2026-06-02 18:50:50The first officer died screaming.
Not loudly. Quietly.
His throat was cut so deep that no sound escaped, only wet breath and wide, terrified eyes. He collapsed in his bed, clutching at nothing, while shadows peeled away from the corners of the room.
By morning, the city found him.
By noon, they found the mark carved into the wall beside his corpse.
A broken crown.
Blackwood’s symbol.
The city did not scream.
It whispered.
Blackwood stood on the rooftop, cold wind dragging across his scars. Below him, people hurried, heads lowered, voices hushed.
Fear had changed the rhythm of Darkhole.
Nyx crouched beside him, eyes scanning the streets. “They’ve locked down the western gates. Patrols doubled.”
“Good,” Blackwood said.
“You like being hunted?”
“I like watching them panic.”
Nyx glanced at him. His face was calm. Too calm.
“You don’t feel anything anymore,” she said.
“I feel everything,” he replied. “I just don’t let it rule me.”
A group of soldiers passed beneath them, murmuring.
“…another one found dead…”
“…no wounds, just fear on his face…”
“…they say he’s back…”
Blackwood tilted his head.
“Say my name.”
They didn’t.
That was worse.
In the palace, King Vaelor Mordane slammed his fist onto the table.
“This is not coincidence!” he roared. “This is not rebellion. This is a message!”
The council shifted uneasily.
“A myth,” one said weakly. “Ghost stories.”
Vaelor’s eyes burned. “Ghosts don’t carve symbols.”
He turned to Kael Thorn.
“You,” he said. “Find him.”
Kael swallowed. “If he exists.”
“He does,” Vaelor said. “And if he is alive… then we failed to kill a god.”
Kael’s jaw tightened.
“And gods did not forgive” he added.
It was Seraphina turn she woke from a nightmare.
She was standing in the old war hall. Banners hung from the ceiling Blackwood’s banners. Blood dripped from them.
Then she heard footsteps.
Slow. Steady.
She turned.
Diamond Blackwood stood behind her.
Blind. Bleeding. Smiling.
She screamed and sat upright in bed.
Sweat soaked her skin.
Her new husband stirred. “Another dream?”
She forced her breathing steady.
“Yes.”
But this time, when she looked at the far wall she swore she saw a shadow move.
Blackwood’s first faction formed in silence.
Broken men. Forgotten soldiers. Women whose husbands were executed. Children who had watched villages burn.
They did not kneel.
They waited.
And Blackwood stood before them, his presence heavy. They stared at the scars, the bandages, the ruined eyes.
One of them whispered, “It’s really him.”
Then Blackwood spoke.
“I will not save you,” he said.
They stiffened.
“I will not give you peace.”
Confusion rippled.
“But I will give you justice.”
Their eyes sharpened.
“I will not forgive those who broke you,” he continued. “I will not negotiate with them. I will not show mercy.”
A woman stepped forward. “What will you do?”
Blackwood tilted his head.
“I will make them remember.”
Silence stood the place
Then a man dropped to one knee.
Then another. Then all of them.
Nyx watched In disbelief
He hadn’t asked.
They chose.
That night, a noble house burned.
Not the whole estate Just the west wing where the sons slept.
The noble begged in the courtyard, sobbing, blood on his hands.
“I didn’t know!” he cried.
Blackwood knelt before him.
“You ordered the raid on Stone Vale,”
Blackwood said.
“I was told they were traitors!”
“You watched them die.”
“I”
Blackwood grabbed his collar and slammed him into the dirt.
“Your ignorance is not innocence.”
The noble screamed as Blackwood rose.
“Hang him,” he said.
One of the widows stepped forward and did it herself.
By morning, Darkhole was no longer whispering.
It was afraid.
Nyx found him sharpening his blade.
“They’re calling you something new.”
“I don’t care.”
“They call you Justice.”
Blackwood paused.
Justice.
A word that once meant something else.
“Good,” he said.
