The wind howled through the broken tower, tugging at Kael's cloak like a living thing.The once-proud structure, half-swallowed by fog and moss, groaned under the weight of years. Faint embers still glowed in their small campfire, fighting against the creeping mist that coiled around everything like a ghost.
Kael stood motionless beside the dying fire, eyes half-lidded. To the untrained eye, he looked asleep — but every sense was awake, tuned to the faint tremor in the air.
They'd been circling for nearly an hour.Silent. Patient. Too patient.Not students. Not scouts. Syndicate.
He didn't need to see them to know. The air itself felt different around killers like them — sharper, colder, humming with intent.
Kael rose soundlessly, the motion fluid, practiced. His dagger caught the emberlight, gleaming faintly like a shard of frozen lightning. Power stirred beneath his skin — restrained, waiting.
Then came the sound — the faintest scrape behind him.
Kael moved.Steel hissed. The clash came a breath later — metal against metal, sparks scattering through the fog.
A hooded figure pressed in, twin daggers flashing in intricate arcs. Kael's blade intercepted the first strike, then the second. His movements were quick, economical — no wasted motion. The assassin twisted low, slashing upward. Kael caught the blow on his vambrace and countered with a swift kick, sending the man sprawling.
Before Kael could finish, the fog rippled behind him.
He spun — just in time to duck under a curved blade aimed for his throat.
Two of them.
Lightning flared along Kael's arm as he thrust his hand toward the ground. A jagged bolt erupted, exploding the earth in a burst of white-blue light. The nearest assassin stumbled, disoriented. Kael lunged, driving his dagger through the man's forearm — a disabling strike, not a killing one.
The second assassin came in from the flank, silent and deadly. His poisoned blade grazed Kael's shoulder before he parried. Sparks burst where their weapons met, lighting the fog in strobing flashes.
Then Kael's patience broke.Lightning erupted outward, an expanding halo of power that threw both assassins back like ragdolls.
Elara woke to the sound of thunder.
"Kael?!"
Her voice echoed in the ruins. Through the mist, she saw him — outlined in flickering blue light, cloak snapping in the wind, two figures circling him like predators.
"Stay behind the rocks!" he barked without looking back.
But as she peeked out, she saw one assassin recovering, blade raised toward Kael's unguarded side.
Her heartbeat quickened.Then she whispered, "No."
Golden light burst from her palms as she stepped into the open, magic thrumming with defiance. A shockwave of air magic rippled outward, knocking one assassin off balance just as he lunged for Kael's back.
Kael whirled, startled. "Elara—!"
"Less talking, more fighting!" she shot back, fierce and breathless.
The second assassin pivoted toward her, dagger gleaming. Elara conjured a radiant shield just in time. The impact sent a shudder through her arm, pain sparking up to her shoulder — but she didn't falter. With a shout, she drove a beam of searing light into the attacker's chest, hurling him into a cracked pillar.
Kael moved through the aftermath like a storm given form.He blinked through the haze, reappearing behind the second assassin, and unleashed a point-blank blast of lightning that sent the man crashing into the wall with a scream.
Silence fell — the charged kind that comes after thunder.
Elara stood panting, her hands still glowing, her hair clinging to her cheeks with sweat. Kael caught her arm as her knees wobbled.
"I told you to stay put," he said quietly, though his tone had softened.
She glared, breath unsteady. "And let you get carved up? Not my style."
Kael's lips twitched — half irritation, half reluctant respect. "You fight recklessly."
"Better reckless than dead," she shot back. "You're welcome, by the way."
For a heartbeat, neither spoke. Then Kael exhaled, the faintest smirk breaking through. "Remind me never to give you orders again."
Aftermath
Kael bound the unconscious assassins with crackling runes of lightning, suspending them upside down from a splintered tower beam."Tell your Syndicate," he murmured coldly, "this is my warning."
