Location: The Execution Grounds of Elarion, Year 742 A.D.
Black rain fell from the crimson skies as if the heavens themselves wept blood.
The crowd roared with twisted joy.
At the center of the massive stone platform knelt a man with bloodied silver hair and one eye gouged out. Chains thicker than a man's thigh bound his body like a captured beast. His name echoed through every land—Kael Varin, the Demon General, the Plague of the South, The Tyrant of Black Flame.
Yet none in the crowd saw the truth.
> "Your screams… will be my lullaby when I return."
Kael's lips curved into a broken smile. His voice was hoarse, tongue swollen from torture, yet calm—too calm.
The High Inquisitor, a gaunt priest adorned in golden robes, raised the Holy Blade of Sealing.
> "For crimes against the Empire—slaughter of innocents, pact with the Abyss, and usurpation of the King's command—Kael Varin is hereby sentenced to annihilation of body and soul."
Kael's thoughts whispered like fire through a collapsing star:
> Innocents? You called the orphanage I protected a den of heretics. You razed it. You burned children… and fed me lies.
---
FLASHBACK – 15 Years Ago
Kael as a young soldier. Loyal. Kind. The brightest star of the Order of Dawn. A knight who protected the weak and believed in justice.
Until one day… he found the truth:
> The Empire summoned demons.
They sacrificed their own to feed power into their nobility.
The Order wasn't holy.
It was the first gate of Hell.
He resisted.
So they branded him traitor.
---
Back in the present...
The blade stabbed into Kael's chest—not killing him—but erasing his soul.
> "I curse this land. I curse the bloodline of the Kings. I curse all who call this Empire righteous."
His voice was no longer human.
The sky cracked.
Lightning roared blood.
The crowd screamed—yet Kael's body was already dust.