BLOOD AND FIREThe night split open with the sound of war.Screams. Steel. Smoke.The sky above the palace glowed like burning coal, lit by torches, explosions, and shadows racing across the walls. The rebellion had begun—loud, messy, and far more dangerous than any of them had planned.But Lian felt none of the fear.Only the weight of the power pulsing in his bones.He stood at the front of the charge, chest rising and falling rapidly, his fingers twitching with the raw energy of the Blood Key. Every breath tasted like ash. Every heartbeat felt like thunder.Behind him, the rebels tightened their grips on their makeshift weapons.“On your command, Black Ghost,” whispered Fen, one of the senior rebels.Lian nodded once.Then he broke into a sprint.The moment his feet hit the stone courtyard, arrows rained down from above, cutting through the air like deadly birds. But Lian’s body moved on instinct; shadows curled around him, reacting before he did, deflecting the arrows in spiraling

THE FRACTURED SEALThe ground trembled before the screams started.At first Mira thought the tremor came from Lian’s uncontrolled power, the aftershock of the red explosion that had swallowed the courtyard. But the vibration kept growing—deep, rolling, ancient. Her ears rang. Dust rained from the cracked pillars overhead.Then the palace alarms began to howl.“The Seal—something is wrong with the Seal!”“It’s cracking!”“Run—RUN!”Soldiers scrambled across the courtyard, tripping over one another as they tried to flee. Priests dropped their ritual stones and began chanting frantically in languages older than the empire. Mira pushed herself upright, chest aching, trying to understand what she was seeing.The center of the courtyard—the place where she had been nearly sacrificed—was splitting open.Not like a broken stone.No—like something alive.Blue cracks spread through the floor like glowing veins, pulsing with violent energy. Every time the light surged, the ground shook again.“L

THE ECHO OF SHADOWSThe night felt heavier than usual—thick, unmoving, as if the very air grieved with him.Lian walked alone through the ruined outskirts of the rebel hideout, boots crunching over charred stone and splintered beams. The fires from the last attack had finally died, leaving only smoldering ghosts of smoke drifting like wounded spirits. Every step he took echoed with the reminder that he had failed—again. Failed to protect Mira. Failed to keep his power in check. Failed to stop the Devourer’s whispers from staining his mind.He exhaled shakily.The smoke tasted like defeat.The rebels he once led were scattered now. Some were injured. Some hiding. Some… gone. And the worst part wasn’t the losses—it was the silence that followed them. The absence of voices that once filled this place with laughter, heated arguments, and impossible hopes.He had promised to keep them safe.But promises meant nothing when darkness lived inside his blood.A cold breeze brushed past him, ca

Veil of DeceptionThe royal palace always felt colder at night, but tonight the chill clung to Serah’s bones like frost. Lanterns flickered along the high marble corridors, their shadows stretching like thin fingers over the walls. She wrapped her cloak tighter, trying to calm the tremor in her chest.She wasn’t sure if it came from fear… or guilt.Ever since the attack at the temple ruins, her loyalty had felt like unraveling thread. Every command she executed for the Crown felt heavier, every surveillance report more morally poisoned. She used to believe in order, security, and protection.But now all she could think of was the look in Lian’s eyes when he almost collapsed—wounded, exhausted, yet refusing help, refusing trust. And Mira’s desperate plea: “He’ll die if he keeps fighting alone. Help him, even if he hates you for it.”Serah didn’t know what frightened her more— the certainty that Mira was right, or the growing suspicion that Serah herself might be the one betraying the k

Nightfall’s PromiseNight had never felt this heavy.The world outside the ruined shrine was quiet—too quiet. No wind. No crickets. No whisper of life. It was as if the sky itself held its breath, waiting for Lian’s next step.Mira walked beside him, close enough to reach him but careful not to touch his still-unstable skin. The glow beneath his veins had dimmed, but not disappeared; every pulse was a reminder of what lurked beneath his flesh.He hated it.He hated that Mira had to see him like this. She glanced at him for the tenth time in silence, her brows pinched with worry she tried to hide. “If you’re too weak to walk, you need to rest,” she murmured.“I’m fine,” Lian said.He wasn’t.His bones felt hollow. His muscles trembled every few steps. His skin burned like embers under ash. But he would not fall. Not in front of her.Not after everything she had already suffered. Mira stopped abruptly, forcing him to turn. Her voice was quiet, but it carried the weight of the world.“Yo