Lightning split the sky in two, illuminating the chaos below. Lila Kane stumbled, clutching her chest as an invisible force twisted within her like molten iron. Her scream cut through the storm, raw and trembling, echoing against the gothic spires that loomed like silent judges.Asher Kane’s eyes widened in horror. He had faced danger before, but this, this was something else. Something dark, sentient, alive. He lunged toward his sister, fists raised, but a sudden, invisible wave slammed into him like a battering ram. His knees buckled. Pain lanced through his ribs, and he crashed onto the wet stone, coughing up blood.“Lila!” he shouted, voice breaking. His hands trembled as he reached for her, only to recoil when he saw the shadows crawling under her skin. Black tendrils, like ink on silk, pulsed and writhed, moving against her will. Her eyes flickered, a strange red gleam dancing behind her terrified green gaze.“Stop, stop fighting it!” Asher roared, desperation boiling in his

The undercity of Erevale breathed in whispers and shadow, a labyrinth of crumbling stone and flickering lanterns. Mist curled along the narrow streets, carrying the scent of damp stone and burnt oil. For Asher Kane, it was not merely a city, it was a cage. Every alleyway threatened to swallow him whole, every shadow reminded him of the darkness he was learning to wield, and every echo whispered failure.He moved cautiously, the remnants of the Sovereign’s pulse still thudding in his chest, a constant reminder that forbidden power now stirred inside him. Lila’s shadowed pulse had calmed, for now, but the memory of her writhing beneath its influence made his hands tremble, his heart hammer with fear and urgency.As he rounded a corner, a soft chuckle stopped him cold. “Going somewhere, Kane?”The voice was smooth, amused, and dangerous. Asher’s head snapped up, eyes narrowing. From the gloom stepped a figure, lithe and agile, draped in dark leathers that seemed to absorb the alley’s

Erevale breathed darkness after dusk. The city’s narrow arteries, the underbridges, the broken alleys, the lanternless lanes, were veins of shadow where only the desperate and the damned wandered. And tonight, Asher Kane was both. The fog clung to him like breath on glass, his steps soft over the cobblestones. Beneath his cloak, his right arm throbbed, the veins along it blackened, faintly luminescent in the dimness. He could feel it now, the pulsing hunger of the mark, a rhythm that matched the whispers in his mind.“You seek redemption through blood, the Demon Sovereign murmured. Yet you still deny what you are becoming.”“I’m not hunting for myself,” Asher said under his breath, voice tight. “This is for Lila. Always for her.”And yet, the Sovereign purred, “it is my power you must use to save her. The irony burns beautifully, doesn’t it?”He ignored the taunt and pressed forward. The alley opened into a shattered courtyard, abandoned, save for a faint trace of sulfur and the cl

“Be quiet,” Asher said sharply, eyes never leaving his sister.Lila’s voice faltered. “Why can’t I remember it all?” she murmured. “The memories slip away, like water through a broken cup.” Her breath came shallow. “I remember the cold. So many feet. The smell of iron. A child laughing, and a bell breaking.”Yun Fei rolled his eyes. “Delusions. She’s gone, Kane. The sooner you let her die, the sooner you’ll be free.”Asher felt something heavy inside him, anger, despair, fear, all tangled. “She’s not gone!” he shouted, surprising even himself.Yun Fei only smiled again. “Then keep trying to save her. When she turns on you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He turned toward the door. “You will destroy yourself for her, and no one will weep.”He left, his laughter echoing down the corridor. The room fell still again. Only the faint drip of water somewhere in the dark broke the silence.Asher sat down beside Lila once more, his breath unsteady. “I’ll find a way,” he said quietly. “I’ll save

The fall should have killed him. Stone blurred into rain, and rain blurred into nothing. When Asher’s body struck the lower rooftops of Erevale, he didn’t feel the pain, not at first. Only a thunderous silence, and the ghost of laughter echoing from above, then came the agony. Sharp, burning, real.He lay among broken tiles and shattered lantern glass, breathing smoke and blood. The mark on his chest glowed faintly through torn robes, pulsing in time with his heart. The Sovereign’s voice drifted through his mind, distant but alive. “Still breathing. You fall well, Asher Kane.”Asher spat blood. “Shut up.”“You should thank me. I slowed your descent. I even caught the wind for you.”He rolled onto his side, grimacing. The rooftops below the sect terrace connected to the older quarters, abandoned shrines, forgotten spires overtaken by moss and shadow. From here, the noise of the crowd above was nothing but a dull hum. He staggered to his feet. The world spun. But he was alive. Someho