White.
That was all Jake saw, an endless, searing white that swallowed everything.
Pain tore through his entire body like molten wire, twisting every muscle until he could no longer scream. His limbs jerked uncontrollably, his back arched, and then he went still, caught in that limbo between consciousness and oblivion.
He could still feel it, though, the pain, the heat, the fire that wasn't quite fire.
He tried to scream, but when his mouth opened, red smoke poured out instead. His brown eyes flared crimson, glowing like twin embers as a deep red aura rippled from his skin, warping the air around him.
His mind spun out of control, his mother's melting face, the smell of burning flesh, the heat licking at his skin. Then came the darkness, a void vast and soundless.
In that void, he saw a face.
A pale, expressionless mask with eyes of infinite darkness, gazing at him with such unbearable sorrow that the very air seemed to mourn. From its black hair curved a single red horn, pulsing faintly with light.
Then the face shifted. The melancholy vanished, replaced by rage, pure, endless rage.
The void convulsed. The air snapped like cracking glass. Jake's body spasmed as if lightning surged through his veins, drowning him in waves of hatred and terror until he thought he would burst apart.
Then.....silence.
The pain vanished.
And in its place came emptiness.
A perfect, terrifying calm.
When Jake opened his eyes again, the fire was gone. The room lay in smoldering ruin, and his reflection in a broken mirror showed a stranger, long white hair, crimson eyes, and a stillness that didn't belong to a boy of twelve.
The door burst open. Two men stepped into the ruin, their shadows cutting across the floor.
"Are you sure he's not their son?" The first voice was cool, detached.
"I'm sure, Commander Apex," said the other. His tone was flat and efficient. "The intelligence said their boy had brown eyes and black hair. This one's probably just some anomaly, lucky to still be alive."
Jake lifted his gaze to the two intruders.
The first was tall, broad-shouldered, wrapped in black battlewear beneath a long red coat. A sigil was stitched on the right sleeve: a crimson dragon exhaling fire.
The Inferno Legion.
Jake froze. The Inferno Legion are the dominant clan that ruled most of Eastern Doomhaven. They had conquered countless outposts, swallowing every territory that resisted their rule. People called them the Eastern Dragons.
But they had always spared Ashen Outpost. His father's people had no battle techniques, only weak water and plant abilities. They weren't a threat.
So why now? Why burn everything?
Apex's sharp eyes studied him. "Hmm… he looks odd. White hair. Red eyes. Strange."
"Mutation, maybe," said the second man, his face hidden behind a black mask streaked with flame patterns.
Apex grunted, then crouched slightly, meeting Jake's gaze. The commander's presence was suffocating, like a firestorm barely restrained.
"He's not afraid," Apex said, a note of intrigue in his voice. "Good. Fearless eyes. He'd make a fine Hound… if he survives. Don't you agree, Kael?"
The masked man inclined his head. "It is as you say, Commander."
Apex's mouth curved faintly. "What's your name, boy?"
Jake hesitated. The name Jake died on his tongue. That boy...his father's son...was gone, burned away with the flames and smoke.
He was nothing now.
Only a hollow shell filled with hunger.
"…Azaroth," he said finally, his voice hoarse but steady. "My name is Azaroth."
Apex raised a brow. "Azaroth—the ancient word for emptiness."
He smiled faintly. "Good name, boy. Remember it."
With that, he turned and strode out of the ruin.
Kael glanced down at him. "Can you stand?"
Azaroth nodded and, to his own surprise, rose to his feet. His body no longer felt fragile. He was still lean and young, but there was power pulsing beneath his skin, a strange, heavy strength that hadn't been there before.
He kept his face blank. Cold. Emotionless. Only one thing remained within him.....hunger.
Not for food, not for comfort. For revenge.
"Follow me," Kael ordered.
Azaroth obeyed silently, stepping through the charred halls. They passed his father's burnt room and the crumbled remains of the dining table. The corpse of his mother lay where she had fallen.
He paused. For a heartbeat, he waited for grief. For rage. For tears.
Nothing came.
Only the cold. And hunger.
Only the certainty that one day, the Inferno Legion would burn for him, beneath him.
He followed Kael through the smoking ruins of the outpost.
Outside, the air stank of blood and ash. Masked soldiers moved among the bodies, piling them like discarded dolls.
Azaroth watched with quiet detachment, memorizing each face. Not because he mourned them. they had been leeches feeding on his father's charity but because he wanted to remember how the weak looked before they died.
A scream broke the silence.
A group of survivors of old, young, terrified was herded into a clearing before Commander Apex.
"I don't belong to this outpost!" an old man shouted, falling to his knees. "Please, spare me and my children!"
"We don't know anything! The...leader of this outpost forced us here!"
Others followed, voices trembling, all desperate to disown the dead leader who had protected them.
Azaroth's eyes darkened. 'Cowards'
A
fter feeding off his parents' kindness for years, they now begged for mercy.
Apex stared at them, disgust clear on his face.
"The man who ruled this place was weak," he said. "Too bound by the rules of the old world. He suffered for it. But he did protect you in his own way."
A flick of his finger and a thin arc of fire sliced through the air.
The old man's head dropped to the dirt.
"He didn't deserve your betrayal."
The crowd screamed and tried to flee, but the Hounds fell upon them and cut everyone down.
Azaroth watched, a strange, dark satisfaction curling in his chest. He didn't flinch. He understood this world now. Power ruled and weakness burned away.
Kael beckoned him forward. They approached a massive iron carriage parked near the ruined gate. Its rear compartment was a cage.
"Get in," Kael said.
Azaroth did as told. The gate slammed shut behind him with a heavy clang. Kael's masked face turned toward him, voice low and amused.
"Welcome to hell, Hound-to-be."
Azaroth's lips curled, baring teeth that looked too sharp for a boy.
"Yes," he murmured. "Welcome to hell."