When the last echo of thunder faded, Elara stepped closer, voice soft. "Kael…"
He stood still, breathing hard, electricity flickering faintly around him. His sleeve was torn, blood tracing down his arm.
"You're hurt."
"It's nothing."
She folded her arms. "That's not nothing. Sit. Now."
Kael hesitated, then obeyed — reluctantly, like a soldier who knew better than to argue with a healer on a mission.
Elara knelt beside him, her palms glowing warm gold. Her magic brushed across his skin, closing the torn flesh. "Who were they?"
"Syndicate," he said quietly. "They were after you."
Her hands faltered. "Me?"
"You were the bait," Kael replied. "Or the prize. The Syndicate's been hunting the lost texts of Vale's Order — old magic, locked away for a reason. You were Arin's last student…" His gaze flicked up to hers. "And Lord Veyne's daughter. That paints a target on your back — in both worlds."
Her jaw tightened. "Then maybe you should've let them have me."
Kael gave a dry, humorless chuckle. "That's not how I work."
Elara looked at him, a strange mix of anger and concern in her eyes. "Why take the hit for me, then?"
"Habit," he said simply. The word came out softer than he intended — tired, honest.
For a long moment, only the hum of her magic filled the air.She could feel his pulse under her fingertips — steady, deliberate, like the rhythm of distant thunder. Dozens of scars crossed his skin, some old, some newer. Marks of a life built on violence and survival.
"You've lived through too much," she whispered.
Kael's gaze lifted, steady, unreadable. "So have you."
The light between them dimmed, but neither moved away. Something unspoken charged the air — not the static of his lightning, but something warmer, quieter.
Then Kael rose, testing his arm. "We should move before someone finds them."
Elara pushed to her feet, brushing dust off her robes. "You really don't rest, do you?"
"Rest," he said, sheathing his blade with a faint grin, "is for people who feel safe."
As they descended the broken stairs, dawn began to spill across the fog. Elara paused and looked back.
Two assassins hung from the tower's highest spire, bound in glowing lightning chains that shimmered in the morning light.A silent warning.
The storm had spoken.
At The Syndicate's Hideout
Far beneath the western cliffs of Eldrenvale, a single candle burned in the dark.
The chamber was carved from black stone, its walls etched with glowing sigils. Seven cloaked figures sat around a long obsidian table. In the center, a silver mirror swirled with mist — showing the tower, the fog, and two of their assassins hanging helplessly in Kael's lightning.
"He's alive," one figure hissed.
Another nodded. "And protecting her."
A third leaned forward, voice sharp as a blade. "Impossible. The Stormblood line was wiped out."
The leader — a tall man with pale eyes like mercury — rested his gloved hands on the table."Then history failed us," he murmured. "The Stormblood assassin survived… and he remembers how to kill."
Silence followed.
He turned toward a shadowed figure to his right — a woman in black armor, her cloak rippling faintly."Send word to the Raven Division," he ordered. "If Kael moves east, intercept him. The girl is a priority. If he interferes again…"His voice dropped to a whisper."…end the storm."
The woman bowed and vanished into smoke.
The leader stared into the mirror's dying light. "So the child of thunder walks again," he said quietly. "Let's see how long before the lightning burns itself out."
Back at the Ruins
Kael and Elara walked for nearly an hour before the tower disappeared into mist behind them. The forest ahead was waking — soft birdsong, shafts of gold light breaking through the canopy.
Elara broke the silence first. "You didn't have to save me," she said.
Kael's eyes stayed on the path. "Maybe not. But I wanted to."
She blinked. "Why?"
He glanced at her, tired but honest. "Because losing someone else isn't something I plan to repeat."
Her breath caught. She didn't ask who he meant. Some answers didn't need to be spoken.
Kael turned away, leading the way deeper into the woods. She followed, her steps falling in rhythm with his.
Behind them, thunder rumbled faintly — distant, lingering.
A promise.Or a warning.