The corridor fell quiet, save for the ragged breath of the survivors. Blood soaked the floor, mixing with the flickering light from Merek's last spell. Kael stared down at the slain soldier—at the warped reflection of his father's sword, now still in death.
He clenched his fists.
"He said her," Elira whispered. "He couldn't mean—"
Kael didn't let her finish. "We move. Now."
---
Ascending the Beast
The hidden stairwell behind the false wall spiraled upward, narrow and steep. Each step echoed like a funeral drum. Kael led without pause, his mind torn between Rath and the sudden spark of something impossible—
His wife. Lyra.
Dead for seven years.
Was it a lie?
A trap?
Hope?
He didn't care. If there was even a sliver of truth, he'd carve through a thousand more to reach her.
---
The Chamber Before the Throne
They reached the upper sanctum.
Double doors of obsidian loomed ahead, etched with carvings of flame and agony. The mark of Rath's reign.
Kael motioned for the others to stop. "No one else enters unless I fall."
Calen shook his head. "Don't be stupid."
"I'm not asking."
Thorn stepped beside him. "I'll stand at the door. If anyone tries to leave that shouldn't… they won't."
Kael gave a rare nod. Then he pushed the doors open.
---
The Throne Room
Inside, crimson light filtered through shattered stained glass. At the far end, the throne of Grathmoor towered—a twisted thing of bone and stone, with a crimson banner flowing behind it.
Upon it sat Rath Veylor.
Older. But not weaker.
Draped in fine black armor, his white hair fell like a crown of ash, and his eyes… still burned with that same cold malice from the day Kael's world ended.
And beside him, in chains, knelt a figure.
Kael's heart stopped.
Lyra.
---
Revelation
Her hair was shorter now. Her face thinner. But it was her.
Alive.
Kael stepped forward. "Let her go."
Rath stood slowly. "Kael Veyre. I was beginning to think you'd died in some gutter. But here you are. Just in time."
Kael's voice was ice. "For what?"
Rath smirked. "For the last name to die."
He gestured, and from the shadows emerged guards—ten of them, clad in armor enchanted with runes Kael had only seen in forbidden texts. Experimental soldiers. The final vanguard.
Kael looked at Lyra again.
She met his gaze.
And nodded.
No words. Just belief.
---
Into the Fire
Kael roared and charged.
The guards converged. Rath stepped back, confident.
Kael's blade met the first soldier's halberd mid-air, breaking the steel like glass. He twisted, plunged the blade into another's throat, and kicked the next into a pillar.
He fought like he was already dead.
Each name in his head.
Each face in his soul.
Behind him, the battle resumed. Calen and the others had forced their way in, clashing with Rath's final loyalists.
The throne room became a war zone.
And in the center of it—
Kael faced Rath.
To be continue...