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Chapter One: The Forsaken Night
The air in Aldoria was thick with a biting chill, as if silence swallowed the chamber. Outside, the palace grounds lay draped in a heavy silence, broken only by the distant howls of the wind. The scent of burning incense still lingered from the evening's rituals, but beneath it was something else something metallic, something copper.
Blood.
Kael stirred in his bed, his body tense with unease. A strange heaviness sat in his chest, pressing against his ribs like an invisible weight. He had always been a light sleeper, but this... this was different. It was as if something unseen had reached into his very soul and shaken him awake.
Then he heard it.
A muffled cry. Faint but laced with unmistakable pain.
His breath hitched. He had never heard that sound before, not in the palace, not in his home. His mother had always told him to stay away from the altar room a place where only the royal bloodline was allowed, a place of ancient rites and whispered secrets.
But the cries were coming from there.
The moment his feet touched the cold marble floor, a shiver raced up his spine. He hesitated. He shouldn't be doing this. But something a voice, a force, an instinct buried deep within him told him he had to.
As he stepped into the dimly lit hallway, his bare feet barely made a sound. The corridor stretched before him like an endless tunnel, its shadows crawling over the walls, swallowing the golden candlelight. Each step he took felt heavier, as if the castle itself was warning him to turn back.
The cries grew louder.
He was close.
His heart pounded as he reached the grand doors of the altar room. They loomed before him, tall and imposing, carved with ancient symbols of protection symbols his mother once traced with her fingers when she thought no one was watching.
Kael hesitated, his fingers grazing the cold handle.
Then, with a deep breath, he pushed the doors open.
And the world stopped.
His mother Queen Aurora lay motionless on the floor.
Her golden hair, usually braided with delicate silver threads, now fanned out around her in a halo of silk. Her emerald eyes, once filled with warmth and wisdom, stared blankly at the ceiling.
Her throat was slit.
A deep, cruel gash marred her pale skin, the blood pooling beneath her like a twisted river of rubies. The air was thick with iron and incense, the scent clinging to everything like a ghostly shroud.
Kael's young mind refused to accept what he was seeing.
"Mother..."
It was barely a whisper, a fragile thread of sound that vanished into the stillness. His breath came in short, uneven gasps. The room tilted, the walls closing in around him.
Then his gaze lifted and he saw him.
A figure stood over her, blade still dripping with her blood.
His father.
King Eldric.
The man who had once lifted him onto his shoulders as they walked through the castle gardens. The man who had taught him how to ride a horse, how to read the constellations.
Now, he stood motionless, the royal crest on his tunic stained with red.
The silence between them stretched, thick and suffocating.
Then Kael broke.
" Father... what... what have you done?"
Eldric finally moved, turning his gaze to his son. His eyes once calm, once unreadable were now cold as death itself.
"Leave, Kael. This is not for a child to witness ."
Kael clenched his fists. His hands trembled not just from fear, but from something deeper. Something darker.
Something he did not understand.
"No. I won't leave. Not until you tell me what's happening!" His voice was stronger now, rising with anger, with confusion, with a storm of emotions that he couldn't name. "Why is mother... why is she..."
His throat burned. His chest felt too tight. His world was crumbling.
Eldric sighed. Not with sadness. Not with regret.
But with disappointment.
"You are too young to understand, Kael. But if you refuse to leave, then witness the truth yourself ."
Kael didn't understand. He didn't want to.
Then, his mother his dying mother moved.
Her lips, bloodied and weak, parted slightly. A whisper, softer than the night breeze.
"Forgive me, son ."
Kael's breath caught.
A flicker of light so faint it could have been his imagination shimmered in the air above her. The symbols carved into the altar walls glowed for a mere second.
Then, out of nothingness, a golden rift split through the air.
A portal.
And from within, a figure stepped forward.
He was not human.
Tall, cloaked in silver mist, his face was veiled by a celestial glow. His presence commanded silence, demanded reverence. Even the torches in the room seemed to bow to him, their flames flickering low.
Kael had never seen him before.
But he knew.
This was the man his mother spoke of in hushed whispers. The one who watched over the balance of fate.
Her Heavenly Master.
Eldric exhaled sharply, gripping his sword tighter. "So, you finally come for him ."
Kael blinked. Him?
His head spun. Nothing made sense.
But then he felt it, a pull deep within his soul, a force clawing at his very being. It burned and whispered all at once, ancient and powerful, as if something inside him was awakening for the first time.
The man stepped closer, and though his face remained unseen, Kael felt his gaze pierce through him.
"It is time.****"
Kael staggered back. Time? For what?
His father moved before he could react. The blade swung down.
Straight toward his mother's neck.
"NO!"
A flash of white hot rage burst through Kael's veins, unlike anything he had ever felt before.
Something inside him snapped.
The torches roared to life, their flames stretching unnaturally high. A wind howled through the chamber, though the doors remained shut.
And before he could think, before he could question
His father's blade stopped midair.
Kael didn't touch it.
But it hovered, frozen, locked in place by an invisible force.
Eldric's eyes widened, but before he could react, Kael's body moved on its own.
His hand reached forward. His fingers curled around the hilt of the very blade his father held.
And then, he stabbed it through his father's chest.
The world fell silent. Eldric staggered, blood blooming from his tunic, his expression unreadable. His lips parted as if to speak, but no words came.
Then, slowly, he fell still looking at kael
Kael gasped, stumbling backward, the blade slipping from his grip. His hands trembled. His body shook.
What had he done?
He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think.
Then, a warm hand rested on his shoulder.
The celestial man stood beside him. His voice calm, knowing, eternal echoed softly.
"You have taken your first step ."
The golden portal widened.
And before Kael could scream, before he could cry, before he could understand what he had become the light swallowed him whole.
And the Forsaken Night faded into legend.