2025-02-01 11:36:08Kael's world narrowed to the figure before him, his brother Darius, whose presence seemed to draw the very darkness out of the night air.
The pain in his shoulder was a searing brand, a constant reminder of the chaos he had unleashed upon the city. He had been running from the guards, but it seemed he had run into a far more sinister fate one that would drown him in a sea of blood and shadow.
Darius's smile grew, his eyes glinting with malevolent intent in the dim light, like embers from a fire that had long since consumed all reason and mercy.Kael knew that look, knew what it meant his brother had come to collect him, to bring him back to face the consequences of his botched mission.
The fact that Darius was here, waiting for him at the city gates, meant that their organization had already learned of Killian Voss's death and the messy aftermath.
As Kael stood there, petrified, he could think of nothing but the carnage he had left behind in his wake. The merchant's wife still warm on the cold cobblestones, her throat slit open like a gruesome grin. And that one guard who had lingered back, who was now nothing but a lifeless husk with his dagger deep within his chest.And now that he stood face to face with his brother, Kael had an unholy urge rising in him one to unleash hell itself upon that dark and forsaken world.
A deluge of adrenaline-fueled madness drove Kael up to his feet off the rooftop as he locked on Darius, his stare an unblinking one. He knew he would not outrun or outfight his brother now. But maybe he could kill as many with him as they fell into the abyss. "You're here to take me back," Kael spat through gritted teeth, his voice steady only in his determination not to let the maelstrom raging within him show. Darius laughed low in his throat gravel pouring down a bloody drainpipe. "Oh no, little brother," he whispered and every word seemed to drip with sadistic pleasure."I'm "here to finish what you started, and I'm going to make you watch while I butcher every last soul who dares get between us."
As if summoned by some dark deity itself, more figures emerged from the shadows around them each one armed and ready for slaughter.The night air grew heavy with anticipation heavy with bloodlust and death's promise.
In this moment of perfect dreadfulness where time froze still like icy glass about to shatter into countless shards, all pointing toward different forms of agony & bleakness lay ahead for all participants involved. As the figures closed in, their faces twisted with cruel intent; Kael felt his mind slipping into a realm of unadulterated madness.The city around him melted away, leaving only an endless expanse of blood-soaked stone and the stench of death hanging heavy in the air.
His brother's words echoed through his mind like a mantra of mayhem: "I'm going to make you watch while I butcher every last soul who dares get between us."
The first to fall was a young guard, barely out of his teens, who had been foolish enough to think he could take down Kael. Darius's blade sliced through the air with a deadly whisper, opening the boy's throat from ear to ear.The sound of his gurgling screams was like music to Kael's ears as he watched, transfixed by the horror unfolding before him.
Then an old woman wandered into the battle, her eyes wide with fear as she clutched a basket of bread to her chest. One of Darius's henchmen snatched her up, slamming her against the wall as he drove his dagger deep into her belly.Her shrieks were cut short as he twisted the blade, ripping apart her insides with a sickening tearing sound.
Kael's eyes began to blur with all that was happening; more and more bodies kept piling up, all as witnesses to the utter brutality now unleashed upon this poor city.The cry of a child was cut short by a whack in the back; a man's pleas for mercy were drowned out by the sound of his own screams as Darius's men flayed him alive.
Kael was becoming part of the darkness in this turmoil of death and destruction. The pain and the fear gave way to an unholy sense of freedom as he surrendered to the madness that consumed him.Roaring like an animal, Kael hurled himself at Darius's men, dagger flashing in the dim light as he carved a bloody path through their ranks.
For one brief instant, it appeared that Kael might walk out of this abattoir of horrors victorious.Then Darius stepped forward, his eyes ablaze with an unearthly rage as he raised his sword for the killing blow.
"You should have stayed hidden in the darkness, little brother," Darius hissed his voice like ice scraping against stone."For "now you'll join all these others in their eternal slumber."
