Kael left Blackpoint before sunrise.
The words "court of ghosts" echoed in his mind like a curse. Veylan, his once-brother-in-arms, was no longer a fugitive. He was the architect of something deeper. Something older. Something that smelled of rot and blood.
Kael followed the whispers.
They led him north, through the Bleakwood—dead trees, crooked paths, and the feeling that something was always just behind him.
---
The Bleakwood
By noon, Kael found a clearing.
Three bodies hung from the trees.
Branded into their chests were symbols. Not letters. Marks. Ritualistic. Burned in with steel.
He crouched near one of them, brushed the blood from the mark. His breath caught.
It matched the one scorched into his wife's locket.
Kael closed his eyes.
"I will find you, Elira."
And then he torched the bodies, letting their silence burn with the wind.
---
A Message in Blood
Later, a shadow moved behind him.
Fast.
Kael spun, sword drawn—just in time to parry a curved dagger.
A masked figure lunged. Robes black. Voice silent.
Kael ducked, countered, and drove his blade through the chest.
The body dropped.
But before it died, it whispered a single word:
"Hollowrise."
Kael froze.
That was no place.
That was a signal.
A forgotten outpost, buried beneath a city that never slept—Velmire.
He dragged the body to the flames and burned it beside the others.
"I'm coming for all of you."
---
Meanwhile – In the Shadows of Velmire
Veylan stood before a towering figure.
"You underestimated him," the figure rasped.
Veylan smiled. "No. I want him to reach me."
"Why?"
"Because revenge is a poison," Veylan said. "And I want him drinking it until the last name dies."
To be continue...