REINCARNATION OF WAR

CHAPTER 2 — THE MAN WHO KNEW HIS NAME

Rain continued to fall, but Derick barely felt it. His eyes were fixed on the stranger standing at the mouth of the alley, robes soaked, expression unreadable.

“You’re… mistaken,” Derick said, voice unsteady. “I’m not whatever you think I am. I’m just”

“Derick Hayford,” the man finished for him.

“Age twenty-one. Lives with his younger brother Eli in a broken apartment near Westline Station. Works three part-time jobs. Barely sleeps. Barely eats. Carries the weight of the world on shoulders that shouldn’t have to.”

Derick swallowed hard. “…How do you know all that?”

The man stepped closer, his boots splashing through puddles. “Because I’ve been watching you your whole life.”

Derick’s breath caught. “Wh—what?”

“I had to be certain,” the man continued. “Certain that the War Core passed into the right vessel.”

Derick flinched and backed up. “Stop saying that! I don’t even know what a War Core is!”

The man tilted his head. “You will.”

“I don’t want to!” Derick snapped.

The man sighed. “People rarely want destiny. But destiny chooses regardless.”

Derick shook his head violently. “Look, I just got stabbed, nearly died, and somehow didn’t die. I don’t want some… ancient title. I don’t want assassins chasing me. I want to go home.”

He turned to leave. The man’s voice stopped him cold. “You can’t go home.”

Derick froze. “…Excuse me?”

The man’s gaze was heavy. “The Dominion’s eyes are on you now. If you return home, Eli will be dead before morning.”

Derick spun around, fury igniting. “You leave my brother out of this!”

“I’m not the one threatening him,” the man replied calmly. “They are.”

Derick’s hands tightened into fists. “Why would they go after Eli? He’s done nothing.”

“Because you have awakened something too dangerous to ignore,” the man said softly. “The easiest way to control a Warborn is to take what he loves.”

Derick’s chest tightened painfully. His voice dropped. “…Warborn?”

The man approached slowly, careful not to appear threatening. “You awakened the War Core, an ancient divine spark that sleeps inside only one soul every few millennia. Your awakening was violent, unstable. The Dominion felt it. Every awakened clan felt it.”

“I don’t care!” Derick burst out. “I didn’t ask for it! I don’t want it!”

“Destiny does not require your consent,” the man replied. “It requires your survival.”

Derick paced away, dragging both hands through his hair in frustration. “This can’t be real. None of this makes sense. I don’t even know who you are!”

The man finally gave a small nod. “Fair enough. I am called Kael. Once a disciple of… the previous you.”

Derick blinked. “The— the previous me?”

Kael met his gaze. “You died three thousand years ago.”

Derick froze. “…What?”

“You were reborn into this life without memories, without power, without influence. Hidden. Protected.”

“Protected?” Derick snapped. “I was bullied my entire life. Beaten, mocked, thrown around, ignored. That's not protection.”

Kael’s expression softened for the first time. “It was better than the alternative.”

Derick’s voice cracked. “What alternative?”

“Being hunted from the moment you were born.”

Thunder groaned across the sky. Derick opened his mouth, but no words came. Kael continued softly,

“The War Core inside you is a fragment of your old self, the God of War. When you awakened tonight, your soul’s signature lit up like a beacon. Every awakened being with half a sense felt it.”

“I don’t want any of this…” Derick whispered.

Kael stepped closer. “I know. But wanting has nothing to do with what is. You need to leave this place. Now.”

Derick clenched his teeth. “I’m not abandoning Eli.”

“I’m not asking you to,” Kael said. “But you cannot help him if you are dead.”

Derick glared up at him. “Fine. Then tell me what to do.”

Kael studied him carefully. First the fear, then the determination. The storm inside him turning into something sharper. “…You’re stabilizing faster than I expected,” Kael murmured.

“Tell me how to protect my brother,” Derick demanded.

Kael motioned toward the street. “Come. We must move.”

Derick hesitated, then followed. Even drenched in rain, Kael moved like a shadow, silent, controlled, dangerous. Derick kept close, still hyperaware of everything. Every footstep.

Every heartbeat. Every flicker of movement at the edge of his vision. “Why can I see like this?” Derick asked quietly. “It’s like my senses are stretched.”

“That is Life-Pulse Vision,” Kael explained. “One of the Warborn’s earliest awakenings. It allows you to perceive vital points, weaknesses, illnesses, structural flaws. You could kill with a touch or heal with one.”

Derick shivered. “I didn’t try to hurt that man. I just… reacted.”

“And that,” Kael said, “is why the world fears you.”

They reached an abandoned bus stop. Kael stopped abruptly. “We should be safe to talk here.”

Derick leaned against the metal frame, breathing hard. “Safe from who? Those men?”

Kael shook his head. “Those men were scouts. The real threat is on its way.”

Derick’s stomach tightened. “What real threat?”

Kael’s eyes flicked to the rooftops. “The Dominion is a powerful group of awakened assassins. They worship darkness and fear your return. If they kill you before you regain your past abilities, the Veiled World stays in their control.”

“I don’t want control,” Derick snapped. “I want my life back.”

“You can have a life. But not the old one.”

Derick looked away, jaw trembling. “Why me? Why do I have to be this… thing?”

Kael’s voice softened. “Because no one else can.”

Silence washed over them. Then Derick breathed out slowly. “…If I’m really this Warborn thing… can I protect Eli?”

“You can,” Kael said. “But only if you train. Only if you learn. Only if you awaken your abilities fully.”

“And if I refuse?”

Kael met his gaze. “Then Eli dies. And you die soon after.”

A cold dread seized Derick’s heart. He exhaled shakily. “…Fine. Teach me. Do whatever you need to. Just don’t let them touch him.”

Kael nodded once. “Then we begin now.”

A gust of wind swept through the empty street. Something felt wrong, too quiet, too still. Kael’s expression sharpened. “Derick. Behind me.”

Derick moved instinctively. A ripple of darkness unfolded across the far end of the street. Shadows twisted into humanoid shapes, three figures stepping out of nothingness.

Derick’s heart dropped. “Is that”

“Yes,” Kael murmured. “Dominion Hunters.”

The figures approached silently, their eyes glowing faintly under their hoods. The one in front spoke, voice like ice scraping metal. “Hand over the Warborn, Kael. You know he must die.”

Kael’s tone turned razor sharp. “He is under my protection.”

“You cannot protect what is doomed,” the Hunter replied. “The War Core must be extinguished before he remembers who he was.”

Derick’s breath hitched. “Why do they keep saying that? What am I supposed to remember?”

Kael didn’t answer. The Hunter smiled beneath his hood. “Tell him, Kael. Tell him what the God of War did before he died. Tell him why his past life terrifies even you.”

Derick turned slowly toward Kael. Kael’s jaw tightened. “…Kael?” Derick whispered. “What is he talking about?”

Kael didn’t look at him. “Derick. Stay behind me.”

“No,” Derick said. “Tell me.”

The Hunter chuckled. “Go on, Kael. Tell the reborn God the truth. Tell him…”

He raised a single finger toward Derick. “…that in his past life, he didn’t save the world.”

Derick’s breath stopped. “He destroyed it.”

And the shadows lunged.