The sky burned red that night.
The screams were louder than the thunder outside. Inside a lavish mansion buried deep in the mountains, a little boy clutched his younger sister under the bed, his hand covering her mouth to keep her quiet. His name… was Damion Kade, and tonight was the last night he would ever be a child.
Gunshots rang through the halls like firecrackers.
Men in black stormed room after room, their boots heavy, their hearts merciless. Blood trailed the marble floors. Servants were the first to die. His mother was next.
> "Please—! Not my kids—!"
BANG.
Silence followed.
Then footsteps.
Closer.
Heavier.
A whistle—a low, eerie melody.
Damion's heartbeat was louder than the storm outside. He held his breath as black leather shoes stopped just feet away from the bed.
A face leaned down.
Serpent tattoo coiled across his neck, red eyes gleaming under the mask.
The man smiled.
And then—
He bent down, pulled a lighter from his coat, flicked it once… and set the curtains ablaze.
> "Let the boy burn. Just like his father burned my empire," the man growled.
Victor Voss.
Damion would never forget that name.
---
Damion woke up sometime later choking on smoke. His sister's tiny body lay cold beside him—motionless, breathless. He tried to shake her, but her lips were blue.
He cried until his throat bled.
And then… he stopped.
Something inside him changed. Something ancient. A cold whisper in the darkness. Shadows coiled around his fingers as if they answered his pain.
He rose from the ashes, eyes empty, hands shaking.
> "I'll find him," he whispered.
"And I'll return the fire."
---
Outside, the mansion collapsed in flames. Emergency sirens howled in the distance.
But Damion didn't run.
He walked into the woods, barefoot, burned, and bleeding — carrying nothing but a name etched into his soul.
Victor Voss.
And with that name, the boy disappeared.
Only the monster remained.
End of Chapter 1.