Zodiac Ruins Arc – Next Main Character: Scorpio

The desert stretched endlessly, golden sands shifting beneath the scorching sun. A lone figure stood at the center, her dark crimson cloak billowing behind her.

Kael Zorath, the woman who would become Scorpio, had arrived at her trial.

Unlike the others, she had no royal blood, no kingdom to inherit.

Her trial was not of power.

It was solitude.

---

Daughter of Shadows

Kael wasn't born into privilege.

She was born into darkness.

Her mother, Isolde, had been a gentle healer, her touch soothing even the most violent wounds. But her father, Varian Zorath, had been nothing but a whisper in the night—a legend among assassins, a killer whose name carried both fear and respect.

When Kael was seven, that legend was erased.

Her father was hunted down by his own people. Her mother was murdered trying to protect him.

That night, Kael learned the truth.

Compassion does not save lives. Strength does.

By the time she was fifteen, she had killed the men who destroyed her family.

By twenty, the underworld called her by a new name—The Scorpion.

Now, she stood before the Trial of Scorpio.

And she would either survive it or become nothing.

---

The Trial of the Poisoned Path

Kael stared at the twelve black obelisks arranged in a perfect circle before her. Their surfaces pulsed with eerie purple light.

Then, a voice echoed through the silence.

"You have walked the path of shadows."

"You have embraced death, yet you still walk."

"But do you understand what it means to survive?"

The sand shifted.

A serpent of black fire erupted from the dunes, its glowing violet eyes locking onto her.

The Trial had begun.

The serpent struck with unnatural speed, its fangs dripping with venom strong enough to kill a god.

Kael moved.

Her body twisted like flowing water, dodging with an elegance that made it seem effortless. Her foot barely brushed the sand before she launched herself into a backflip, the serpent's strike missing her by inches.

But the creature was faster than it looked.

Its tail lashed out like a whip.

Impact.

Kael hit the ground hard, her lungs screaming for air.

The serpent coiled above her, its presence suffocating, like death itself watching, waiting.

"You cannot defeat poison with strength." the voice whispered.

"You must become it."

Kael closed her eyes.

Breathed in.

The venom in the air burned her lungs. Her body rejected it.

But she didn't fight back.

She accepted it.

Because Kael had lived with poison all her life.

And so, when the serpent struck again—she was ready.

This time, Kael did not dodge.

She stepped into the attack, letting the fangs come within inches of her throat.

And then—she struck first.

Her fingers pierced the serpent's skull, her movement precise, controlled, like a dagger slipping into flesh.

The creature froze.

Convulsed.

Its own venom, once a weapon, became its undoing.

The serpent hissed one last time before dissolving into black mist.

The Trial was over.

The obelisks shuddered, their light shifting from deep purple to a crimson red.

A burning pain erupted on Kael's back.

She gritted her teeth as a black scorpion sigil carved itself into her skin, glowing like molten gold before fading.

She had won.

She was now Scorpio.

---

The Assassin Reborn

As the trial ended, Kael sensed another presence.

Lucian stood at the edge of the desert, watching.

"Your style is different from the others," Lucian noted.

Kael adjusted her cloak, her golden eyes gleaming with quiet intensity.

"That's because I don't fight for honor," she said.

"I fight to win."

Lucian smirked.

"Good. Welcome to the Zodiac Ruins, Scorpio."

And so, another legend was born.