Chapter 13 – The Broken Mask
The morning after the duel, Kael'var didn't celebrate.
There were no cheers. No banners. Only whispers. The Executioner had vanished. Ghost had survived.
But the question burned behind every locked door:
> "Who is behind the mask?"
In the heart of the rebel quarter, Rayan sat silently in Kara's quarters. Before him lay the mask—silver, dented, and cracked down the side where his blade had struck it.
Torren leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
> "He dropped that mask on purpose."
Kara nodded. "He left a message. Not surrender. A warning."
Rayan turned the mask in his hand. Inside, the symbol still burned in his mind—a bleeding sun.
> "The Crimson Circle," he whispered.
Kara stiffened. "You know that name?"
> "My brother died chasing them."
Torren frowned. "I thought they were a myth. Hidden cult. Rich ghosts running the city from the shadows."
> "Not ghosts," Rayan replied. "Kings without crowns. They use people like the Executioner to control the streets while they sit behind velvet curtains."
Kara paced. "And now you've exposed yourself. You didn't kill the Executioner. You just declared war on his masters."
Rayan stood slowly, gaze firm. "Good."
The streets were changing. Walls once covered in fear-stained symbols now bore something new: the mark of Ghost. A simple drawing—three red slashes like a claw mark.
At first, the nobles laughed.
Then two of them were found bound and unconscious in the sewer tunnels—tattooed with Ghost's sign.
Then one of the Circle's minor enforcers vanished during daylight. His car burned in the center of the Merchant Square.
> "What are you doing?" Kara asked.
> "Building a rebellion," Rayan answered.
> "With fear?"
"With fire."
Torren grinned. "I like this version of you."
---
That night, a small boy ran to their door, eyes wide.
> "There's someone outside," he gasped. "He says he knew your father."
Rayan's heart tightened. He grabbed his blade and rushed out into the alley.
There stood a man—tall, old, wrapped in a grey cloak, with a limp in his right leg. His eyes were sharp, but his voice was soft.
> "You look just like him," the man said.
> "Who are you?"
> "An old soldier. I served beside General Kael—the man they called the Iron Flame. Your father."
Rayan stepped back. Kara and Torren watched from behind.
> "You have something to tell me?" Rayan asked.
> "Yes," the man nodded. "Your father wasn't killed in battle. He was executed."
Chapter 14 – Bloodline War
The stranger, who called himself Commander Elrik, led them to an abandoned forge at the edge of Kael'var's ruined district.
Inside, old weapons lined the walls. Blueprints. Letters. A map of the city—marked with red ink in a dozen places.
> "Before your father died, he was close to exposing the Crimson Circle," Elrik said. "He gathered names. Faces. Secrets. That's why they had him silenced."
Rayan stared at the map.
> "He never spoke of them," he whispered.
> "Because if he did, you would've died too."
Elrik opened a hidden compartment in the forge's floor. Inside were three old notebooks—tattered but packed with information.
One page showed a list:
Lord Varlon – Head of the Trade Council
Madam Seris – Poison Broker
A.D. Kellor – Arms Dealer
Bastion Rix – Guildmaster of Ironhall
And next to each name: the symbol of the bleeding sun.
Rayan clenched his fists.
> "They killed my father. My brother. Now they run this city like a chessboard."
Torren looked over his shoulder. "Then let's flip the board."
The team moved fast.
First target: Madam Seris.
She controlled a network of spies and poison smugglers who kept nobles obedient and enemies silent. Her fortress was the Gilded Lotus—a high-end bathhouse with silk curtains, golden doors, and hidden weapons under floorboards.
Rayan, Kara, and Torren posed as noble clients. Kara laced their papers with fake identities. Torren carried an acid vial tucked in his sleeve.
They waited until night.
When the guards rotated, they slipped into Seris's private wing.
The room smelled of roses and death.
Seris sat at a long table, sipping wine with fingers stained in purple ink.
> "Ghost," she said before Rayan even spoke.
He froze.
> "You're not the first rebel with a blade," she continued. "But you're the first one stupid enough to come to me."
Kara moved first. She launched a smoke pellet. The room filled with haze.
Torren kicked the table aside and dove for Seris. But she was fast—years of poison made her agile, unpredictable. She pulled a knife from her robe, slashing wildly.
Rayan drew his blade and engaged.
It wasn't a duel like the Executioner.
It was a hunt.
And Ghost was the predator.
He dodged her strikes, grabbed her wrist, and slammed her against the mirror wall. Glass cracked. She hissed and spat blood.
> "You've killed children," he said coldly. "Fed this city poison while calling yourself a healer."
> "Better than giving people false hope."
> "Hope didn't kill my family."
With one motion, he crushed the last vial in her robe—shattering her source of defense.
> "You won't die now," Rayan said. "But you will be named."
Torren dropped a branded token onto her body.
It bore the Ghost mark—and a warning:
> "One by one, your Circle will fall."
---
By dawn, Seris's name was whispered in every square.
> "She was caught."
"Ghost marked her."
"He's going after the rest."
The Crimson Circle reacted.
They sent messages. Bounties. Threats.
But it was too late.
Ghost had become a symbol.
Not just of revenge. But of resistance.
Back in the forge, Rayan stared at the list again.
One name pulsed like a wound: Bastion Rix.
> "He owns the weapons trade," Elrik explained. "Half the city's mercenaries work for him."
Rayan tapped his finger on the name.
> "Then we go for the head of the sword."
Kara raised an eyebrow. "We've barely escaped the last two attacks alive."
> "And we'll barely survive the next. But if we don't strike now, they'll bury us in silence."
Torren raised his hand. "I'm in. I've always hated that guy."
They all looked at each other.
There were no more second chances.
The rebellion had started.
And it burned with the fury of lost blood, broken legacies, and one crimson echo still rising.