BLADE OF THE FALLEN

Chapter 8 – The First Wielder

The words stuck in Axel’s mind like splinters. The one who put me here. The goddess’s voice still coiled in his thoughts, smooth as ever. Don’t look so shocked. You didn’t think I forged myself, did you?

Kael was still staring at him, her eyes narrowing. “What did she just say to you?”

Axel tightened his grip on the sword. “That Ethan’s message… wasn’t from her.”

Kael’s expression darkened. “Then who?”

Tell her, the goddess whispered, like she was daring him. Let her squirm, Axel didn’t take the bait. “She says it’s from someone else. Someone who… put her here.”

Kael’s hand hovered near her dagger. “Then that’s worse than I thought.”

The night air carried a damp chill as they moved through the winding streets. Every shadow looked deeper now, every corner a potential breach point. The lamps seemed to flicker more than before, and Axel found himself watching the ground, half-expecting another seam of darkness to rip open at his feet.

Kael’s voice was low, cautious. “You’ve heard the stories, right? About artifact spirits that aren’t bound to their wielders by choice?”

“No,” Axel said.

“Most aren’t like yours. Most want to work with their wielders. But sometimes, when the artifact itself was forged from something, or someone too dangerous to kill, it’s sealed in a form it can’t escape from. And the only thing keeping it from tearing reality apart is the seal.”

Axel’s skin prickled. “You think that’s what she is?”

Kael didn’t answer, which was worse than if she’d lied, She’s not entirely wrong, the goddess purred. But her version leaves out the fun parts.

They reached the edge of the merchant district. Kael paused at a crossroads, scanning the rooftops. “If the ‘other one’ is who I think it is, we’re running out of time. That breach wasn’t just an accident, it was a signal.”

Axel’s mind flashed to Ethan’s hollow eyes, the frost, the way the voices had whispered as the street split open. “A signal to what?”

Kael’s jaw tightened. “To her. The First Wielder.”

The name hit Axel with an odd weight, like the words carried something old and dangerous. “Who is she?”

Kael’s gaze flicked to the sword. “Ask her.”

Axel didn’t speak aloud. Who is the First Wielder?

The goddess’s laugh was a slow, curling thing. My beginning. My jailer. My… creator. She’s the reason I exist in this form. And the reason you do, Axel’s brow furrowed. Me?

Do you really think your ‘accident’ back in your world was an accident?, The breath caught in his chest. What are you saying?

I’m saying, she murmured, that your death was the door she needed to bring you here. And I was the key, Kael stopped abruptly, pulling Axel into the shadow of an archway. “Stay still.”

He followed her gaze to the far end of the street. Four figures in black armor moved in perfect silence, their helmets shaped into blank masks. They carried long, hooked blades that dripped faint wisps of frost.

Kael’s whisper was barely audible. “Seal-Hunters.”

Axel’s hand twitched toward the sword. “Who are they?”

“Not who. What. They’re bound to the Seal itself. They appear when the balance is shifting when something’s trying to break it.”

They’re hers, the goddess whispered. The First Wielder’s hounds, The hunters stopped at the mouth of the street. One lifted its head slightly, as though scenting the air. Then, in perfect unison, all four turned their masked faces directly toward the shadow where Axel and Kael stood.

Kael’s grip on his arm tightened painfully. “Run.”

They didn’t make it three steps before the hunters moved. One moment they were distant silhouettes, the next, they were simply there, blocking the way forward.

Axel raised the sword instinctively. “What do they want?”

Kael’s reply was grim. “You. And whatever’s in that blade.”

The first hunter moved with inhuman speed, its hook sweeping toward Axel’s ribs. He barely managed to parry, the impact ringing through his bones. The goddess’s voice flared in his head, urgent now. Stop defending. Strike.

Axel gritted his teeth and stepped into the swing, the blade flashing upward in a clean arc. The strike connected, yet instead of cutting, it passed through the hunter as if slicing water.

Kael cursed under her breath. “They’re half-in, half-out. You can’t hit them unless you’re using the Seal’s magic.”

Lucky for you, the goddess hissed, that’s exactly what I am. Before Axel could respond, heat bloomed in his palm. The blade pulsed with a deep, crimson glow, and for the first time, the hunter hesitated.

Kael’s eyes widened. “That’s”

The hunter lunged again, but this time, when Axel swung, the blade tore straight through it. Black frost erupted into the air, and the hunter’s form shattered like glass.

The remaining three paused, their heads tilting in eerie unison. Then, slowly, they stepped back. One raised its hand, not in surrender, but in a deliberate, almost ceremonial gesture.

It pointed directly at Axel’s chest, Kael’s breath caught. “They’ve marked you.”

“What does that mean?” Axel demanded.

“It means,” she said grimly, “that no matter where you go, they’ll follow. Until the First Wielder has you.”

And when she does, the goddess murmured, you’ll learn why you were brought here, The hunters turned and walked away, their movements as silent and fluid as water, fading into the frost-tinged darkness until nothing remained.

Kael kept her eyes on the street long after they were gone. “We can’t stay here. Not tonight. Not anywhere public.”

Axel looked down at the sword, his voice low. “If she’s really the one behind all this, why me?”

The goddess’s reply was soft, almost tender. Because, Axel… you’re the only one who can free me.

Before he could respond, the cobblestones beneath them cracked. A deep fissure split the street, and from the darkness below, a hand surfaced, slender, pale, and unmistakably human, But what made Axel’s heart stop wasn’t the hand.

It was the silver ring on its finger, the exact same one his mother had worn when she died.