The ruins beneath Ashmoor were alive with whispers.
Ancient stone walls breathed with cold magic, veins of glowing red pulsating beneath the surface like a sleeping beast. Dust hung in the air, but it was no ordinary dust — it shimmered like fragments of forgotten time.
Kael staggered forward, his body still adjusting to life after death. Every step echoed with tension, every heartbeat reminded him he shouldn't be alive.
But he was.
And something inside him... was awakening.
"What is this curse?" he muttered, watching shadows swirl around his fingertips."What have you turned me into?"
Behind him, the cloaked man stood silently.
"I did not curse you, boy. You were born with it. The Shadowblood isn't a spell. It's a legacy... sealed in your bloodline long before your throne was ever built."
Kael clenched his fists. The shadows answered — wrapping around his arms like black fire. They didn't hurt, but they hummed with hunger. Like they wanted something.
"What do they want from me?"
"They want what you want: vengeance. But be warned," the man said, stepping into the faint glow of a shattered pillar. "The Shadowblood answers only to will. Control it, or it will consume you."
Kael closed his eyes. Memories of his father's murder, the screams in the palace, Thorne's mocking grin — they rose like a storm. The pain was fuel. The rage was fire.
And then it happened.
The ground beneath him cracked as black tendrils shot out in all directions. A massive burst of energy blew through the chamber, shattering ancient stone and lighting up the runes.
Kael fell to his knees, panting. His eyes now glowed with twin violet flames.
The man stared.
"You've awakened the First Vein," he whispered. "Faster than I expected..."
Kael looked up. "How many are there?"
"Seven," the man said. "Each one will push you closer to power... and closer to ruin."
Kael rose to his feet, the shadows now quiet but coiled around him like armor.
"Where do I begin?"
The man smiled faintly. "Follow the signs. The truth lies where your father once feared to look. In the ruins of The Obsidian Vault... and in the pages of a journal he tried to burn."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "He knew about the curse?"
"He knew... and he died keeping its secret."
Elsewhere... in the capital city of Velmora
Lyra stood in the grand library of the Ravenhold Spire, flipping through pages of a classified scroll. Her silver eyes narrowed as she stopped on one word:
"Shadowblood."
A cold shiver ran down her spine.
"Impossible... The cursed bloodline was wiped out a decade ago."
But as she stared out the tall windows into the night, something deep inside whispered otherwise.
"He's back."