All Chapters of THE SCAR FACE: Chapter 1
- Chapter 10
13 chapters
CHAPTER 1 – THE TEST OF POWER
The crowd jeered as the crystal stayed gray. A thousand eyes watched the boy kneeling before the altar, waiting for the faintest spark of light.But the stone in his palm remained dull and lifeless, mocking him with its silence. “Step away, boy,” the examiner sighed. “The crystal doesn’t lie.”The whisper spread through the academy courtyard like wildfire. “No aura.”“No talent.”“Another useless Miller.”Raymond clenched his fist around the cold crystal, his pulse loud in his ears. No aura? That couldn’t be.He’d trained for this moment since childhood, the day when every sixteen-year-old stood before the divine crystal to awaken their gift. Fire, wind, lightning, healing, any spark would do.Anything but nothing. “Next!” the examiner barked, already dismissing him.Raymond rose slowly, jaw tight, the sunlight catching in his storm-gray eyes. The laughter behind him stung like thorns. “Guess even his ancestors gave up on him,” one noble sneered.“Pathetic. Maybe he can scrub the crys
CHAPTER 2 – THE LESSON OF BLOOD AND BREATH
The dawn came pale and cold. Mist curled through the ruined temple like the breath of sleeping beasts.Raymond sat cross-legged on the stone floor, sweat slicking his brow, his hands trembling as golden energy flickered in his palms. It pulsed erratically, alive but untamed.Across from him, Master Arkon watched in silence, eyes half-closed. “Again,” he said.Raymond gritted his teeth. “I—I can’t control it. It keeps fighting me.”“Because you’re trying to own it,” Arkon replied. His cane tapped the floor once, and the golden light in Raymond’s hands flared violently, spilling into the air like molten threads. “Life energy cannot be owned. It must be guided.”The light hissed, splintering into two streams that wrapped around Raymond’s arms. He tried to steady his breathing, but the energy bit into his flesh like static fire.“Good,” Arkon murmured. “Now listen to it.”Raymond’s pulse thundered. He closed his eyes. Beneath the burning, he felt it, a rhythm beneath his heartbeat, a deep
CHAPTER 3 – THE FIRST SCAR
Smoke clung to the broken pillars of the temple like ghosts refusing to leave. Raymond stood among the fallen, the morning light cutting through drifting ash.The five hunters lay where they’d fallen, faces pale, eyes open to the empty sky. The smell of burnt steel and blood still hung in the air.He couldn’t stop shaking. “I didn’t mean to kill them,” he murmured. “I just… wanted to stop them.”Master Arkon said nothing for a while. He was kneeling beside one of the corpses, examining the man’s weapon. The blade was engraved with the imperial seal, a silver serpent devouring its tail.“The empire knows you exist now,” Arkon said finally. “They won’t stop at five.”Raymond swallowed. “Then we run.”“No,” Arkon said, rising to his full, lean height. “We prepare.”The old man’s eyes glowed faintly in the gray light. “Power without control is chaos, and chaos draws hunters. If you mean to survive, you must master what you’ve unleashed.”Raymond looked down at his hands, the faint golden
CHAPTER 3B – THE FIRST SCAR
Night descended like a warning. Rain hissed against the trees as Raymond and Arkon slipped through the undergrowth, the last of the temple ruins fading behind them.Their cloaks were soaked, their breath pale in the chill air. Every crack of thunder seemed to echo too close, too deliberate. “They’re following us,” Raymond whispered.“I know.” Arkon’s voice was calm, low. “Three trackers. Imperial scent-hunters. They mask themselves with salt and ash, but the Flow betrays movement.”Raymond glanced over his shoulder, hand tightening on his staff. “Then why aren’t we fighting?”“Because they’re bait,” Arkon said. “The real threat comes behind them.”Lightning flashed, briefly illuminating a sigil burned into a nearby tree: a serpent coiled around a sunburst.“The Inquisition,” Arkon murmured. “They’ve come sooner than I thought.”They reached the edge of Wraith Marsh by midnight. Mist coiled across the black waters, carrying the stench of rot and old bones.Trees jutted from the mire li
CHAPTER 3C – THE FIRST SCAR
The marsh burned behind them. Flames crawled across the water’s slick surface, twisting orange and blue, devouring fog and shadow alike.Each explosion of magic echoed like the heartbeat of a dying god. Raymond stumbled through the reeds, half-dragged by Arkon, his breath coming in ragged bursts.“I can’t” he gasped. “I can’t keep”“Yes, you can.” Arkon’s grip was iron. “If you stop now, the Flow consumes you. Keep moving.”The world tilted. Golden motes flickered in Raymond’s vision; the air itself seemed to hum. Every nerve screamed. He had never felt so alive, or so close to shattering.They reached solid ground at last, the swamp giving way to black rock. Arkon pushed him against a fallen tree. “Sit.”Raymond sank down, clutching his chest. The spiral mark over his heart pulsed erratically, searing through his shirt. “It hurts”“That’s your energy rebelling. You’ve forced it open too soon.” Arkon’s fingers danced in the air, weaving runes of light that settled over Raymond like co
