The night air had barely cooled after Joshua left when a sudden, heavy knock came from the front door. Elara, busy clearing the dishes, barely looked up. "Asher, could you get that? It might be Joshua; maybe he forgot something," she said in a light, unconcerned tone.
Asher, still lost in his thoughts from earlier, didn't hesitate. He rushed to the door, expecting nothing more than a quick chat with Joshua. But as he turned the handle and cracked the door open, it was kicked violently from the outside. The force of the impact sent Asher flying backward into the hallway, crashing into the floor. Before he could fully process what was happening, a group of men in dark clothing stormed inside, armed with electric rods.
"Get him!" one of the men barked, as they pounced on Asher and dragged him outside into the street. He struggled, trying to break free from their iron grip.
Dazed, Asher managed to speak, "Who are you, and who sent you?" His voice was full of both anger and confusion.
One of the men smirked and pulled out a phone, holding it up to Asher's face. A voice crackled through the speaker. Asher's eyes widened in recognition.
It was the nobleman from earlier, the one he had thrown to the ground when he defended Kia. "Remember me, peasant?" the nobleman sneered over the phone. "You humiliated me, and now you're going to pay for that."
Asher's fists clenched. "How did you know where I live?"
The nobleman laughed coldly. "Before that Pendragon brat took me away, one of my men placed a tracking device on you. You think you're safe anywhere? You're not."
The group of thugs laughed, their electric rods crackling to life with energy. "Beat him until he can't move," the nobleman ordered through the phone.
They swarmed him. Asher fought back fiercely, landing several punches and kicks, his body moving with trained reflexes from his years at the academy. But the sheer number of attackers overwhelmed him. The electric rods struck him repeatedly, sending searing jolts of pain through his body, and the blows from the men became too much to fend off. He staggered, blood dripping from his mouth, his vision blurring as the beating continued.
Just as Asher was about to lose consciousness, a desperate voice rang out.
"Stop!" Elara rushed out from the house, her eyes wide with terror as she saw her son being brutalized. She threw herself in front of Asher, shielding him with her own body.
The nobleman's voice hissed through the phone. "Beat her too!"
One of the men stepped forward, smirking as he dialed up the power on his electric rod. He thrust it toward Elara, the shock pulsing through her body. Elara collapsed to the ground, her body convulsing in pain.
Asher's eyes fluttered open. The world around him was spinning, his mind hazy, but the sight of his mother lying motionless on the ground cut through the fog. His heart pounded furiously, and in that moment, something inside him snapped.
Rage surged through Asher's veins like molten lava. The necklace around his neck—an enchanted object that had suppressed his powers all these years—began to crack. The internal seal placed on him at birth started to break, piece by piece. The air around him grew heavy, a dark, suffocating aura swirling violently as his anger reached its peak.
One of his eyes turned completely black with red pupil glowing with an ominous power. Dark energy pulsed from his body as a black mask began to form across his face, originating from his eyes and slowly creeping over his skin. His hands became engulfed in shadow, claws forming at the tips of his fingers. One of his canine teeth elongated into a sharp fang, the first physical sign of the terrifying transformation taking place within him.
The men took a step back in fear. They had no idea what was happening, but they knew they had awakened something far more dangerous than they could have imagined.
Asher let out a guttural roar, filled with primal fury. His body moved on its own, driven by pure instinct. He tore through the men like paper, his strength and speed far beyond anything they could handle. Each swing of his clawed hands sent them flying, their bodies crumpling against the ground like ragdolls. The electric rods, which had once caused him so much pain, were now useless against the dark power that coursed through him.
The nobleman, still on the phone, could hear the chaos unfolding on the other end of the line. "What the hell is going on?!" he shouted, but his voice was drowned out by the sounds of his men being torn apart.
Asher, consumed by rage, turned toward the last of the attackers. The man trembled, frozen in fear, as Asher's darkened form loomed over him.