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 3: The Blood Pact
Kael's body crashed onto the cold, rain-slicked cobblestones. Ragged gasps came with every breath as he lay there weak and his limbs trembling in fatigue and agony, but the fire within his mind burned hotter than ever. Blood smells thick in the air: the sickly perfume of death clinging to his skin. Around him, the city had become a mass grave, bodies twisted in grotesque final poses, the streets painted in a viscous red sheen that shimmered beneath the pale glow of lantern light.Darius stood over him, the black steel of his sword glistening with the lifeblood of the innocent. His expression was one of disappointment, his golden eyes filled with something worse than hatred: amusement. The elder brother, the perfect assassin, the embodiment of everything the Shadowborne were meant to be. Kael had long feared Darius, but now, as he lay on the brink of death, that fear mutated into something else: a murderous resolve."You always were the weakest," Darius murmured, wiping a splatter of b
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 4: The Crimson Rebirth
The city burned.Flames licked at the heavens, casting long, writhing shadows against the bloodstained walls. The scent of charred flesh mingled with the iron tang of spilled blood, thick in the air like a funeral shroud.The cobbled streets, once alive with merchants and beggars, were now rivers of gore, bodies piled in grotesque towers, their limbs bent at unnatural angles. The massacre had only just begun.Kael was at the center of the mayhem, breathing slow and calculated. His fingers throbbed from the insistent grip of his twin daggers, edges dulled from the endless bloodshed.The clothes were sopping wet in crimson, telling him of lives lost. There was no option but to counterattack. Shadowborne wanted him dead, and he would not die quietly.The guards who had invaded the city gates hesitated, and their once hardened resolve wavered in the face of what was before them. There was no possible way a man could have achieved such carnage.But Kael was not an ordinary man; he had been
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 5: The Butcher’s Wake
The city's bell tolled like a death knell, its echoes swallowed by the thick smoke curling through the ruined streets. The scent of burning flesh clung to the air, mixing with the putrid stench of spilled intestines and drying blood.Kael staggered against a half-collapsed wall, his breath ragged, his side burning from the wound that carved through his flesh. The stranger’s words still echoed in his mind, but there was no time to dwell on their meaning.Reinforcements were coming.He heard them before he saw them the rhythmic march of boots against stone, the clanking of armor, the murmur of voices exchanging orders. The Shadowborne's elite hunters had arrived.These were not city guards or common foot soldiers. These were killers trained in the same art as Kael, assassins raised from childhood to perfect the craft of death.A hiss of steel echoed through the air as Kael pulled a discarded sword from the corpse at his feet. His daggers were still strapped to his belt, but he would nee
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 6: A Dance of Blades
Darkness closed in on Kael as he fell into the depths of unconsciousness. Pain reached out to him, a burning fire within his ribs and limbs. Then cold stone beneath him, damp air clamped around him. His eyelids fluttered open on the dim glow of torchlight flickering against the crumbling stone walls. Chains rattled in the silence.He was captured.A groan slipped past his lips as he shifted, the weight of iron shackles biting into his wrists. The metallic tang of blood filled his mouth. His body screamed in protest with every movement, and as he tried to sit up, a boot slammed into his chest, forcing him back down."Stay down, little brother," Darius murmured, his voice dripping with amusement. "You’ll only make this worse for yourself."Kael coughed, spitting crimson onto the floor. His vision cleared enough to see Darius looming above him, his golden eyes gleaming in the dim light. The smirk that wore a wedge of malice across his jaw sent a fresh wave of hatred through Kael's veins.
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 7: The Hunt Begins
The air was heavy with the stench of blood and fire. Kael's gasps for air were ragged as he dragged himself through the city's ruined streets, his body screaming protest. Selis pulled him on, her hand clamped over his wrist like a vice, her dagger stained with fresh blood. Behind them, the shouted cries of pursuit echoed through the broken streets.Darius was far from done.Kael ground his teeth together to silence the whimper as each step pulsed pain through the open wound in his side. "Goddamn. How much longer?""Not far," Selis whispered sharply. "If we make it over the northern wall, we can vanish."A piercing whistle shattered the silence.Instinct took over. Kael pushed Selis out of the way just in time as an arrow whizzed by, burying itself in the wooden frame of a collapsed building. A second arrow followed, grazing his shoulder. Pain flared, but he pushed himself to move."Move your ass, Kael!" Selis yelled, yanking him into a side alley. "They're closing in!"Kael sucked in
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 8: The End of the Line
The world smudged for Kael as the point of Darius's blade crept closer to his throat. His blood flowed unimpeded, and his body felt like it was shutting down, each passing second more excruciating than the last. He had thrown everything he could, every iota of his strength, but all seemed to go for naught. His eyesight began to darken, and for a second, he almost welcomed it.But then Selis's voice burst through the fog, weak but desperate."Kael!"The sound of her gasp cut through the night air, and Kael's eyes snapped open, his heart pounding in his chest. Selis her blood-stained body crumpled against the alley wall was still alive. And for a brief second, that thought ignited something inside him. A glimmer of defiance. A reason to keep going.Darius's blade was a mere inches from Kael's neck, yet the bastard savored it, watching him squirm."I've always wanted to see you break, Kael," Darius whispered, his voice cold and venomous. "This is what you get for trying to run. For tryin