Nyx studied him. “You’re not hiding anymore.”
“No,” he replied. “I’m hunting.”
She hesitated.
“They found your father.”
Blackwood froze.
“Where?”
“Eastern prison block. He’s been there since your fall.”
Blackwood stood slowly.
Nyx could feel the shift.
This was not strategy.
This was personal.
The prison was a pit.
Dark. Wet.
Full of screams that never reached the surface.
Blackwood moved through it like a shadow.
Two guards died without noise.
A third saw himand dropped his torch.
“What in the…”
Blackwood snapped his neck.
They reached the lower cells.
Nyx whispered, “Last corridor.”
Blackwood followed the sound of breathing.
Weak. Broken.
He stopped.
A man lay chained to a wall.
Thin. Bruised. Barely breathing.
Blackwood knelt.
“Father,” he whispered.
The man did not respond.
Blackwood touched his face, he felt Scars.Hollows.Bones.
“Father,” he said again.
The man stirred.
“…Diamond?” he croaked.
Blackwood swallowed.
“Yes.”
Lord Eryx laughed.
A wet, broken sound.
“They told me… you were dead.”
“I was,” Blackwood said. “Now I’m not.”
His father tried to sit up and screamed.
Blackwood reached for the chains.
And a voice echoed.
“DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”
Torches flared.
Soldiers flooded the corridor.
Kael Thorn stepped forward.
Sword drawn.
Eyes locked on Blackwood.
For the first time in months,the brothers faced each other.
Kael whispered, “I knew.”
As Blackwood stood slowly.
Blind. Scarred. Smiling.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
CHAPTER 12 THE MARK OF JUDGMENT
The world seemed to stop breathing.Blackwood stood frozen on the ridge as the ancient symbol burned across his chest beneath his armor.Pain shot through his body.Not the pain of wounds.Not the pain of broken bones.Something deeper.Older.The mark felt alive.It pulsed like a second heart.Nyx immediately grabbed his arm."Diamond!"Blackwood clenched his teeth.For the first time since the battlefield, he nearly fell.The symbol blazed brighter.The old scholar staggered backward in terror.His face had become completely pale."No..."His voice cracked."It can't be."Blackwood forced himself upright."What is it?"The scholar looked as though he wished he had never found them."The Mark of Judgment."The words hung in the air.Nyx frowned."And what does that mean?"The old man swallowed hard."It means the prophecy was incomplete."Far beyond the mountains, the giant figure moved again.One step.The earth shook.Another.Entire hills collapsed.The sky itself seemed darker wi
CHAPTER 11 THE THING BEYOND THE HORIZON
The night refused to move.The wind died.The insects stopped singing.Even the distant cries of hunting animals vanished from the darkness.Blackwood stood motionless atop the ridge, facing the unseen presence rising beyond the horizon.Nyx felt a chill crawl down her spine.For years she had survived assassins, warlords, mercenaries, and monsters disguised as men.This felt different.This felt wrong.The world itself seemed uneasy."What is it?" she asked.Blackwood remained silent.The ground trembled again.Once.Twice.Then stopped.Something enormous was moving somewhere beyond the mountains, Something old.Very old.Miles away, deep beneath the forgotten ruins of the First Empire, ancient stone cracked.A colossal gate hidden beneath the earth slowly began to open.Dust exploded into the air.Chains thicker than castle towers rattled violently.Symbols carved by civilizations long erased started glowing faintly.The guardians were waking,and they were afraid.An old man dressed
Chapter 10 THE THRONE OF ASH
