Kael could feel the storm in his chest before the skies cracked open above him.
The battlefield was littered with shattered armor, severed limbs, and the cries of dying mages. The royal gardens had been reduced to charred stone and crimson mud. Once a place of peace and power, now it was the stage for annihilation. A dozen of the elite Royal Sentinels lay motionless, their souls sucked dry by the Wraith King's cursed lance.
Valerian stood before him—half of his robes gone, blood dripping from his lips, the infernal sigils of the system glowing across his chest like a brand of doom.
"You still don't get it, do you?" Valerian's voice was low, mocking. "You were always just a side quest, Kael."
