Born From Ruin (Rebirth)

Chapter 2: The Blade Falls

The morning light felt wrong. Too clean. Too soft for someone who had burned to death.

Kael sat on the edge of the bed, breathing slow, steady. The candle had melted into a puddle of wax. His hands trembled—not from fear, but from remembering what fire felt like when it crawled up your skin and took everything.

The world outside his window was still. A single cart creaked down the dirt road. A rooster cried somewhere beyond the hill. The scent of rain lingered, mixing with the old wood of the cottage.

It was all too real.

He stood, testing his legs. They felt lighter—stronger even. The mirror in front of him showed a face he’d buried long ago. Smooth skin, sharp eyes untouched by war. The boy who had once dreamed of serving the Empire with pride.

He almost laughed.

You got your wish, he thought bitterly. You served. You died. And now…

He didn’t finish the thought. Instead, he turned to the old chest in the corner, pulling it open. Inside lay a dull short sword wrapped in cloth—the same one he trained with before his first campaign. He remembered the weight of it, how it used to shake in his young hands.

Now it felt like a toy.

He unsheathed it, the blade catching a line of sunlight. “The Blade Falls,” he whispered, almost to himself. It was something his mentor used to say: A soldier lives between two moments—the draw and the fall.

The knock came suddenly. Sharp, hurried.

“Kael! You up yet?” A familiar voice—boyish, rough. Taren. His childhood friend. The same Taren who, in his past life, died screaming on the battlefield Kael had planned.

Kael froze. That voice hit like a blade to the chest. Alive. He was alive here.

He swallowed hard. “Coming,” he said, forcing the word through a tight throat.

The door opened before he reached it. Taren leaned in, grin wide. “You sleep like a corpse, man! The militia’s calling for drills already—old Hadrik’s yelling his lungs out.”

Kael looked at him like one looks at a ghost. The same messy hair. The same scar on his chin from climbing the orchard wall. He almost said his name aloud like a prayer.

“You good?” Taren frowned. “You look like you saw death itself.”

Kael managed a smile. “Something like that.”

“Well, hurry up,” Taren said, tossing him a leather vest. “If we’re late again, he’ll have us mucking stables till winter.”

Kael followed him out, the world unfolding in shades of memory and disbelief. The village of Ashvale was just as he remembered—small cottages, the smell of wet hay, the distant bell from the church tower. It was peaceful. Too peaceful.

He felt like a wolf walking through a dream of lambs.

At the training yard, wooden dummies waited. The young men of Ashvale—boys barely old enough to shave—were swinging blunt blades, laughing, cursing, boasting. Kael used to be one of them.

Not anymore.

“Ardent!” bellowed a voice. Sergeant Hadrik stomped toward him, belly first, red-faced and angry as ever. “You think you can waltz in when you please?”

Kael bowed slightly. “Won’t happen again, sir.”

“Better not,” Hadrik grumbled, shoving a practice sword at him. “You’re up first. Show the boys what discipline looks like.”

The others hooted, eager for a show.

Kael took the sword, its balance off, its edge dull. He hadn’t held a weapon this weak in years. But muscle memory—old and perfect—guided his stance. Feet planted. Grip firm. Eyes locked.

His opponent was a tall farmhand named Corin, built like a bull but with the grace of one too. He swung first, wild and confident.

Kael stepped aside, parried, and tapped the man’s chest before Corin even knew what happened.

Gasps. Then laughter.

Corin scowled, charging again. Kael didn’t move much—just let the other man’s strength fall into air. Three moves later, Corin was flat on his back, staring at the sky.

Silence fell. The boys stared.

Kael lowered the sword slowly. “Strength is nothing without control,” he said quietly.

Even Hadrik blinked. “Well… seems the boy’s been practicing.”

Kael handed the sword back, nodding once. But inside, his mind was turning like storm clouds. The ease, the speed—he was too strong. His body was young, but his instincts were those of a man who’d fought wars.

This wasn’t just rebirth. Something came back with him.

He turned toward the hills, where the road led to the capital. Somewhere beyond those clouds, Varic Dane was still alive. Still climbing toward the council seat. Still building the empire that would burn him alive seventeen years later.

Kael’s jaw tightened. “Not this time.”

Taren clapped him on the back. “You’re scary when you get quiet, you know that?”

Kael glanced at him, a faint smile pulling at his lips. “Then maybe I’ve learned something.”

Before Taren could answer, a horn echoed through the valley. Low and harsh. Everyone stopped.

Raiders.

Hadrik’s face went pale. “Positions! Get the villagers inside!”

Kael’s hand found the dull sword again. The noise of panic filled the air—boots running, children crying, gates slamming shut. He could see dark shapes cresting the far hill—bandits, maybe twenty strong.

He felt his heartbeat slow, his breath steady. Old instincts returned like ghosts.

“Taren,” he said, voice cold and sharp. “Stay behind me.”

“What are you—”

But Kael was already moving. The first arrow flew. He caught it on the blade, turned, and met the first raider head-on. One strike, one fall.

The others shouted, realizing too late this “farm boy” fought like a trained soldier.

The Blade Falls.