Kialan
The sacred court burns.
Flames crawl up the marble columns, devouring the once-hallowed banners of unity. Gold-stitched vows curl into ash, lost in the smoke. Blood stains the steps of justice, thick and unforgiving, and the air reeks of ruin.
And Liam—
Liam hasn't moved in minutes.
He lies beside the shattered altar, chest rising weakly, his body limp. His blade—our father's gift—lies just out of reach, still wet with divine blood. The strength that once made him unbreakable is fading fast.
I drop to my knees, pressing a hand to his heart.
Still warm. Still fighting.
"We were never meant to become this," I whisper, unsure if the words are for him, for the gods, or for the dead watching from the shadows.
I tilt my face toward the scorched ceiling.
"I don't know what this world wants anymore. We asked for unity. We gave it—our hearts, our blood, our vows. But because you feared what you couldn't control, you turned on us."
My voice breaks.
"Does the unknown always frighten you so deeply? Must everything stronger than you be destroyed?"
I look at Liam again—my brother in everything but blood.
"Maybe I should've taken you and run."
Maybe we could've lived quietly in the mountains. Hidden. Unseen. Forgotten. Maybe vengeance wasn't worth carving death into your skin.
But it's too late for maybes.
As I cradle him among the ruins of our birthright, memory claws its way in—
His laughter echoing through the garden.
Our parents' hands, warm and full of hope.
The sacred day everything changed.
Back then...
We were only boys. Sons of promise.
Sons of peace.
But peace never lasts in a world that fears its gods.
And that was the day the last sons of Valenheart and Hustharic died.
Only vengeance remained.
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TO BE CONTINUED...
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Next Chapter Teaser:
Before vengeance, there was light.
Before the fall, there was family.
In Chapter Two, we return to the beginning—where love lived, and betrayal first took root.