There was just darkness.
No sound.
No pain.
No body.
Vael drifting somewhere between life and death.
There was no sky above him. No ground beneath him. Just nothing...
Then came a whisper. Not loud, not cruel. Just there, like it always had been there.
"You called for power?"
Vael blinked. Or thought he did. It was all too dark to know for sure.
A shadowy figure stood in the distance. Something around it shifting position. Unsettling.
But its voice was smooth, calm, and too kind.
"I want to kill him",said Vael.
"And why would you want to do that?"
"He killed my sister, he burned my village. He killed everyone..."
"Hmm",gently. It wasn't in approval or pity. Something else. Maybe amusement.
"Will killing him change what has happened?"
Vael hesitated. But he still force the words out
"Nothing. But i still want to kill him."
The figure moved closer.Thevoice grew warmer.
"You're weak. You're a fool. You have nothing."
"What make you think i should give you power?"
Vael clenched his fists."I dont know..."
"Hmm...let me see..."
"And if i did? If i gave you more than you could ever dreamof- strength, speed, power to tear this whole world apart- what would you do with it?"
Vael didn't hesitate this time.
"I'd kill him. And then anyone else like him."
A pleased chuckle.
"You'll lose yourself, you know. You'll stop being… what you call human."
"I don't care as long as i kill him."
The shadow smiled.
"Then so be it."
He woke up. He wasnt lying down. He was on his feet. But his body didn't feel right.
Something was wrapped around him. Tight. Cold. Shifting.
Shadows. Crawling up his arms like vines, sliding over his skin, curling all around his body.
They didn't hurt. Not yet
But they pulsed with something wild, something alive.
His hands twitched. He looked down .
They weren't his. They once were... But not anymore.
The fire still burnt around him. The village was gone. Nothing left but rubble and charred bones.
And ahead of him, the figure.
Still standing, holding the relic. Still smirking.
Vael didnt feel afraid.
The figure tilted its head,"So you lived."
Vael didn't answer.
His heart wasn't beating. His mind was blank. There was no breath in his lungs. But somehow, he moved.
A black edge grew from his arm. Thin, jagged, pulsing. Like it had a heartbeat of its own.
The shadows curled into it like it belonged to them.
"You don't know what you've done boy.", the figure said.
"The crown isn't yours."
Vael blinked slowly. The shadows moved with him.
Then, within a moment, he vanished from view.
He moved faster than he ever imagined. Faster than the figure could follow.
And when he appeared again, he was behind the figure.
His blade cut through the figure's armour like paper.
Without even a moment to fully realise what had happened, the figure turned to dust.
Vael stood there.
No pride. No relief.
Just a hollow space inside him.
The power still burned. Still whispered. Still wanted more.
And he knew it would never stop.
The voice returned, low and sweet.
"This is only the beginning."
Vael stared at his hands again.
Shadows curled around his fingers, they looked like they were hungry.
He had won.But he had lost everything.
And somewhere deep inside, something old and cold had started to wake.