⚔️ Chapter 4:
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Page 1 — Into the Fire
Kael sprints downhill toward the burning village.
Ash clings to his skin.
His lungs feel like they're tearing, but he doesn't slow.
Screams echo through the huts.
One of the Purity Hounds drags a man by the throat.
Another claws at a door where children hide.
Kael picks up a broken farming spear from the ground.
It's cracked, rusted — barely a weapon.
But it's all he has.
> Kael (thinking):
"I won't let this place burn.
Not again."
His shadow stretches unnaturally long behind him, rippling like a beast ready to pounce.
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Page 2 — First Clash
The first hound snaps its head toward him —
jaw unhinging, divine venom sizzling on its fangs.
Kael charges anyway.
The spear shakes in his grip.
His hands bleed where the wood splinters.
He thrusts—
The hound sidesteps easily.
It rams into him.
Kael flies back, crashing into the dirt, breath knocked out of him.
His ribs scream.
His arms tremble.
The creature slowly approaches, savoring the moment.
> Voice (inside Kael's head):
"Pathetic.
Let me take over."
Kael glares into the empty air.
> Kael: "No."
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Page 3 — The Breaking Point
The hound leaps.
Kael barely rolls aside.
Its claws slash across his shoulder — deep, burning.
Blood spills in a dark arc.
He staggers to his feet.
Vision blurring.
Heart pounding like war drums.
The other hound sees weakness and joins the attack.
Two against one.
Kael raises his broken spear again, more out of instinct than hope.
> Kael (thinking):
"I'm not strong enough."
His knees buckle.
The hounds pounce—
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Page 4 — Unleashing the Shadow
Everything stops.
Even the flames seem to freeze.
Kael's shadow erupts upward, towering behind him like a demon climbing out of hell.
A soundless roar shakes the ground.
The claws of the hounds never touch him.
Black tendrils lash out, grabbing both creatures by their necks.
Bones snap like brittle sticks.
Kael's eyes widen in horror.
He can feel the shadow's hunger… its joy… its desire to tear, rip, consume.
He screams:
> Kael: "STOP!"
The shadow pauses.
Only for a second.
Only because he's awake enough to resist.
The tendrils twist once—
The hounds are slammed into the earth so hard the ground fractures.
They don't move again.
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Page 5 — Aftermath
Kael collapses to his knees.
Blood runs down his arm.
His breathing ragged.
His shadow slowly sinks back beneath him, twitching with restrained hunger.
Villagers watch from doorways —
not with gratitude.
With fear.
A woman whispers:
> Villager: "That… wasn't human…"
Kael wipes blood from his mouth, staring at his trembling hands.
The voice returns, colder than before.
> Voice:
"This is only the beginning.
When more gods come…
you will need me."
Kael doesn't answer.
He just stares at the bodies of the beasts, at the smoke rising from his home, and at the frightened faces around him.
And a thought crystallizes in his mind:
> Kael (thinking):
"Strength is never free."
He stands despite the pain.
Somewhere far above, in the floating divine halls,
Seraphina feels the disturbance and opens her eyes.
The hunt for the cursed boy has begun.
→ End of Chapter 4