Vael stood at the edge of Black Hollow, the smoke from the burning village swirling around him. The flames consumed everything, but he didn't feel the heat. He didn't feel anything anymore. The crown weighed heavy on his head, its presence always with him, whispering in his mind.
He stared at Reya's body, still lying at the edge of the ruins. The pain of losing her hit him like a wave, but it didn't last long. The power of the crown drowned it out. Everything about him was different now. The boy who had once feared the world and its horrors was gone.
You are stronger now. The voice in his mind was cold, comforting, as if it were proud of him. But he didn't care. He couldn't. Not when everything he had known was gone. Not when there was nothing left but the whispers and the shadows.
His feet moved, pulling him away from her body, from the past. The crown guided him, urging him forward, deeper into the ruins.
The soldiers appeared from the smoke, moving toward him, their eyes full of fear and hunger. They knew who he was now. They knew the power he had taken.
Vael didn't hesitate. He didn't think. His hand lifted, and the shadows responded. They were his now—swirling, twisting, wrapping around his arms. The power was alive inside him. He could feel it, could almost taste it.
The soldiers slowed as they saw the shadows gathering around him. But they didn't stop. They moved forward, weapons raised. But it was too late.
With a wave of his hand, the shadows lashed out. One soldier was struck down before he could raise his sword. Another was thrown back by a tendril of darkness, crashing into the ruins.
The soldiers tried to fight, but they were no match for him. The shadows wrapped around their bodies, choking them, crushing them. One by one, they fell, their bodies lifeless in the dirt.
Vael stood among them, his breath steady but his chest empty. There was no satisfaction in the fight, no pride in their deaths. There was only the crown, pressing down on him, whispering its cold promises.
You are becoming something more. The voice in his mind coiled tighter, pulling him deeper into the darkness.
He looked around at the destruction, at the bodies of the soldiers. They were nothing. All of it was nothing. Vael was no longer the boy who had run from the warlord. He was something worse now.
The power would never be enough. It would keep demanding, keep taking, and he would keep giving. There was no turning back.
Vael turned his back on the village, the soldiers, the past. The shadows followed him, wrapping around his form like a cloak. The world had changed, and he had changed with it.
And the darkness would never let him go.