steel. "I want the truth of what happened beneath those mountains."
When the imperial scouts arrived at the mountain, what they found stripped even hardened men of composure.
The cave entrance was scorched black, the surrounding earth melted into hardened slag. Deep within, claw marks and gouts of flame scarred the rock walls, evidence of a violent struggle.
But most disturbing was the absence of what they were supposed to find.
"The lizard's carcass…" one whispered, holding a trembling torch. "Where is it?"
Another scout knelt, brushing his fingers over a gouge in the stone that pulsed faintly with lingering mana. "The beast fought here. Something—no, someone—killed it. This was no natural death. And its remains… they've been taken."
When the report reached Greyspire, Arlen's face drained of color for the first time in years. A Legendary-ranked monster—even if it was only a mutated fire lizard—was a cornerstone of their treaty. Its presence alone deterred incursions from rival empires.
But now? Its corpse missing, its killer unknown?
The nobles reacted like a nest of hornets kicked over.
"Who would dare—?"
"This must be the work of a rival empire!"
"No… no, this reeks of something darker. A secret organization. No adventuring party could possibly take down such a creature and erase all trace!"
Arlen let the chaos wash over him, but inside his mind was ablaze. He recalled the whispers of a shadowy hand meddling in Greyspire, the rumors the prince's sisters were spreading, the destruction of the Blackmaw Caves.
Each incident, small on its own, now formed a chain that pointed toward a singular truth:
There is someone moving in the dark. Someone who not only defies the prince's schemes, but who holds the power to break treaties with Legendary beasts.
And if the corpse could not be found, then one possibility lingered above all others:
The monster had not simply been slain.
It had been claimed.