CHAPTER 7 THE GIRL IN THE FIRE
They found Silas Morr in the outer slums, dragging a girl by the hair.
She couldn't have been older than eighteen. Red hair tied back in a brutal ponytail. Her face was streaked with soot, one eye already swelling shut. She kicked and clawed, but he barely noticed.
"Dungeon scrap," Silas snarled. "You think you can run with stolen relics?"
She spat blood at his boots.
Kael stopped.
Not because the system told him to.
Because he recognized the look on her face.
The look of someone who hadn't decided to die yet.
Riven murmured, "We intervene."
Kael nodded.
Silas turned just as Kael stepped from the fog.
Silas was broad, ugly in the way men who never doubt themselves are ugly. His Blood Doctrine shimmered under his skin like molten iron.
"Move," Silas said. "This doesn't involve trash like you."
Kael's interface flared.
QUEST STATUS: IN PROGRESS.EXECUTE TARGET.
Kael's heart slammed against his ribs.
"Let her go," Kael said.
Silas laughed. "Or what?"
Kael didn't answer.
Riven attacked first, a lance of fire ripping through the air. Silas deflected it with his forearm, skin hardening into glowing steel.
The girl broke free in the chaos, stumbling backward.
She didn't run.
She picked up a fallen blade.
Brave.
Stupid.
Perfect.
Silas backhanded Riven across the street. Riven hit a wall and didn't get up.
Kael moved.
Not with strategy.
With fury.
His shadow stretched, thickened, tearing free from his feet like a living thing.
Silas blinked, confused, just long enough for Kael to drive a blade into the gap beneath his rib.
Silas roared, blood like molten tar spilling out.
He swung wildly.
The blow caught Kael across the face and the world turned into sparks.
Kael hit the ground.
The girl screamed his name even though she didn't know it.
Something inside Kael snapped.
He rose.
Not like a boy.
Like a thing that refused to kneel.
The shadow wrapped Silas from behind, pinning his arms.
Kael stepped in close.
Silas spat blood into his face. "You don't have the spine."
Kael whispered, barely audible, "I don't have a choice."
And then he cut.
Silas Morr collapsed in pieces that used to be a man.
The Apex Core screamed.
KILL CONFIRMED.NEW FUNCTION UNLOCKED: SHADOW ARMAMENT.STAT GAIN: +3 STRENGTH. +2 AGILITY.HUMANITY INTEGRITY: DEGRADED.
Kael stared at the body.
It didn't feel like victory.
It felt like something had closed behind him.
The girl stood shaking.
"Name," Kael said hoarsely.
She wiped her face with a dirty sleeve. "Aira Fen."