The night swallowed the cloaked visitor's presence as if he had never existed.
Only the echo of his final words lingered in Lyon's mind:
"Your war starts tonight."
A cold wind swept through the clearing, rustling the shattered remains of the crimson smoke. Lyon's pulse raced. It wasn't fear—it was something else. Something deeper. Something that didn't belong to him.
His right hand began to burn.
Not on the skin.
Not in the bone.
But inside the soul.
"Lyon!" Kael rushed forward, eyes wide. "Your arm—look!"
Lyon glanced down.
A symbol—delicate, curved, ancient—glowed faintly beneath his skin like molten gold just beneath the surface. It pulsed once… twice… then spread like fire patterns across his forearm.
Lyon staggered backward.
"What… what is happening to me?"
Kael didn't answer.
He couldn't.
He looked like a man who'd just watched a myth come alive.
"That mark…" Kael whispered. "It only appears when the first fragment chooses its bearer. But it's too soon. It's far too soon. You weren't supposed to—"
Lyon grabbed his shoulder.
"Kael, just tell me what this means!"
Kael swallowed hard.
"It means they can find you. Every hunter… every Seeker… everyone tied to the Order's network can now sense your awakening."
Lyon felt the burning intensify—a scorching heat that traveled to his chest.
"What do I do?" he hissed. "How do I stop it?"
"You don't," Kael said. "You run."
---
THE TREES SHIFTED
A sound—soft but unmistakable—echoed through the forest.
Like boots crushing leaves.
Multiple pairs.
Kael turned sharply.
"Too late."
The burning mark on Lyon's arm flared, glowing brightly enough to cast shadows on the trees.
Lyon's breathing grew ragged.
"What's happening now? Why is it getting hotter?"
Kael's voice tightened.
"The fragment is reacting to danger. It's trying to protect itself. Lyon… it wants to fight."
"Fight? Fight who—"
A branch snapped loudly behind them.
Then another.
Then another.
Figures began emerging through the darkness—shadows shifting, bodies cloaked, hoods low, masks covering everything but their eyes. A ring of silent hunters, closing in. Their presence made the air heavy… suffocating.
Lyon's throat tightened.
"Kael…"
Kael stepped in front of him, drawing the twin short blades at his back.
"Stay behind me. Whatever you do, don't let them touch you. If they make contact with the mark, they can extract the fragment straight out of your soul."
Lyon froze.
"They can… what?"
Kael didn't take his eyes off the approaching hunters.
"It will kill you."
---
THE FIRST HUNTER STEPPED FORWARD
A tall figure, armored lightly, carrying a staff that crackled with icy blue light. He spoke with a voice like steel scraping stone.
"So it's true," he said.
"The fragment has chosen the reborn heir."
Lyon clenched his jaw.
"I didn't choose anything."
The hunter tilted his head.
"No heir ever does."
He thrust the glowing staff forward—sending a thin bolt of blue energy ripping through the ground.
Kael moved instantly.
He swung both blades, crossing them in an X-shape that absorbed the blow, though the force sent him skidding back several feet.
"Lyon!" he shouted. "You have to activate it!"
Lyon looked at his burning arm.
"I don't even know how!"
"You must feel the fragment," Kael said, blocking another blast. "Reach for it. It's part of you now."
Lyon tried.
He reached inward—toward the burning mark, toward the golden veins beneath his skin—but all he felt was pain.
Uncontrolled.
Unbalanced.
Alive.
"I can't control it!" he yelled.
"You don't need control," Kael said through clenched teeth. "You need connection."
Before Lyon could respond, a second hunter lunged at him from the side—fast, silent, blade aimed for his neck.
Lyon reacted purely on instinct.
He raised his marked arm.
The symbol flared—blinding.
A shockwave exploded from his body, blasting the hunter backward into a tree with enough force to crack the trunk.
Lyon stared at his own arm, trembling.
"I… I did that?"
Kael grinned tightly.
"Good. Do it again."
---
BUT THE HUNTERS WEREN'T DONE
Three more surged from the darkness—two with curved blades, one with chains glowing with runic energy.
Kael met the first with a spinning slash.
The second he kicked backward.
The third, he redirected with a blade lock—but he couldn't hold all three for long.
"Lyon!" he shouted. "I need help!"
Lyon felt the burning in his arm flare again—hotter than before, rising through his veins like liquid fire.
He clenched his fist.
The air around him crackled.
He didn't know what he was about to unleash—only that he couldn't let Kael die.
The mark flashed—
And the forest exploded with light.
---
A COLUMN OF GOLDEN ENERGY ERUPTED
It shot upward like a pillar, tearing through branches, lighting the entire forest in radiant gold. The hunters were thrown back as if struck by a giant's hand.
Kael shielded his eyes.
"Lyon, stop! You'll overload!"
Lyon couldn't.
He screamed as the energy surged beyond his control. The ground split, trees bent, and even the hunters—who had fought countless awakened heirs before—looked horrified.
"No…" one whispered.
"He's not just awakened."
Another stumbled backward.
"He's synchronizing with the fragment—already?! That's impossible!"
The first hunter dropped to one knee, disbelief in his voice.
"He… he's not a normal heir. He's—"
The golden pillar collapsed inward.
The light died.
Lyon fell to his knees, gasping.
The hunters, battered and shaken, began retreating into shadows.
But their leader spoke one final warning:
"This is only the beginning, Lyon Kade.
The moment you synchronized… the higher ranks felt it."
He pointed into the sky.
"And now, the Prime Inquisitor is coming for you."
Then they vanished into the forest.
---
SILENCE. THEN KAEL RAN TO HIM.
"Lyon! Hey—stay awake!"
Lyon tried to respond, but his vision blurred.
His arm still glowed faintly.
"What… what did I do?" he whispered.
Kael's face was pale.
"You survived. But Lyon… you weren't supposed to access that level of power until years later."
Lyon swallowed, his strength fading.
"Kael… who is the Prime Inquisitor?"
Kael's expression darkened.
"A nightmare the world hoped never to see again."
Lyon's consciousness flickered.
"Why… is he coming… for me?"
Kael hesitated—and his answer was barely a whisper.
"Because, Lyon…
the Prime Inquisitor is the man who killed your past self."
Lyon's eyes widened.
And darkness took him.