PROLOGUE: THE MOMENT EVERYTHING ENDED
The sword went through my back.
Not from an enemy. Not from a monster.
From him.
"Sorry, Kael." Rylen's voice was soft, almost tender, as he twisted the blade deeper into my spine. "But you were never meant to reach the top."
I couldn't scream. Blood filled my throat, hot and copper-thick, drowning the words I wanted to say. My knees buckled. The grand chamber of the World Spire—the place I'd spent six years of my life fighting to reach—blurred into smears of gold and crimson.
Why?
That single word echoed in my skull as I collapsed forward, my face hitting the cold marble floor. Through fading vision, I watched my party—my friends, my family—step over my bleeding body like I was nothing. Like I had always been nothing.
Sera. The healer who'd held my hand when I lost my sister. She didn't look at me.
Marcus. The tank who'd taken arrows meant for my heart. He laughed.
And Rylen. The leader. The hero. The man I'd followed into hell itself.
He crouched beside me, brushing hair from my face with bloodstained fingers. His smile was the same warm smile he'd given me when he recruited me from that dying village six years ago.
"You were always the strongest, you know," he whispered. "That's exactly why you had to die. The gods don't reward the worthy, Kael. They reward the ruthless."
The last thing I saw was the Spire's core—a swirling mass of divine light—wrapping around him like a lover's embrace.
The last thing I heard was the system's cold, indifferent voice:
[HERO DESIGNATION TRANSFERRED]
[PARTY MEMBER 'KAEL 'VORN'—STATUS: DECEASED]
[CONTRIBUTION POINTS: REDISTRIBUTED]
And then?
Darkness.
Complete. Absolutely. Eternal.
Or so I thought.