Kael Ardyn pressed his nose against the cold glass of the jewelry counter, eyes wide as the warm golden lamps above bounced off the sparkling treasures below. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds—they all seemed to shimmer with secrets, like they were whispering just to him. For a moment, he forgot the chaos of the city outside. He even forgot the emptiness in his pockets. He just stared. Heart pounding, a strange mix of awe and longing twisting inside him. As if the gems themselves were offering promises he had no right to dream of.He was only sixteen. Barely. Too young for the weight on his shoulders, too old to let himself hope like a child. His uniform sleeves hung loosely over his slender frame; the collar of his jacket scratched at the sharp line of his collarbones. Years at Silvercrest Military Institute had drilled discipline into him, endurance, survival—but they hadn’t taught him how to matter. How to be seen.And yet, whenever he saw Elara Myrin, invisibility felt like a curse he co

Darkness stretched endlessly. No up. No down. Just black—thick, heavy, pressing against Kael Ardyn’s mind like some invisible cage. Far off, faint shapes shimmered. Tombstones. Countless tombstones. Rigid, silent, stretching beyond the horizon like a graveyard for forgotten souls.A chill slithered down his spine. He tried to move. A finger. An arm. Anything. But nothing obeyed. His body felt like lead. Every limb weighed down as if the air itself had turned into chains. Thoughts slogged through fog, slow, incomplete, like his mind had been swallowed whole.Then, out of the mist, a figure emerged.A man. Middle-aged. Calm, commanding. Eyes sharp, slicing through the black. Power radiated off him—not loud or brash, but precise. Terrifying in its quiet. And yet… even here, Kael felt it. Authority. Undeniable.“Welcome,” the man said. His voice was deep, echoing, as if the void itself had learned to speak. “You are now the host of the War God System.”Kael’s throat tightened. “The… what?

Kael Ardyn’s chest burned. Frustration slithered through him like wildfire, licking at the edges of his patience. But his face remained a mask—stone, unreadable. If someone looked closely, they might catch the faintest twitch of his jaw or a flicker in his eyes. Beyond that, he seemed calm. Composed. A predator trapped in a cage, coiled and ready to strike, yet forced to lie still in the cold embrace of the cryo-pod.“Host,” a voice slid into his mind, smooth, teasing, each syllable dripping with impossible confidence. “You’re just lying there, doing nothing. Shall I help sharpen your survival instincts?”Kael pinched the bridge of his nose. His voice was low, sharp. “Sharpen my survival instincts? Explain. How exactly?”“By transferring you into another dimension,” Lyndric Fayne replied, mock-serious, each word deliberate, “for a short but highly efficient training session.”Kael exhaled through his teeth. “Training, huh? Fine. Training’s fine. But if we’re doing this, at least assig

The twin suns didn’t bother with mercy. They hammered the desert, turning every grain of red dust into molten glass. Heat waves shimmered in waves, dancing across the dunes like spirits. Kael Ardyn squinted against the glare, boots sinking deep with every step. His legs screamed, muscles burning like molten iron. Sweat mixed with dust stings his eyes and coats his throat. Still, he pressed forward, dragging Granny Stitch—the stitched, eyeless relic tethered to his waist. Her rasping voice slithered into his mind, sharp and commanding, slicing through the oppressive silence.“Don’t celebrate yet, boy,” she hissed. “That mountain ahead… something’s wrong. By my calculations, we shouldn’t see a hill for another dozen cosmic hours. So why is one right in front of us?”Kael slowed, squinting. The silhouette in the distance trembled under the twin suns, like a mirage trying to trick him. “Maybe your calculations are off, Granny,” he muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. “Or maybe your eyes

The storm outside wasn’t just loud—it was alive. Lightning ripped through the sky, jagged and angry, illuminating the cliffs in sudden, stark relief. The wind tore through the mountains like a pack of starving wolves. Rain pelted the rocks, slashing through the cold air in needle-sharp bursts. Each drop hammered Kael Ardyn’s soaked cloak, but he barely noticed. His focus was somewhere else, far beyond the storm.Deep inside the cliffs, a cave yawned, swallowed by shadows. The air smelled of wet stone, moss, and iron—a lingering tang of old blood. Water dripped from stalactites above, each drop echoing like a metronome, marking seconds that stretched into eternity. Patches of phosphorescent moss glowed with a ghostly blue light, painting the uneven walls like an underwater world trapped in stone.Kael stood at the cave’s mouth, shoulders squared, cloak plastered to his frame. His breath came slow, controlled—a mask over the tension coiled in every muscle. Lightning flashed again, carvi