Genre: Dark Fantasy / Martial Arts / Action / Revenge / Cultivation
Chapter 1: Ashes in the Moonlight
The night was silent too silent. Kael Veyra crouched on the ridge above his village, his breath shallow, ears straining. The wind carried the scent of smoke and iron. A faint glimmer of torchlight flickered across the village below, but it wasn't the comforting glow of home. It was chaos.
Screams ripped through the air, followed by the metallic ring of blades against flesh. Kael's chest tightened. He knew instantly this wasn't a raid by bandits. This was slaughter.
He tried to stand, to run down and help, but his legs refused. Fear and anger clashed inside him like storm clouds. Then, a shadow moved at the edge of his vision. Darker than the night itself, it slithered along the walls, coiling like liquid smoke.
What…?
Kael's heart raced as the shadow wrapped around him, cold and heavy, but oddly familiar. In a whisper only he could hear, it spoke not in words, but in feelings, in instincts. Use me.
The first wave of soldiers broke through the village gate. Kael's parents, his little sister he could only watch as they were cut down in moments. Rage exploded in his chest, hot and blinding. Without thinking, he reached toward the shadow, letting it pour into him.
Pain. Power. Darkness.
Kael's body moved on its own, faster than his mind could command. Shadows extended from his limbs like black tendrils, slicing through attackers, swallowing them whole. Screams turned to silence. The soldiers fell, some lifeless, some screaming in horror at the thing that had become Kael.
When the carnage ended, the village was nothing but smoldering ruins. Ash floated in the moonlight like snow. Kael fell to his knees, chest heaving, covered in soot and blood. The shadow withdrew, leaving him trembling, yet stronger than he had ever been.
He looked at his hands. Black veins of power pulsed beneath his skin. The shadow was a part of him now and it demanded more.
Kael rose, his eyes hard and unflinching. The world had taken everything from him: family, home, innocence.
Then I will take everything from it in return.
From that night forward, Kael Veyra walked the path of shadows. The weak feared him. The strong underestimated him. And the world… would soon learn that darkness could rise from the smallest spark.