A high priest from the northern temple sought Selene in secret.“Child,” he whispered, “that scar is not a curse. It is a seed. It grows toward a master — and that master is not you.”“Julian,” Selene breathed.The priest nodded gravely. “And when it blossoms, even your love will not be enough to stop him.”Kael’s forces struck the northern gates with shadowspawn. Adrian led the charge, the relic flaming in his grip. Selene fought beside him, unleashing shadowfire that incinerated monsters in seconds.But when the smoke cleared… dozens of loyal soldiers lay dead too, burned by her flames. Selene fell to her knees, horrified.“Don’t look at them!” Adrian pulled her up. “Look at me. Only me.”Yet the men’s screams echoed in her soul.The survivors whispered among themselves. “The queen killed them… she’s no savior… she’s a demon.”Selene withdrew to her chambers, refusing to see anyone. Adrian forced his way in, held her as she wept, and swore: “You are not a demon. You are my heart. My

Adrian gathered the remnants of his people. “We fight not for kingdom. Not for crown. We fight for her — for Selene. And if we must, we burn eternity itself.”The soldiers raised their swords, swearing to follow their king to hell.Adrian confronted Kael on the battlefield. Their duel raged for hours — steel, fire, and blood. At last, Adrian drove the relic through Kael’s chest.As Kael died, he whispered, “You’ve won nothing. She is already gone.”Julian used Selene’s body to summon an eclipse that blotted out the sun. Shadowspawn covered the earth. The world entered eternal night.Adrian, bloodied and broken, rose from the ashes. “If the sun will not rise,” he swore, “then I will.”At last — brother against brother. They clashed, not just in steel, but in spirit. Every blow was fire against shadow, light against dark, love against hate.But Julian laughed: “Every time you strike me, you strike her.”Adrian forced the relic into Julian’s chest. For a moment, he was pulled inside Sele

The boy was six years old when his power first broke free. A gang of raiders cornered Lysandra in a mountain pass. She fought hard, but steel pierced her side. The boy screamed — and shadows swallowed the raiders whole, leaving nothing but ash and silence. When it was done, he stared at his hands. “I didn’t mean to…” he whispered. Lysandra trembled. The world wasn’t ready for this child. Perhaps it never would be. That night, a storm raged. Adrian and Selene huddled in a broken temple, rain soaking their cloaks. “I fear I’m losing you,” Selene confessed. “Piece by piece.” Adrian cupped her face. “If fire consumes me, then let it burn us both.” She kissed him through tears. Even as lightning split the sky, they clung to each other, love burning against the storm. In a cavern deep beneath the ruins, the relic crown pulsed like a living heart. It whispered with a thousand voices. It remembered fire. It reminded me of the shadow. It remembered him. And slowly, crawling on ske

“They told me… I was born wrong,” he whispered. “That the crown made me from pieces that shouldn’t go together. That’s why things obey me.”Selene knelt, brushing hair from his face. “Wrong? No, Kael. The world was wrong for letting them say that to you. You’re more than what made you.”His eyes brimmed, desperate. “Do you believe that?”She kissed his forehead. “Yes.”Adrian overheard.Later, while Kael slept, he pulled Selene aside. His voice was a low growl.“You can’t give him hope like that. You’ll only make it worse when he loses control.”Selene’s scar pulsed, her temper breaking. “He is not just power, Adrian. He is a boy. And if we treat him like a monster, that’s all he’ll ever become.”Their eyes locked — flame against shadow. Neither yielded.They stumbled upon a ruin — a temple half-swallowed by sand. Its carvings were old, older than any kingdom. In its center, an altar bore the same crown sigil that haunted Kael’s dreams.As he touched the stone, whispers filled the air

Assassins cloaked in moonsteel struck in silence. Their daggers shimmered with poison that even Adrian’s flames struggled to burn. Selene shielded Kael, but one blade grazed her scar — and she screamed as if her soul were torn open.Kael’s shadow-self ripped free, taller, darker, more human than ever. It slaughtered Nysera’s blades without hesitation, whispering into Kael’s ear:“See how easily they fall. You don’t need him. You don’t need her. Only me.”Furious, Adrian raised a firestorm across the camp. Assassins burned, tents turned to ash. Rival kings shouted — some saw him as savior, others as a demon. By dawn, every throne had chosen a side.The wound on Selene’s scar spread, veins of black crawling across her chest. She gasped, whispering:“It’s not poison. It's a curseblade. They’re trying to *merge* me with the Master.”Adrian held her tighter. “Not while I breathe.”Captured mid-battle, Nysera spat blood and laughed.“You think I serve the Master? No — I serve myself. A worl