Prologue:Part 3 – Ashes and Hollow Eyes

The night swallowed Kael and Lyra as they fled through the burning streets.

The air was thick with smoke, choking, clawing its way down his throat with every ragged breath. Sparks stung his skin, flames roared from collapsing rooftops, and the cries of his neighbors cut through the chaos—pleas for help, for mercy, for salvation that never came.

Kael’s small hand clenched around Lyra’s, refusing to let go. She stumbled, sobbing, her pale hair sticking to her tear-streaked face, but he dragged her onward. He couldn’t stop. He wouldn’t stop.

His father’s voice still rang in his ears: Protect her. Live.

But how?

Everywhere he looked, the world was ending. Soldiers of their own kingdom—men in tarnished armor, faces twisted with fear—fled through the streets, dropping their spears as the beasts descended upon them. Great hulking shapes, fanged maws slick with blood, eyes glimmering like molten gold in the firelight.

One soldier, his face familiar—Uncle Bren from the market—screamed as claws tore across his chest, his body crumpling to the ground. Kael froze, his stomach lurching.

Lyra whimpered, tugging at him. “K-Kael…”

He forced his feet to move again, dragging her away before the beast turned its glowing gaze toward them.

The streets twisted, every corner a nightmare. Kael saw houses torn open, families dragged into the flames, children crying for parents who would never answer. The smell of blood mixed with smoke until it coated his tongue, bitter, metallic, unforgettable.

“Why… why are they doing this?” Lyra’s small voice cracked, breaking what little was left of him.

Kael didn’t answer. He didn’t know. All he knew was Veylan’s crimson eyes, the smirk on his lips, the betrayal in his words.

Power demands sacrifice.

Kael’s legs trembled, his breath ragged, but he kept moving. For Lyra. Always for Lyra.

They reached the village square. It was worse.

The once-familiar fountain where he and his friends had played was shattered, stones slick with blood. Dozens of bodies lay strewn across the cobblestones—men, women, even children—cut down where they had stood. The air reeked of iron.

Kael stopped dead.

His hollow eyes drank it all in. The burning homes. The fleeing soldiers. The snarling beasts. The red haze of betrayal that hung over everything.

This was no longer his village. No longer home.

It was a graveyard.

Lyra buried her face against his arm, whimpering, but Kael couldn’t look away. His young mind, too fragile for this horror, began to fracture. A numbness spread through him. He wanted to scream, to cry, to collapse and beg for it all to end—but he couldn’t. His father’s voice bound him tighter than chains.

Protect her. Live.

He couldn’t die. Not yet. Not while Lyra needed him.

Something moved in the square.

Through the smoke, through the haze of firelight, he saw him—Veylan. Standing tall amidst the carnage, his blade dripping red, his crimson eyes glowing with terrible calm.

The betrayer.

The man who had once laughed with his father, shared their table, carried him on his shoulders when he was younger. The man who had destroyed everything.

And worse—Veylan wasn’t alone.

Behind him, the beasts prowled like loyal hounds, their fangs glistening, their hunger restrained only by his presence. He was their master. Their commander.

Veylan’s gaze swept the square and landed on Kael.

For a heartbeat, time froze.

Kael’s chest seized, his hand tightening on Lyra’s until she cried out from the pain. His body screamed at him to run, but his legs refused to move. He was caught, a mouse before a serpent.

Veylan tilted his head, and for a moment Kael saw no malice in his expression—only curiosity.

“Still alive,” the man murmured. His voice carried even through the crackle of flames. “Good. The boy endures.”

Lyra whimpered again, clutching Kael’s arm. Veylan’s eyes flicked to her, and something sharp glinted in his smile.

“Yes,” he said softly. “I see now. That’s the chain that binds you. The weakness that keeps you human.”

Kael’s teeth ground together, his fists trembling with a rage too big for his small body. “Stay away from her!”

The words tore from his throat raw and desperate, but his voice was swallowed by the flames, by the beasts, by Veylan’s low chuckle.

“You’ll learn, boy,” Veylan said, his crimson eyes burning brighter. “Everything you love is nothing but kindling for the fire. When it’s all gone, then—then you’ll understand what it means to be strong.”

He turned, his cloak swirling as he vanished into the smoke. The beasts followed, slipping back into the shadows, leaving only the flames and corpses in their wake.

Kael collapsed to his knees, clutching Lyra to his chest. His vision blurred, his body shaking uncontrollably.

But his eyes—his eyes were hollow now, emptied by grief, filled with a rage too deep for a child to bear.

He watched the village burn.

He watched the lives of everyone he had ever known turn to ash.

And in the silence that followed, Kael swore—swore to the flames, to the corpses, to the ghost of his father’s voice—that he would never forget.

That he would never forgive.

That one day, no matter the cost, he would see Veylan fall.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***