The Malverine estate had always felt alive with whispers and shadows, though I had been blind for them… or perhaps I had simply embraced them.My name is Kael Malverin 6 years old i was a genius, sharp tongued, arrogant and most of all handsome the perfect heir to a family whose name inspired fear. I thrived on bending others to my will. The world, I thought, belonged to those who could seize it… and I intended to take my share.
Until he appeared.
My uncle. Exiled from the family for being weak, a traitor, unworthy of the Malverin blood. Yet he returned with precision, cutting through the estate's walls of deceit and ambition. He snatched me from the estate before my family could exploit the hidden fate I didn't even know I carried.
'A lowly life trying to kidnapped a child? '
"You're only six," he said softly, crouching slightly to meet my eyes. "They see your fate. They would twist it for power. Can you understand what that means, child? Or do you only understand fear and cruelty?"
I glared, jaw tight. "I don't need your pity! I don't need you! I'm strong enough on my own!"
He didn't flinch. Calm and unyielding, he raised his sword. "Then fight me. Show me your skill."
I gritted my teeth and lifted my blade. I had only seen him fight, only observed but I could copy everything. Every stance, every strike, every feint I mirrored him perfectly. My hands moved faster than my thoughts, precise, flawless… yet still, I could not win.
He was older. Stronger. His strikes carried weight I could not match. My small arms could block and parry, but not overpower. Every attack I anticipated was countered. Every advance I made was slowed by my size.
I stumbled, frustration burning in my chest. "I copied you perfectly!" I shouted, voice cracking. "Why can't i hit you once!?"
He lowered his sword, eyes calm. "Because mastery is more than imitation, Kael. Strength and technique matter but experience are what make a sword truly deadly. You will grow. One day, your mind, your skill, and your body will align and then you will be unstoppable."
I glared at him. My small hands clenched around the hilt.
He didn't flinch. Calm and unyielding, he led me into the misted forest, away from the halls of power and corruption.
"Strength without purpose is nothing," he said. "Your family would have made you a something worse. I will show you how to become more than that."
I laughed bitterly. "More than what? I'm already everything a Malverine should be."
"You are feared, yes. Arrogant, yes. But cruelty without control is a curse. Arrogance without direction is destruction. You are born of darkness but you can choose how to wield it."
I laugh again. His funny talking about cruelty and arrogance is destuction of what not.
"You are a Holder Kiel. The world has marked you since birth. Your bloodline would have used it for theirs, for dominance… I have saved you from that."
I stared at him, mixing with anger. "Holder?"
"I do not intend to tell you yet," he continued, eyes piercing, "you will learn. Your a genius. Once in a millenium. You see patterns others cannot, adapt faster than anyone, and can master techniques at a glance. Talent alone won't save you you must learn control, and you must learn purpose."
Years later-
The morning fog clung to the training grounds, softening the edges of the trees and the distant mountains. I had been here for years now, under my uncle's relentless guidance. My hands were wrapped, muscles still aching from yesterday's pounding on a boulder, yet I felt a strange anticipation. Pain was routine. Discipline, essential. Weakness unforgivable.
"Observe," my uncle said, raising his hands. Shadows rose from the earth, jagged and wild.
I blinked once. Then twice. My hands moved instinctively, mimicking the sequence perfectly. The shadows obeyed me as if I had practiced for years.
"Control, Kael," he said quietly. "Power without purpose is chaos."
I clenched my fists, tasting the thrill of violence the part of me that had once thrived on cruelty. But now, beneath it, something shifted. Perhaps I could use this, not merely to dominate, but to protect.
"Your family tried to bind you to their taste," he continued. "Your fate is not theirs to claim. You can walk a different path… if you choose to learn it."
I exhaled slowly. Strength alone would never be enough. Knowledge alone would never be enough. But with purpose, with control, and with the mind I had been given… perhaps I could forge a path no Malverin ever dared.
A path not of blind cruelty… but of deliberate benevolence.