Darkness.
All-consuming. Absolute. Eternal.
Kaen Valcarys had floated in that void for fifteen years. Not dead, but not truly alive. His soul had been trapped—ripped from his body by betrayal, sealed in the great abyss beyond time and form. There, surrounded by countless wailing spirits, he had waited.
Until now.
A crack appeared in the darkness.
A sliver of light.
A heartbeat.
A breath.
Kaen gasped.
Air rushed into lungs that weren't his. Muscles twitched, weak and foreign. He opened his eyes to a dim ceiling made of rotting wood. Rain leaked through the cracks. The scent of damp earth filled his nose.
He was in a shack.
Alive.
But not… himself.
> "Where… am I?"
His voice was hoarse. Too young. Too frail.
Kaen pushed himself upright with trembling arms. His body felt like it had been broken and poorly stitched together. He looked down at his hands—thin, pale, scarred. These were not the hands of a Sovereign who had once bent nations to his will.
A bitter laugh escaped his lips.
> "So… the Void reincarnated me."
He had heard the legends. Soul Reaver magic could sometimes bind a soul to a new vessel if the original body was destroyed. But he had never expected it to work on him. He had thought himself erased forever.
Yet here he was.
Alive. Reborn.
> "Kaen Valcarys… in a stranger's shell."
He closed his eyes and reached inward, searching for his power. The Void. The Soul Reaver. The devouring storm that had once surged through his veins.
Nothing.
Only faint whispers in the distance, as if locked behind layers of frost and stone.
> "I'm sealed," he murmured. "Of course. Power like that… doesn't come back freely."
But Kaen was not afraid. He had something more valuable than power.
Memory.
Knowledge.
He knew the ancient paths, the forgotten temples, the true names of beings worshipped as gods. He knew where to begin again.
And more importantly—he remembered who needed to die.
The door creaked open. A boy no older than twelve stepped inside, carrying firewood in his arms. He stopped cold when he saw Kaen sitting upright.
"You're awake?! I thought you were gonna die!"
Kaen stared at the boy. His crimson eyes, dimmed by exhaustion, flickered with curiosity.
"I found you by the river," the boy continued nervously. "You were floating like a corpse. You had bruises everywhere and a fever. I dragged you here. I'm... Ara."
Kaen tilted his head. "Why?"
The boy shrugged. "You looked lonely."
Kaen's lips curled faintly.
"And what's your name?" Ara asked.
He hesitated. The name Kaen Valcarys would bring questions—fear, suspicion, maybe even assassination attempts. That name had once echoed through kingdoms. Now it had to stay buried.
"…Rai," he said at last. "Call me Rai."
Ara grinned. "Well, Rai, you're lucky. We don't get many visitors here in Darnes. You can stay while you recover."
Kaen nodded slowly. "Thank you."
The gratitude was real, though it surprised him. Long ago, he would've incinerated a child like Ara for getting in his way. But now… he needed time. A place to breathe. To plan.
To rise again.
---
Three days later.
Kaen could walk again. Barely. His limbs ached with every movement, but strength was returning. Slowly. The people in the village ignored him—just another nameless stray. Darnes was remote, tucked on the edge of the Noxfall Forest. No soldiers. No priests. No eyes.
Perfect.
Kaen stood at the edge of the trees that night, staring into the forest.
He remembered this place. Long ago, beneath the roots of Noxfall, an ancient temple had been buried. Inside it was a Void Fragment—a piece of the same abyss that had birthed his power. A place of death and rebirth.
> "That's where I'll begin."
He had no sword. No magic. Just a rusted knife Ara had given him, a waterskin, and a tattered cloak.
But he had purpose.
He moved through the trees like a ghost, each step guided by memory rather than instinct. The forest was thick and wet. Creatures watched from the shadows, but none dared approach. Something about Kaen—Rai—made even beasts uneasy.
Hours passed.
Then he found it.
A stone doorway, half-buried in vines and moss. The air around it pulsed with ancient magic. Kaen stepped forward, placing his hand on the cold stone.
It opened.
No sound. No resistance. As if the darkness within recognized him.
He descended.
Inside, the void welcomed him like an old friend. The further he walked, the more he felt the ancient power stir. Whispers echoed—familiar voices. Lost souls. Some of them… his own victims.
> "I'm not afraid of you," he whispered.
At the chamber's heart, a crystal floated above a black pedestal. It radiated void energy—pure, unrefined, deadly.
Kaen reached out.
The moment his fingers touched it, the world shuddered.
Memories flooded back—not his, but the soul of the body he now wore. Pain. Starvation. Fear. The boy whose life he had taken had suffered… and died with nothing.
Kaen clenched his jaw. "I'll use your life better than you ever could."
The Void Fragment melted into his skin. Not painfully—willingly. As if it knew him.
A spark reignited.
Not enough for domination.
But enough to begin.
---
When Kaen emerged from the temple, the wind had shifted.
Somewhere far away, the High Priests of Light would feel it—a flicker in the dark. A pulse that hadn't been felt in fifteen years.
They would panic.
They would search.
And they would fail.
Because this time, Kaen would not fight as a king.
He would rise as a shadow.
A whisper.
A curse in the bones of the world.
> And when he struck…
None of them would see him coming.
---