The gates of Drakensport slammed shut behind him, sealing off the city with a thunder that echoed like judgment.
Kael staggered into the wilderness, the night air biting at his skin, his breath ragged. For the first time, there were no walls, no bells, no priests chanting curses above him. Just the whisper of wind through black pines and the call of unseen creatures.
He was free.
But freedom had never felt so empty.
Every step he took into the wild was heavier than the last. His veins burned with borrowed light, his chest throbbed with the shard's whispers, and in his ears, the words still echoed—Lyra's voice, breaking as she said: "Then I'll be the one to stop you."
He pressed a hand over his heart, clutching the glow beneath his ribs. "Damn it… what am I becoming?"
The forest gave no answer. Only shadows.
Hours blurred into a haze of exhaustion. The city lights faded, swallowed by endless trees. His legs trembled, his stomach hollow with hunger, his throat dry. But when he collapsed against a tree trunk, the whispers returned, sharper, hungrier.
Kill. Take. Devour.
"No!" Kael shouted, slamming his head back against the bark. He clawed at the ground, nails ripping soil, his teeth clenched in defiance. "I won't… I won't become that!"
The shard pulsed. His vision warped—brief flashes of glowing chains, thousands of souls bound in darkness, a colossal shadow with eyes like dying stars watching him. The Abyss itself breathed against his neck.
Then—
"Still alive, then?"
Kael's head snapped up. A man leaned against a fallen log a few feet away, cloaked in ragged wolf pelts. His eyes gleamed like steel under the moon, and a long-hafted axe rested casually against his shoulder.
Kael froze. "…Who—?"
"Hunter. Exile. Same as you, by the looks of it." The man's smirk revealed sharp teeth, too sharp for a normal man. "You've got the stench of prey and predator all mixed together. Makes the beasts restless."
Kael tried to push himself up, but his limbs trembled too hard. "If you're here to kill me, get it over with."
The man chuckled, low and dangerous. "Kill you? No. Not yet. You've got something the world's scared of—and that makes you interesting."
He crouched closer, eyes flicking to the glow bleeding faintly from Kael's chest. His grin widened.
"…Tell me, boy. How does it feel to steal the power of the gods?"
Kael's breath hitched. The stranger's gaze wasn't filled with fear or hate. It was hunger. Recognition.
And in that moment, Kael realized something terrifying:
He wasn't the only one walking the path of a monster.
⸻
➡️ Cliffhanger: Kael meets his first true "mirror" — a savage outlaw who may be ally, enemy, or something far more dangerous. The wilds aren't empty… they're full of others cast out by the gods.