The stars blinked above Kael like distant eyes, too far to judge, too high to reach. The altar was silent again. No pulses. No voices. Only the memory of something old, waiting.
He walked away from the ravine with the broken blade in hand, his mind quiet.
But not calm.
A question echoed louder than any whisper:
What have I awakened?
The forest greeted him again with rustling leaves and nocturnal calls, as if pretending nothing had changed. As if it hadn't just witnessed a conversation between a forgotten relic and a boy without a future.
Kael's eyes were sharp now.
Not with fear.
With awareness.
He didn't know who had sealed that altar or why it had responded to him. But one thing was certain—his path no longer belonged to the sects, nor to fate.
It was his.
And it was crooked.
---
By dawn, Kael reached a clearing—an old training ground long abandoned, half-swallowed by vines and moss. Wooden dummies stood like broken soldiers. Targets faded to rot. He stood in the center, breathing deep.
He needed to test something.
Drawing the broken blade, he closed his eyes. The air around him seemed to hum. No Qi techniques. No stance. Just instinct.
Then—
Slash.
A gust of heat spiraled from the blade's edge. Not fire. Not wind. Something in between.
The wooden dummy exploded into splinters.
Kael staggered backward.
"What... was that?"
The blade hissed faintly in his grip. Almost… satisfied.
He looked down. A faint ember shimmered along the crack in its spine. Like a wound that bled flame.
> A blade born of silence. A weapon the heavens had discarded.
And yet, it responded to him.
---
Footsteps. Crunching leaves.
Kael snapped his head around, lowering his stance.
A figure emerged from the trees.
Young. White robes. A silver badge gleaming on his chest—Cloudveil Disciple.
"Kael Ardentis?" the stranger asked, voice polite, but sharp beneath.
Kael said nothing.
"I was told to deliver a message… but seeing you here, like this—" the disciple's eyes flicked to the blade, then the destroyed dummy, "—I almost didn't believe the rumors."
"What rumors?"
"That you survived the fall. That something... changed you."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "And?"
The disciple smiled. "And I was told to warn you."
Kael didn't move.
"If you take one more step forward on this path, you'll no longer be hunted as a traitor…"
The disciple's eyes darkened.
"…you'll be hunted as a threat."
Then, without another word, he vanished into the trees.
---
Kael stood alone again.
But this time, the silence didn't press down.
It lifted.
For the first time… he smiled.
Not because he was safe.
But because he finally had something worth fighting for.