The Shadow Within

The cold night air hit Kael like a blade as he emerged from the cavern. For the first time since his betrayal, he was free.

But freedom meant nothing without understanding.

His body still pulsed with an unfamiliar energy—his veins tingled, his senses sharper than ever. Every breath he took was calculated, controlled, yet something in him had changed.

"What did they do to me?" he muttered.

His mind flashed back to the ambush. The poison. The darkness swallowing him. And then… the awakening.

His eyes flickered toward his hand. He focused. Felt the shadows around him.

And then—he vanished.

No sound. No sensation. Just pure nothingness. A space between reality.

When he reappeared a few feet away, his heart pounded in his chest. He could control it.

"Shadowstep," he whispered. A skill unlike any he had before. But that wasn't all.

Something deeper stirred inside him. A presence.

"You are different now," a voice echoed in his mind.

Kael spun around, scanning the empty landscape. No one.

"Who's there?" he demanded.

Only silence.

He steadied his breathing. This wasn't normal. He needed answers.

The Nightfall Syndicate had trained him to kill. But they had also trained him to seek knowledge, to study the unseen.

If he had changed… then there had to be a reason.

His first step? Find someone who understood this power.

His second? Uncover why the Syndicate betrayed him.

Only then would he be ready.

For when the time came… he would not just return.

He would make them fear the dark.