Some prey runs from the hunt. Others turn and bare their fangs.
Kael Vire had been many things — scavenger, outcast, cursed. But now, with blood on his hands and shadows in his wake, the Graveborn was no longer prey.
He was becoming a storm. And the Guilds had no idea what was coming.
The alley reeked of rot and wet stone. Somewhere above, the moon fractured through ash-heavy clouds, casting the underground city of Ashport in broken light.
Kael moved like a ghost through its labyrinthine ruins, tracking the one who had been watching him for days.
A Guild scout. No — more than that.
A Named Hunter.
Ress Fen.Marked by the Guild of Iron Wills. Known for killing awakened Fragments in their infancy. Never failed a hunt.
Until now.
Kael cornered him beneath the broken cathedral, its stained-glass windows shattered like forgotten dreams.
Ress spun, twin daggers gleaming, his aura flaring crimson. "You're not hiding anymore, huh?"
Kael didn't answer. His silence was more terrifying than words.
The fight that followed was vicious — illusions, blood, and steel clashing in flickers of light. Kael's halberd morphed mid-swing into a whip-blade, catching Ress off-guard.
Ress gasped as he crashed into a pillar. "You're—you're evolving while fighting... that's not—"
Kael didn't kill him.
He knelt beside the stunned assassin, placed a hand on his chest — and took something instead.
New Skill Gained: "Shadow Echo"Create illusions that mimic real attacks.
Ress fell to his knees, panting, sweat dripping down his brow.
"You... you're not just Graveborn," he whispered. "You're something worse."
Kael's gaze burned like a dying star.
"I'm what they made me."
Far above, in the silk-lit throne chamber of the Black Lotus Syndicate, Kara Yil smiled.
She had seen enough.
Kael was beyond Guild logic. Beyond prophecy.
He was potential wrapped in rage.
So she sent him an offer — no lies, no traps.
"Join me. I'll give you the location of the next Fragment. And the truth about your fall."
Kael stood alone on the edge of Ashport's ruined balcony when the message arrived — whispered through a shadow-walker, encoded in blood-script.
He didn't hesitate.
He replied with two words:
"For now."
Not because he trusted her.But because he needed what she had.
Because the second Fragment was not in any place mortals could walk.
It was hidden in a tower between realms, lost to myth, sealed by time.
Its name had not been spoken aloud in centuries — only written in the forbidden tongues of gods.
The Spire of Dust.
And Kael Vire, Graveborn Ascendant…was about to climb it.
[END OF CHAPTER 6]
But as Kael vanished into the portal toward the Spire, a voice echoed from the void behind him — soft, familiar, and cruel: "Still running, little god?"
Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 7: The Spire of Dust
The laws of the Twelve Realms do not apply within the Spire of Dust. Time loops. Gravity lies. Reality bends. And something ancient guards its heart — something not quite dead, and not quite divine.
As Kael ascends, visions of his past and future begin to twist around him. Enemies become allies. Friends become strangers. And Aeon's whispers grow louder.
To claim the next Fragment, Kael won't just fight… he'll have to remember what he truly was — and what he lost.