Chapter 3: First Rival
The forest had grown silent. Kael moved like a shadow itself, gliding between the trees, senses alert. He had trained relentlessly, but power alone would not be enough. The world was full of warriors, killers, and cultivators far stronger than him. To survive and to take revenge he had to test himself against them.
A faint sound caught his attention: footsteps, deliberate, measured, and unnervingly calm. Kael flattened himself against a tree, letting the shadows swallow him. From the corner of his eye, he saw a figure approaching: a young man, barely older than Kael, with a long sword strapped across his back. His eyes were cold, calculating.
Kael's pulse quickened. He could feel the faint aura of cultivation radiating from him a dangerous level for someone so young.
"Who's there?" the stranger called, voice sharp, cutting through the night.
Kael stayed silent. The shadow within him whispered: Strike first. Strike hard.
Before the man could take another step, Kael's tendrils of darkness erupted from the ground. They wrapped around the stranger's legs, yanking him off balance. The sword clattered to the ground, and Kael leapt from the shadows, fists glowing with dark energy.
The man rolled, landing gracefully, then laughed a cold, bitter sound. "So, you're the shadow boy everyone's talking about."
Kael frowned. "I don't care about rumors. Step aside, or die."
The stranger's eyes glinted. "You'll have to catch me first."
With impossible speed, the man dashed forward, sword slicing through the air. Kael barely blocked the strike, the force reverberating up his arm. He countered with shadows, but the young cultivator twisted and flipped, evading every attack. Kael realized this was no ordinary opponent.
The fight continued, dark versus light, shadow against steel. Kael's tendrils lashed, trying to bind him. The stranger moved like water, countering, striking, and forcing Kael to adapt with every second.
Finally, Kael saw an opening. He concentrated, pouring every ounce of shadow into one strike. The tendrils shot forward like a living spear. The stranger tried to dodge but Kael's power had grown. The shadow wrapped around him, crushing, immobilizing.
Breathing heavily, Kael stepped back. "Yield."
The young man laughed again, blood trickling from a cut on his cheek. "Not today… but we'll meet again, shadow boy. And next time, I won't hold back."
Before Kael could react, the stranger disappeared into the forest, leaving him alone with the night.
Kael's heart pounded. That encounter had been a warning: the world was filled with rivals, each stronger, each more cunning. But it had also ignited something inside him a hunger for power, for mastery, for the day when no one could stand against him.
The shadows around him pulsed, as if agreeing. Then let them come.
Kael Veyra's journey into darkness and into legend had only just begun.