THE VEILED MASTER

CHAPTER THREE: MARKED FOR DEATH

The storm returned just after midnight. Wind howled through the broken archways of the abandoned temple, hissing like a warning. Kael stood by the altar, drenched in sweat, still shaken from the vision. His shirt clung to his chest right over the pulsing seal that glowed with faint blue fire.

He turned to the Hollow Flame. “That man… the one I found in the alley. He’s still alive.” The old master didn’t flinch. “And dying. Rapidly.”

Kael’s fists clenched. “He’s calling out to me.”

“That’s because the seal you carry was meant to anchor him to this world. It’s unstable. With each pulse, you’re tied closer to his soul and his enemies.”

A deep silence followed. Then: boom. A deafening crack split the sky. The temple doors exploded inward.

Kael ducked instinctively as dust and rubble filled the air. When the smoke cleared, a figure stood in the entrance cloaked in black, masked, surrounded by a faint aura of static. Their presence distorted the air. The pressure was suffocating.

“You’ve gotten sloppy, old man,” the intruder said, voice distorted and mechanical. “You were supposed to be dead.” The Hollow Flame didn’t move. “Some deaths take longer to finish.”

The masked figure’s gaze snapped to Kael. “So this is the vessel. A child? Pitiful.”

Kael braced himself, legs trembling. “Who is he?” he whispered. “A Soul Reaper,” the Hollow Flame replied. “A bounty hunter of the cursed arts. They harvest seals… from corpses.”

The Soul Reaper strikes first a blur of shadow and lightning. Kael barely sees the movement before a dagger slices toward his throat. The Hollow Flame intervenes in a flash, parrying with a palm strike that sends the Reaper skidding back.

“Hide behind your master if you must,” the Reaper taunts. “But I’ll rip the seal out of your heart while it’s still beating.”

Kael’s pulse quickens. The mark on his chest responds surging with energy, raw and untamed. His body moves on instinct. He sidesteps the next attack, grabbing a broken staff from the ground. As the Reaper lunges again, Kael raises the weapon and it glows blue, echoing with the same flame from the seal.

CLASH!

The staff blocks the dagger. Sparks fly. Kael’s arms go numb from the impact but he doesn’t drop it. The Hollow Flame watches from a distance, silently observing. Testing.

“You’re not meant to win this,” he mutters under his breath. “But let’s see how close you get.”

The Reaper unleashes a technique called Soul Snap, a ripple of thunder that targets the opponent’s nerves. Kael is struck in the chest. He staggers, gasping, vision fading. But then the seal activates. Time slows.

Kael sees the Reaper’s next move before it happens. His breath returns. His heartbeat steadies. His body feels... aligned. He moves. Not trained. Not refined. But natural.

He twists past the blade, slams the staff into the Reaper’s shoulder, and triggers a pulse of Qi through it. The Reaper is flung across the room, crashing into a statue. The Hollow Flame speaks for the first time during the fight.

“That was the first stage of awakening. Reflex Memory. Your body remembered what your soul forgot.”

Kael stares at his hands, still glowing faintly blue. Wounded but not defeated, the Reaper laughs. “Impressive. But unrefined. You’re still dying, boy. That seal doesn’t belong to you.”

He raises both hands, forming a Soul Extraction Seal, a forbidden technique that rips Qi from living hosts. The Hollow Flame’s expression darkens. “He’s trying to take the seal by force. If he succeeds, you’ll become an empty husk.”

Kael feels his chest burn. The seal begins to flicker violently, leaking power. The Reaper chants. Symbols light the walls.

Kael drops to one knee. “I can’t stop it,” he gasps.

“You can,” the Hollow Flame says. “Not with your hands. But with your will.”

Kael closes his eyes. In the darkness behind his mind, he sees the blue flame again floating, silent, waiting. He reaches for it. And it answers.

Kael stands, eyes glowing. His voice is calm. “Pulse Shift.” The air bends.

The Reaper is frozen mid-chant, his body convulsing as his own technique rebounds. The light around the seal implodes, crushing the symbols. The Soul Reaper screams as his own energy shatters his spine.

He collapses, smoking, unconscious but alive. Kael sways and collapses too. The Hollow Flame catches Kael before he hits the floor. “You should be dead,” he mutters.

Kael, barely conscious, smiles faintly. “I saw... the flame.” The Hollow Flame looks toward the storm outside, grave. “Then the others will come. You’re not ready for them.”