The firelight flickered, casting long, restless shadows on the stone walls of their hideout. Tensions ran as high as the flames.
Trust was fragile.
Ash paced the room, every instinct screaming that something was wrong.
Kael sat near the fire, silently sharpening his blade, eyes sharp but restless.
Silna stood guard by the door, muscles taut.
Then came the knock.
Ash opened the door a crack.
A young man, pale and sweating, slipped inside.
He whispered hurriedly, "There's a traitor. Someone feeding the Black Fangs information."
The room went cold.
Ash's gaze hardened.
Suspicion fractured the group.
Each glance was weighed.
Each word measured.
Darius sat silent, eyes narrowing.
"Betrayal is death," he said quietly.
Ash nodded.
"We find the leak. And we end it."
Days of tense questioning followed.
But the traitor was elusive.
Then, a letter arrived.
Written in blood-red ink.
"You cannot hide from your past, Shadow."
Ash's breath caught.
The message was more than a threat.
It was a reminder.
That night, Ash stood alone atop the city walls, looking down at Ravenmark's glittering spires.
His mind drifted to the memories he kept buried.
A family lost.
A name erased.
And a destiny that might yet consume him.
Back in the cellar, Kael approached Ash.
"Who are you running from?"
Ash eyes were steely.
"From everything I once was."