The tunnel was ancient.
Older than the tower. Older even than the civilizations that had sealed it.Kael and Lyssara walked slowly, one ahead of the other, their footsteps echoing through a corridor where time itself seemed frozen.
The walls were etched with faded glyphs, as if the world itself had tried to forget this place.
Light did not reach here. Not even magical flame.And yet, Kael could see.Not with his eyes.But with something else.
— You're not afraid? Lyssara asked, her voice echoing faintly against the stone.— Fear is a reaction. I prefer caution.
She had followed him for an hour without understanding why.Something about him pulled her in as much as it terrified her.
A calm void. An unfathomable power that seemed capable of swallowing kingdoms… and yet walked without a sound.
— You were a prisoner, she repeated. But not like the others.
Kael stopped. He placed his hand on a wall and studied a faded scratch—almost human.— I was born free. I just grew up in a cage.
A shiver ran through the corridor.
The air changed.Lyssara froze. She reached for her sword… then remembered she no longer had one. Just a broken hilt.
Kael closed his eyes.— It's coming, he said.— What is?— The Tower is not empty. It guards what it cannot understand.
A shadow emerged from the wall.
Not a beast. Not a creature.A human shape. Blurred. Spectral.
Neither man nor woman. Neither alive nor dead.Its eyes were two white points in a sea of smoke.
It advanced, gliding soundlessly.Lyssara stepped back, trembling.— Kael…? What is that?— A memory.
He stepped forward. The shadow halted.He raised his hand.— You were the warden, weren't you? The one who broke the oath.
The shadow stirred. Whispers rose. Words without form, without language.— They left you here to rot in dark magic. You were just a tool. A pawn in a tower without a king.
Kael raised his other hand.A black blade began to form slowly. Not a physical weapon. A fissure.Solid void.
— I offer you a choice. Return to oblivion… or become my echo.
The shadow hesitated.Then… bowed.And exploded into a rain of gray ash.
A part of its essence flowed into the mark on Kael's arm.
Lyssara, speechless, felt the air grow thicker.— You… absorbed it?
Kael turned his head toward her, his gaze dark.— I freed it. And took what remained useful.
They resumed their march.The corridor now seemed wider, straighter. As if the magic itself were aligning with the will of its new master.
— Can you… do that often? Lyssara asked.— Not yet. My bond with the Void strengthens with each trial. What I just absorbed was a fragment of memory, an ancient spell sealed in the shadow of a dead man. It belongs to me now.
— You learn… by breaking the rules.— I don't break them. I deny them.
Further ahead, a light.The exit.
Or at least, a passage to the surface.Kael stopped before a broken arch, its symbols vibrating faintly.
He closed his eyes. The glyphs fell silent.— We're leaving, he said.— And after that? Lyssara asked. Where will we go?
He placed his hand on the stone.— Somewhere no one is watching. Where the kingdoms have no more reach.
A place where I can build.— Build what?
He turned toward her.His gaze was calm. Icy. Absolute.— An empire that will bow to no god.