CHAPTER 4A – THE SHADOW OF THE VALE
The storm had passed, leaving the forest heavy with mist. Water dripped from every leaf; the air itself seemed to hum with the quiet of something watching.Elysia moved ahead, her cloak brushing the wet grass, every step deliberate. She didn’t glance back to see if Raymond followed, she knew he would.He limped behind her, still sore from the night’s battle, his chest throbbing with each breath. “How long have you known?” he asked.Elysia didn’t slow. “Known what?”“That the Empire was hunting us.”“Since before you were born,” she said flatly. “You think you’re their first experiment gone wrong?”Her tone stung, but Raymond held his silence. They broke through a curtain of vines, emerging into a clearing filled with ruins.A colossal statue lay in pieces, an angel’s face cracked down the middle, moss growing through the wound. Fireflies drifted between shattered columns, their light soft and eerie. “This is it?” Raymond asked. “Your refuge?”“It’s not a refuge,” Elysia said, moving t
CHAPTER 4B – THE SHADOW OF THE VALE
The morning mist had thickened into fog by the time they left the ruins. Each step took them deeper into the forest’s gray silence, branches arching above like ribs of some ancient beast.The air was damp, heavy with the scent of moss and rain. Elysia led the way, her movements effortless, too precise for a traveler.She carried herself like someone who had spent years walking battlefields. Raymond followed, the ache in his chest fading to a dull throb. After an hour, he asked, “Where exactly are we going?”“To the Vale Citadel,” Elysia said.“That’s… your family’s seat, right?”“It was.”Her tone carried a weight that silenced further questions. They climbed a ridge overlooking the valley below. Far in the distance, the horizon shimmered, a faint wall of blue light stretching from mountain to sea.“What is that?” Raymond asked, breathless.“The Veil,” Elysia said softly. “A barrier my ancestors wove around the citadel. It hides what’s left of our bloodline from the world.”“It looks
CHAPTER 4C – THE SHADOW OF THE VALE
The Citadel of the Vale rose from the fog like a monument carved from moonlight. Spires of translucent stone pierced the night sky, glowing faintly from within as if the walls remembered the fires that once consumed them.Raymond stopped at the threshold, breath caught. “This place… it’s alive.”Elysia’s expression softened. “It dreams. The Flow never truly left it.”She stepped forward, and the gates responded, a deep hum rolling through the earth. The massive doors of woven crystal and steel parted slowly, revealing a courtyard choked with silver vines and glowing roots.Raymond’s eyes darted from one surreal shape to another. The roots pulsed with faint light, spreading like veins into every archway. “This was your home?”“It still is,” she said quietly. “In ways I wish it weren’t.”They entered the main hall, a cathedral of glass pillars and whispering shadows. At its center stood a throne grown from the roots themselves, empty but for a single wisp of silver flame hovering above
CHAPTER 5A – ASH AND WHISPERS
The air above the Vale shimmered like glass under strain. The mist that once cloaked the Citadel had thinned to threads of silver smoke, torn apart by the vibration of war horns echoing through the valley.Elysia stood on the bridge of light, her blade drawn. Behind her, the ruins of the Citadel glowed faintly, veins of crystal pulsing as if the fortress itself had awoken from a long slumber.Raymond tightened the straps of his cloak, heart pounding. The echo of his second scar still hummed in his chest, a low, unsettling rhythm that seemed to sync with the rumble of distant drums.“They’re early,” Elysia murmured, eyes scanning the horizon. “Seraph never wastes time.”“Who’s Seraph?” Raymond asked.She didn’t answer immediately. Her grip tightened on her sword hilt. “The Empire’s Blade. The one who burned the Vale the first time.”Raymond froze. “You mean, your mother’s killer?”Elysia’s eyes flicked toward him, glacial and bright. “He doesn’t kill. He purges. There’s a difference.”
CHAPTER 5B – ASH AND WHISPERS
The corridors of the Citadel twisted as if alive, walls shifting, light bending through cracks in the glass. Raymond’s boots slid on shattered crystal, his breath shallow.Every tremor sent ripples through the floor, and beneath the noise he could hear it, the whisper of the Flow, bleeding like a wound. Elysia’s voice echoed ahead. “This way!”He followed her through an archway that opened into a vast chamber, the Heart of the Vale. It was beautiful and terrible all at once.A sphere of liquid light hovered in the center of the room, pulsing with every heartbeat. Chains of glowing script bound it in place, their links cracking one by one.Around the chamber, the bodies of ancient guardians, half-human, half-serpent, hung frozen in the walls, their eyes weeping silver tears. Raymond stopped, awe and horror warring inside him. “What… is that?”Elysia’s voice trembled. “The Core. The Flow’s anchor. It’s where my ancestors tied our souls to magic itself. When the Empire burned the Vale, i