The first rays of dawn broke over the craggy peaks of the Gravenclaw Mountains, casting the land in a cold, pale light. It should have felt like a new beginning but for Kael, it felt like the world itself was holding its breath.
The sanctuary was eerily silent, its ancient stones heavy with memories of blood and war. Kael sat with his back against the altar, eyes fixed on the dying embers of their meager fire. Lyra slept beside him, her hair a raven curtain across her face, but Kael found no peace in the quiet.
Something… called to him.
A voice.
Not a sound, but a presence.
It slithered through his veins, coiled around his heart, and brushed the edge of his mind like a lover's whisper.
"Kael…"
He shot to his feet, the cursed dagger in his hand before he even realized he'd moved.
"Who's there?"
No answer came from the physical world. Only a deeper pull, like gravity made of sorrow and fury. It drew him toward a narrow stairwell at the back of the sanctuary, half-choked by roots and rubble.
A sane man would have turned away.
But Kael was no longer sure if sanity was something he still possessed.
He followed the pull.
Each step felt like it stretched time. Shadows clung to the walls, and the air grew colder, thick with the scent of ancient earth and something far older than death.
At the bottom of the stairwell, Kael found a door a slab of black stone covered in jagged, curling runes. His chest ached as the mark beneath his skin flared. The blade Vharion pulsed at his side.
And then, a voice.
Not soft this time. Not gentle.
"Open the door, heir of broken blood."
Kael's hand trembled as he placed his palm against the stone. The runes writhed under his touch, and with a deep, shuddering groan, the door slid aside.
A vast chamber opened before him.
And at its center, bound by chains of smoldering crimson, knelt a figure.
He was tall, unnaturally so, his skin like forged bronze, hair the color of midnight storms. His eyes, though closed, radiated a power that made Kael's bones hum. The chains dug deep into his flesh, bleeding light instead of blood.
And Kael knew, without being told, who this was.
Azuren. The God in Chains.
The ender of realms. The betrayer of gods.
The myths said he had been imprisoned by the gods themselves when the world was young locked away beneath earth and stone, cursed to sleep for eternity.
But he was awake now.
And he spoke.
"I have waited, Kael Draven. Waited for the child born of sin and war. My deliverer. My weapon."
Kael staggered back, pulse hammering.
"I don't know you."
Azuren's lips curled in a cold smile. "But your blood knows me. I forged the line that led to you. You are my will made flesh."
The cursed mark on Kael's chest blazed, and the voice pushed deeper into his mind.
"You feel it, don't you? The world teetering on the edge. The lies of gods and demons choking the skies. You can burn it down, boy. Shatter the chains that bind you. Take the blade. Spill the blood. End the war."
Kael's fingers hovered over the hilt of Vharion.
But then Lyra's voice, faint, distant, yet achingly clear.
"Kael…"
A tremor of warmth shattered the chill around him. Her face, her fierce eyes, the memory of her touch. It cut through the god's poison like sunlight through storm clouds.
Kael forced himself back, gritting his teeth.
"I won't be your puppet."
Azuren laughed. A sound like splitting earth.
"You think you have a choice? The wheel turns. The gods will slaughter your kind. The demons will consume the earth. You will kneel before me, or you will die. And so will she."
Rage flared in Kael's chest, hot and reckless.
"Then I'll find a third path."
Azuren's voice darkened, a stormcloud before the flood.
"There is no third path."
Kael gripped the blade, but instead of drawing it, he turned away.
Back up the stairs.
Back toward the light.
As he emerged into the sanctuary, Lyra was awake, pale and wide-eyed.
"I felt it," she whispered. "You went to him."
Kael swallowed hard. "He wants me to free him."
A beat of silence. Then Lyra stepped forward, took his face in her hands.
"Listen to me. Whatever you heard… whatever lies he whispered… you're not his. You're not theirs. You're mine."
For the first time, Kael allowed himself to believe it.
And somewhere far beneath them, Azuren's voice echoed through the stones.
"Soon, Kael Draven. The world will bleed. And you will beg for me."