Blood.
It soaked the soil, dripped from shattered armor, and clung to the air itself. The battlefield smelled like iron and smoke, like death itself had claimed the land.
Once, this plain had thundered with war cries and the clash of steel. My soldiers had shouted my name as if it were a promise—Aric Veynar, Savior of the Realm.
Now? Only silence. Only fire. Only corpses.
I stumbled forward, each step heavier than the last. My sword dragged against the ground, leaving a shallow trail in the dirt. My body screamed for rest, but I refused. A savior did not fall while his people still lived.
Or so I told myself.
"Pathetic."
The voice behind me froze my blood.
I turned, vision blurred, and saw him. Darin. My brother-in-arms. The man who had stood at my side in a hundred battles. His armor gleamed with blood—our soldiers' blood.
"You…" My throat was raw, the word tearing itself free. "You betrayed me?"
His lips curved into a smirk. "Betrayal? No, Aric. Liberation. You chained us with your 'glory,' with your endless crusades. We were never free. Always living in your shadow."
My knees trembled. My blade slipped from my hand. "I bled for you… for all of you."
"And we are grateful," he said coldly, raising his sword. "But the world doesn't need saviors. It needs ruin."
Steel pierced my chest.
The pain was indescribable, a firestorm ripping through my veins. My body convulsed, my breath caught in my throat. I collapsed to my knees, staring up at the man I once called brother.
Around him, others stepped from the shadows—faces I knew. Faces I trusted. My disciples. My generals. My friends. All with blades drawn. All with blood on their hands.
Their laughter echoed in my skull as the world dimmed.
I had saved them. I had saved all of them.
And this was how they repaid me.
Darkness crept in, swallowing the flames, the voices, the pain. But as my body fell, a single thought burned hotter than my blood.
If fate is cruel enough to grant me another life… I will not save. I will not forgive. I will not be betrayed a second time.
This time, I would not be their shield.
This time, I would be their tyrant