Days later, Kael found a dying child: body broken, soul flickering weakly.
He could save her.
One soul. One feeding.
No one would know.
The hunger coiled tightly, sweet and persuasive.
Kael knelt, shaking.
He remembered the battlefield.
The lives lost because he had been weak.
He reached out....
Then stopped.
Instead, he guided her soul gently, easing her pain, letting her pass intact.
She smiled before fading.
Kael wept openly.