The skies screamed.
A crack of lightning split the clouds above, revealing a monstrous silhouette with dozens of eyes and writhing limbs spiraling out of its back like a nightmare given flesh. It hovered in the sky, watching. Waiting. Hunting.
Kade's breath caught as the woman shoved the blade of silver light into his hands.
"Hold it," she commanded.
"I—what? No, I can't—"
The weapon pulsed, warm and cold at once, and suddenly Kade felt it—not just in his hands, but in him. A burning tide under his skin, memories not his own, voices whispering truths he had never lived.
Shatter the lie... remember the fire...
The world shifted. The ground below him peeled away into a swirling vortex of images. A child in chains. A man cloaked in black flame. A tower atop a sea of mist. All of it flashing through his mind too fast to comprehend.
Kade collapsed to his knees, clutching the blade as if it were the only thing anchoring him to reality.
The woman knelt beside him, her voice gentler now. "You were born of two worlds, Kade. One of light. One of ash. And you've lived too long in the lie that you're powerless."
"I didn't ask for this," he growled.
"No one ever does."
Another roar tore through the sky. The creature had seen him now. It descended, dragging the storm with it.
Kade stood, legs shaking. "What is that thing?"
"A Remnant," she said. "A creature left behind when a world dies. And now, it's come to erase you."
Kade wanted to run. Every instinct screamed at him to drop the weapon and flee—but his feet stayed rooted.
Because deep down, something in him wanted to fight.
The woman stepped back, raising her hand to the storm. "Then fight it, Kade. Not with skill. Not with knowledge. With rage. With will. With pain."
The blade ignited.
No, not the blade—Kade did.
His chest seared with invisible heat as the weapon became an extension of him. Glyphs appeared along its surface, glowing red and gold—burning with his fear, his anger, his confusion.
The Remnant howled and charged, its limbs stretching like tendrils of smoke and bone.
Kade moved.
It was clumsy, instinctual—but the weapon answered. He swung wide, a burst of energy exploding from the arc. One of the creature's limbs evaporated midair.
It screeched.
The next moment, a claw slammed into Kade's side and hurled him across the field.
He tumbled, breath knocked out of him, ribs bruised. Blood pooled in his mouth.
The woman didn't help him up.
"Get up, Kade."
He coughed. "I—can't."
"You can. You've fallen your whole life, boy. Get up."
The Remnant loomed over him now. Its maw opened. A burning void stared back.
And something snapped in Kade.
He screamed—not in fear, but defiance—and drove the blade into the ground. Shockwaves pulsed outward. The glyphs on his arms burned brighter, now spreading to his chest, to his eyes.
The Veil trembled.
He rose, not with strength, but with something deeper—Will.
The next blow came faster than thought—but Kade met it. His blade cut the air, and with it, the Remnant's limb turned to dust.
"Keep going!" the woman shouted.
Another swing. Another pulse. The creature reeled.
Kade dashed forward, no longer thinking—moving. The blade glowed with each strike, drawing sparks of light from the air itself.
With a final cry, he plunged it into the creature's core.
The Remnant gave one last shriek before erupting into black ash.
Silence returned.
Kade stood alone in the smoke, panting, the blade humming softly in his grasp.
The woman approached. "You did well."
"I almost died," he muttered, dropping to his knees again.
"You will. Many times." She knelt beside him, brushing her fingers across his forehead. "But every time you fall… you'll rise stronger. That is the law of the Veilborn."
"Veilborn…?" Kade echoed, barely able to form the word.
"You carry the blood of the Lost Bloodline. Your ancestors were Exiles, keepers of balance between the world of man and the Forgotten Realms. But your lineage was wiped out. Or so we believed."
"Why me?" Kade asked, looking up. "Why now?"
The woman turned away. "Because the Veil is thinning. And something is crossing through. Something even the Remnants fear."
Lightning flashed again.
In the distance, a tower stood—impossibly tall, surrounded by swirling black mist.
The woman's voice dropped low.
"It has begun."
---
End of Chapter 3