The air was thick with the smell of burning stone, the scent of Kaelen's own blood still fresh in his nostrils. The tower had grown eerily quiet, save for the soft, rhythmic hum of the crystal in his hand. The remnants of his attack lay in broken fragments around him, like the shattered pieces of his pride.
Kaelen's breath came in shallow gasps. His body ached in ways that were foreign to him—broken, beaten, yet still not broken enough to submit. His spirit, however, had been shaken. The reality of the gap between his ambition and his abilities had never been clearer. Arcanis stood before him, an embodiment of everything Kaelen had failed to become.
"Take me as your student," Kaelen rasped, his voice raw but filled with a sense of humility he had never known. He struggled to lift his head to meet Arcanis's gaze, his pride fighting against the desperate plea that had slipped from his lips. "I will learn. Teach me, and I will be more than you can imagine. I will become your equal—no, I will surpass you."
Arcanis's face remained a mask of indifference, his eyes narrowing as he regarded the broken figure before him. The ancient sorcerer took a step closer, his every movement as deliberate as the calm before a storm.
"You *plead* for my teachings?" Arcanis's voice was low, tinged with disbelief. "You, who once thought the world was yours for the taking, now grovel at my feet?"
Kaelen clenched his fists, the crushing weight of failure still bearing down on him. He forced himself to look up at Arcanis, the deep embers of his ambition rekindling in his eyes. "I do not grovel," he said, his voice shaking but resolute. "I seek power. True power. I know I cannot achieve it alone. Not yet. But if you take me in, if you teach me, I will become stronger than you can imagine. And then—then I will destroy you."
A quiet laugh escaped Arcanis, one devoid of amusement. "You ask for my tutelage, yet you already seek my death. You are foolish, Kaelen, and you are still too weak to understand the true cost of what you desire."
Kaelen's heart twisted in frustration. "Then I will make you see, Arcanis. I will tear down every obstacle in my path, and when I am strong enough, I will come for you. I will destroy you with my own hands."
Arcanis regarded him for a long moment, his expression unreadable. "You are not ready for the path you are on. Power must be earned. It must be gained through trials that will break you. And even then, you may find that you have reached your limit—far sooner than you expect."
The words struck Kaelen like an iron weight. His heart raced, fury and resolve mixing into a single, uncontrollable force. "I will not stop," he spat, pushing himself to his feet, ignoring the protest of his battered body. "I will never stop. I will gather power from every corner of this world if I have to. I will tear apart your teachings and build a path to greater strength. You will see me again, Arcanis. And when I do, I will make sure you regret turning me away."
Arcanis's eyes darkened, his lips curling into something resembling a smile, though there was no warmth in it. "Very well," he said, his voice a cold whisper. "Go, then. Seek out your power. When you think you are ready, come back. But know this—there is a price for everything, Kaelen. The power you seek, the path you choose, it will cost you more than you can imagine."
Kaelen didn't hesitate. His gaze remained locked on Arcanis, the fury in his heart no longer concealed. "I am willing to pay any price," he said, his voice cold with finality. "I will become unstoppable. I will become a force that even the gods will fear."
Arcanis's expression softened for the briefest of moments, though whether it was pity or something else, Kaelen could not tell. "Then go," he said simply, his voice tinged with a strange finality. "But remember, Kaelen—the path to power is not a straight line. It twists, it turns, and often, it leads to the very destruction of those who walk it."
Kaelen nodded, though the words did nothing to quell the fire in his chest. He turned, walking toward the tower doors, his every step heavy with the weight of the promise he had just made. He would *not* be broken. Arcanis's words meant nothing to him. If anything, they only strengthened his resolve.
---
As Kaelen stepped into the world beyond the tower, the ruins of Valdorian stretched out before him, vast and empty, like the beginning of a new chapter. His once unwavering conviction had been tempered by failure, but now, more than ever, he understood that this was not the end. It was merely the beginning of something far greater.
The lessons Arcanis had refused to teach him would be learned on his own. The power he craved would be taken from those who stood in his way. The world itself would be his proving ground, and he would leave nothing but ashes in his wake.
He looked up at the sky, a quiet smirk forming on his lips as he whispered to the wind.
"I will become unstoppable. And you, Arcanis, will be the first to fall."
---