Chapter 1 – The Voice Beneath the Ashes
The sky had not been blue in years.
It hung above the kingdom like a wounded memory — gray, cracked with streaks of crimson lightning that never struck the ground.
Kael stood at the edge of his village, staring at the ruins where the old castle once touched the clouds. He had never seen it whole. No one his age had. They only knew the stories — whispers passed down like forbidden prayers.
"They say the king was erased," the elders would mutter.
Not killed.Not defeated.
Erased.
Kael clenched his fists.
For months now, he had dreamed of a throne room swallowed in darkness. A crown split in half. And a voice — deep, echoing, ancient.
You are late.
He never told anyone about the voice.
Because in this kingdom, speaking of the past was dangerous.
That night, the wind howled louder than usual.
Kael couldn't sleep. The dream returned — stronger this time.
He stood in a broken hall of stone pillars. Shadows crawled along the walls like living smoke. At the center, a massive throne carved from black crystal waited.
Empty.
Then the voice came again.
Find me.
Kael's eyes snapped open.
The ground beneath his bed was trembling.
Not shaking.
Calling.
Heart pounding, he grabbed a lantern and rushed outside. The tremor led him beyond the village… into the forbidden forest — a place no one dared enter after sunset.
Branches twisted like claws above him. The air felt thick, heavy.
Then he saw it.
A faint blue glow beneath a pile of ancient stone.
Without understanding why, Kael dropped to his knees and began clearing the rubble. The earth burned against his skin, but he didn't stop.
Until his fingers touched metal.
Cold.
Alive.
He pulled.
A sword emerged from the ground — long, silver-black, veins of blue light pulsing along its blade.
The moment his hand wrapped around the hilt—
The world shattered.
Visions flooded his mind.
A battlefield covered in bodies.
A king wearing a jagged crown.
Eyes glowing the same blue as the sword.
And those eyes—
They were his.
Kael screamed and dropped the weapon, but it did not fall.
It hovered in the air before him.
The shadows around the forest began to move.
Not with the wind.
With intention.
A whisper surrounded him.
You carry my blood.
Kael staggered backward. "No…"
The ground cracked open behind him, revealing ancient symbols carved deep into the earth — symbols no villager had ever seen.
A seal.
And it was breaking.
Far beyond the forest, in the ruins of the forgotten castle, something shifted.
Stone crumbled.
Darkness breathed.
And in the depths of the throne room, two blue lights flickered open.
Kael stared at the floating blade.
The voice spoke one final time.
The kingdom remembers… even if the people do not.
The sword fell into his hands.
This time—
It did not feel cold.
It felt like home.
🔥 End of Chapter 1