The sun beat down on the town square, but it didn't feel warm. To Kaelen, the light felt like a spotlight on his failures. He stood at the very back of the line, his shoulders hunched, trying to make himself small. His shirt was filled with lots of patches and thin threads. A heavy hand slammed into his shoulder, sending a jolt of pain through his thin frame. "Move back, scum," the guard growled. The man’s armor was polished so bright it hurt to look at. "The elite families are coming through. Clear the path for people who actually matter." Kaelen stumbled back into the sand. He didn't argue. He had learned long ago that his voice carried no weight in a place like this. He simply watched as the noble children marched past, their robes heavy with beautiful, well Crafted silk and gold, their faces clean and full of a future he couldn't imagine. At the center of the square sat the Mana Ball. It was a clear, haunting sphere that seemed to breathe with a light of its own. It was the ju

Kaelen woke up on the hard ground. He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but his body felt like it had been crushed under a mountain. Every time he moved, his skin felt like it was being pulled apart. The black veins on his arms were still there, pulsing with a dim, dark light. "Get up," a voice said. It wasn't a sound in the room. It was Erebos, speaking directly into the back of Kaelen's mind. The voice was cold and had no pity. "I can't," Kaelen wheezed. He tried to push himself up, but his arms shook and he fell back down. "Everything hurts. I think I'm dying." "You already died," Erebos said with a dry laugh. "I brought you back. Now, stand on your feet. There is a beast coming from the shadows. If you don't kill it, it will eat what is left of you, and I will have to find a new host." Kaelen forced his eyes open. The dungeon was different now. The walls were wet and covered in a thick moss. The air felt heavy. He could hear a scratching sound coming from the dark

Kaelen didn't wait for the guards to recover. As the crowd began to scream and scramble away, he turned on his heel and walked. He didn't run. He didn't need to. “That's it, runaway little boy, you are good at it.” Caspian shouted, Kaelen kept shut, just walking away. "You should have killed him," Erebos hissed in his mind. The beast sounded hungry, his voice scraping against Kaelen’s thoughts. "The blond one. I could feel his heart fluttering like a trapped bird. One squeeze, Kaelen. That's all it would have taken." "Not yet," Kaelen whispered. "I have to find Elara." He left the music and everything behind, he can't lie to himself that he was not hurt—hid heart feels shattered but he will show all of them, they should sit back and watch. He walked toward the edge of town, where the houses grew smaller and the roads were dirty. The air here was always choked. He reached his house. It looked worse than he remembered. The roof was sagging, and the door was hanging by a sing

The gold Kaelen had brought back from the deep dungeons was a lot, and it opened doors that had been slammed in his face for years. He didn't go back to that rusted house. He found a high-end inn on the edge of the merchant district. The floors were covered in soft rugs, and the bed was filled with feathers. But as he sat on the edge of the mattress, Kaelen realized he couldn't sleep. The silence was too loud. For four years, his ears had been tuned to the sound of monsters breathing in the dark. "It’s a waste of coin," Erebos grumbled in his mind. "You’re sitting on a soft bed like a king, but you’re still holding your breath like a rat." "I'm not used to being safe," Kaelen whispered. "Safe?" Erebos laughed. "You’re never safe. Look at the window." Kaelen didn't move his head, but his eyes shifted. The curtains were closed, but a tiny sliver of moonlight was cutting through the gap. Suddenly the light changed direction, into his room. A cold presence filled the room. It