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 9: A Trail of Blood
The shadows closed in on Kael like a suffocating fog, the night air thick with the scent of death. His muscles screamed with pain as the strange elixir worked its twisted magic, healing his wounds with unnatural speed. But it wasn't enough. Not nearly enough. His body was still reeling from the brutal assault, his mind racing with the realization that the fight was far from over. That the real nightmare was just beginning.The footsteps came again, slow and deliberate, the sound echoing off the crumbling walls of the ruined city. Kael's grip tightened on his sword, the steel still slick with blood. He could hear them now, the killers closing in, their whispers like cold winds on his neck."Fucking bastards," he muttered under his breath.Selis lay motionless, her body crumpled against the alley wall. Her blood began spreading out across the ground. Kael's stomach twisted and dropped, but he pushed his emotions aside. Now was no time to let things get weak and fall apart. Not now when
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 10: Last Stand
Kael's pulse pounded in his ears, the blood surging through him like a tidal wave, drowning everything else out. The figure before him moved with terrifying grace, the curved blade glinting in the dim light.He wasn't human, not entirely his movements were too smooth, too deliberate, and his eyes.Those cold, calculating eyes were filled with nothing but death. The last of the Shadowborne, the one Kael had not yet encountered, had finally shown his face.The figure took another step forward, his blade raised, the wicked smile on his lips barely visible under his hood. “You’ve been a thorn in my side for too long, Kael.”Kael's breathing rose in ragged gasps; the blood staining his clothes was heavy as his body fought to stay upright. The wild elixir that the enigmatic man had given him was a short-lived spurt of power, but it wasn't near enough.His wounds were deep, and the sear in his muscles began burning steadily. His grip on the sword was slackening."Not today, you son of a bitc
Latest Chapter
Chapter 75: Rewriting Fate
Mina's footsteps rang out in the darkness, the sand grinding beneath her boots as she stepped further into the center of the Ashglass Desert. It seemed as if the desert itself was observing her, the wind carrying whispers she was not yet prepared to hear. The moon, bloated and ghostly, hung like a lantern in the sky, casting long shadows across the desolate landscape.She had no way of knowing how long she'd walked. Time had lost all meaning. The world around her was a twist endless night and horizonless sands that moved forever. But she could not stop.Kaiza was inside somewhere.Somewhere inside the Sanctum Orbis, a secret crypt that had remained hidden for centuries. Myths talked about it as the birth of all tales, the very spot where ink and paper had first crossed paths, where the Author had penned the world into being. It was claimed that within its decaying walls, the Tear in the Story lay a tear in the fabric of reality where one could remake anything. And at present, that was
The Ink of Sacrifice
The Vault had fallen silent.Ashes of lost memories swirled like snowflakes around them. Where there was once the Redacted King — wrathful and enraged — lay now a blackened seal burned into the stone floor. It glowed weakly, like a flickering pulse of life.Kaiza floated inches from the ground, his form no longer fully his.Lines of writing moved under his skin, rewriting and shifting with each breath. Each second he was alive now was a draft, wavering between what he was and what he might be. His eyes no longer contained irises, only ink, dark and old, stacked with unnamed languages.Mina crawled towards him, her voice shaking."Kaiza, it's me. Come back.He gazed at her, and for an instant, she saw him. Really saw him.Not the damned boy who lived through death and mermaids.But the man who'd traded fate for liberty."Mina," his voice was like static. "You must go. The Vault will not hold."The walls shook once more, ink seeping from the crevices. The Redacted King had not been kill
Chapter 73: The Tide That Never Sleeps
The salt stuck to them well after they departed from the sea.Kaiza rested under the decaying arch of a ruined lighthouse, his clothing still wet, hair stuck to his brow in dripping ringlets. His left hand ached — not from the Pen of Recursion any longer, but from something within him, something ancient. Something's stirring.Mina knelt beside the fading fire Soryn had constructed out of driftwood and anger. She didn't say anything. Not since they emerged. Not since the sea whispered something in her ear before releasing her.Soryn finally spoke."The god we bound…" Her voice was rough. "It wasn't the only one, was it?"Kaiza's eyes never left the black sky. "No. That was only the beginning memory. There are others waiting to be recalled.""Or revised," Mina spoke low, her voice barely audible. "Because that's what we do now. Writers of the lost."A gull screamed overhead, cold and isolated.Elsewhere…Away from the sea, across parched deserts where no water had kissed earth in decade
Chapter 72: The Salt in Her Blood