The city did not sleep.It waited.From the highest towers to the lowest gutters, Darkhole held its breath. Fires still smoldered where banners once hung. The palace gates stood open, broken like rotten teeth. Blood stained the stones where a king had fallen.And in the center of it all stood a blind man with a sword.Blackwood did not move.He listened.Footsteps. Murmurs. Prayers. Whispers. Knees hitting the ground.They gathered.Not soldiers.But common people.Old men leaning on canes. Mothers clutching infants. Boys with bruised hands. Girls with scarred faces. Former nobles stripped of everything. Beggars. Healers. Merchants. Orphans.All of them staring.All of them are waiting.Nyx stood beside him, eyes scanning, blade ready.“They want something,” she said quietly.Blackwood answered, “They always do.”A woman stepped forward.Her clothes were torn. Her hair was braided with string. She bowed low.“You saved my children,” she said.A man followed. “You burned the house tha
Chapter 9 ASHES OF LOVE
Seraphina was not chained.She was seated.That frightened her more.The chamber was dim, lit by low burning torches. The stone walls were bare. No banners. No symbols. No marks of power. Only silence.She sat on a wooden chair, hands folded in her lap, spine straight.Waiting.When Blackwood entered, she did not turn.She already knew it was him.She could feel him.“You’re alive,” she said softly.Blackwood closed the door behind him.He did not answer.She finally looked at him.The scars.The blank eyes.The stillness.Her breath caught.“They ruined you,” she whispered.“You helped,” he replied.Her throat tightened.“I saved myself,” she said.Blackwood took three steps forward.“That is what traitors always say.”Seraphina stood immediately She smoothed her dress like she was preparing for court.“I was drowning,” she said. “And you were sinking.”Blackwood tilted his head.“You signed my death.”Tears welled in her eyes.“They were going to kill me.”“You married the man who
Chapter 8 THE BLIND WOLF RISES
The empire did not fall.It cracked.And cracks spread.Blackwood did not attack like a conqueror. He did not march with banners or claim cities in open daylight. He dismantled Darkhole the way a predator dismantled prey quietly, from the inside.Supply routes burned.Messengers vanished.Treasuries emptied overnight.War commanders defected or were found hanging from their own gates.Noble houses woke to documents nailed to their doors proof of slavery, murder, child trade, blood pacts. Old allies turned on each other by dawn.The city devoured itself.And always, the same symbol appeared afterward.A wolf that's Blind and a balanced scales beneath it.People stopped whispering his name.They prayed it.They called him The Blind Wolf.They said he could hear lies.They said he could smell corruption.They said he could feel fear in the air like rain.Mothers whispered his name to frightened children like a promise.Widows lit candles for him.Orphans carved his mark into stone.To th
Chapter 7 THE PRICE OF JUDGMENT
Firelight flickered across broken stone.Blackwood stood in the center of it, blind eyes facing the sound of his enemies. His mother’s breath was shallow. He could hear it uneven, afraid, trying to be brave.Seraphina’s hands were shaking.Her dagger trembled against Lady Maelis’s throat.“Tell him to kneel,” King Vaelor said calmly.Seraphina swallowed.“Kneel,” she whispered.Blackwood did not move.Kael laughed softly. “Still stubborn.”Blackwood tilted his head. “If you cut her, I will burn this empire to the ground.”Vaelor smiled. “You already are.”Archers tightened their grip.Blackwood felt it tension in the air, hearts racing, the faint tremor of Seraphina’s breath.“She won’t do it,” he said.Seraphina’s voice cracked. “Don’t say that.”“You were never a killer,” Blackwood continued. “You were a survivor.”Tears slipped down her face.“She doesn’t want to die for you,” Vaelor said.Blackwood turned his face toward him.“She already has.”Nyx crouched in the shadows.Ten sol
You may also like
The Return Of the God Of War
Shonowo Adeniyi Moses3.0K viewsFORGE MY SWORD
Daniz4.3K viewsELARION : The Echo Breaker
Melonmen733 viewsTHE UNYIELDING GENERAL SU YU'S CROWN
pinky grip 1.7K viewsIrregulaire
Tom Gretchen3.7K viewsSILVER FANG SUTRA THE DOCTOR OF WAR
Husain1.6K viewsElios : Rebirth Of The Dragon Lord
Si Mendhut 1.1K views