The salt seared her lips.Mina lurched ahead, boots crunching on the salt-crusted rocks of the flooded temple. Water trickled from the ceiling like blood from an open wound. Above her, sunlight filtered through the shattered ribs of the dome, a broken recollection of the sea.She had been following the call.Not Kaiza's, although her heart wept with his loss.No, this one came from something deeper. Older.From them.The mermaids.Not the ones who raised her.The ones who waited.The ones who still breathed her name in the marrow of the world.She approached the altar at the center of the room. It glowed dimly with blue light, vibrating with the beat of a faraway heartbeat. Mina looked down at the reflection in the shallow water gathered on the surface of the stone.Not her face.Not quite.Her eyes were darker, deeper. Her skin glimmered faintly, as if moonlight had passed through water. Gills haunted the shape of her neck.Something within her was waking."Do you recall your purpose
Chapter 71 The Echo Between Pages
The stars were disappearing.Not all at once. Not like a light switch being flipped off but dwindling, softly, one by one, as if something was slowly scrubbing the sky away.Kaiza stood at the ridge's edge, the blood-stained page held hard in his fist. Soryn's breathing next to him was harsh and strained. They had lived through gods, rewrites, and the end of time itself. But this… this was different.This wasn't chaos.It was precision."'This world belongs to the forgotten now,'" Kaiza quoted, her eyes narrowing. "What does it even mean?"Soryn remained silent. She returned her gaze to Velhallow, where sparks of fire danced across the skyline, lanterns being lit by citizens attempting to be normal in a world that no longer knew what normal was.But then she saw it.Perched atop the central tower, the Tower of Testament, an ember of black flame.It did not glow. It consumed.And on all sides, the sky quivered.Soryn clamped Kaiza's wrist. "We need to leave immediately."Velhallow—Tower
Chapter 70: The Unwritten Rebellion
The Pen of Possibility floated in the air, quivering with unseen power. It shone with a soft, ethereal light like it knew Kaiza's determination but was afraid of the decision he was preparing to make.Soryn was at his side, silent but watchful. Lioran breathed shallowly, his gaze darting between the ink-filled room and Kaiza's motionless body. The silence was palpable too heavy like the world itself was holding its breath.Kaiza at last extended his hand to grasp the pen.The chamber throbbed, responding to his touch. The parchment walls blazed not in flame, but in billowing glyphs and runes that twirled in spirals, with glimpses of his history. The coward of the Second Rewrite, the dictator of the Fourth, the martyr of the Fifth… and the dreamer of the First.They were all looking at him now.But he did not quake.Kaiza fell on his knee, took a deep breath, and started writing.Let there be one truth. Let the Sixth Rewrite be not a correction… but a culmination. Let pain have meaning
Chapter 69: The Sixth Rewrite
The winds had shifted.Kaiza sensed it even before the temple bells tolled in Hollow City—the grinding slowness of fate twisting once more. For weeks, there had been peace. The sky above no longer ripped apart with the creaking of shattered timelines. The streets of Hollow City teemed with individuals rediscovering how to live.But deep within, Kaiza knew peace was borrowed time.He stood upon the topmost balcony of the Hall of Echoes, the ruin now refashioned into white stone and twilight sigils. The Pen of Undoing was lost, broken at the close of the Fifth Rewrite. But his mind was still a razor's edge—carved into him as a second self.Below, the city pulsed with life again.Children giggled. The Tethered had assumed new names, new meaning. They cultivated gardens on top of ancient ruins. Lioran's name was a silent prayer among them—whispered at dawn, when the light was gentle and the air was full of memory.Soryn sat down beside him with two mugs of spiced tea, her hair tied back,
Chapter 68: The Echo of the Unwritten
The dreams grew darker now.Not distorted by fear or sorrow but by the shadow of something forgotten. Kaiza stood in a forest that glimmered like paper trapped between worlds. Trees leaned backward. The earth breathed. And above, a blank sky throbbed like the pages of an unread book.In this dream, he wasn't alone.Standing in the clearing was a copy of himself—same voice, same height, but empty. Eyeless. Pale skin like parchment. Its mouth moved open and shut silently, its fingers smeared in ink that refused to dry."Give me the ending," it mouthed, again and again.Kaiza awoke to Soryn yelling his name.He panted, soaked with sweat, and surveyed the apartment they had occupied in the midst of Hollow City's reconstruction quarter. The dawn was not yet come, yet the horizon flushed pale blue toward morning.Soryn positioned herself by the window, the hand emitting the faint afterglow of remaining sigil energy an instinctual guard in the event he sprang at her during sleep.Kaiza drew
Chapter 67: In the Inkstorm
The black tower yawned in front of them, towering, written into a million lines of evil literature, each with words that wheezed nastiness. And this was the core of the Fifth Rewrite, the last citadel of Kairen the impostor writer, the treacherous brother.Kaiza and Soryn stood on the precipice of madness.Wind composed of shredded parchment whipped around them. Ink fell from the air like rain, soaking into the earth and becoming distorted forms of memories, skeletons of decisions they had never taken. A Kaiza who had murdered Soryn. A Soryn who had become the Shadowborne queen. All their nightmares were here. All their terrors had a voice.Nevertheless, they moved on.This world isn't just being rewritten," Soryn grumbled, dropping her hood low. "It's rewriting us."Kaiza's jaw clamped. "Then we don't let it."They stepped into the Inkstorm.It wasn't just weather; it was alive. Words hurled at them like daggers, embedding in their flesh, whispering lies into their bones.Kaiza stumb
