Chapter 5 – The Shadow of the Past

The air inside the chamber stilled.

Blood pooled at Raizen's feet, the bodies of the guards lying lifeless, their twisted forms a testament to his awakening. Yet, despite the carnage, his golden eyes remained fixed on the man standing in the doorway.

The flickering torches barely illuminated the figure, but Raizen knew him.

Kailas Voren.

A man of noble blood. A warrior of unrivaled skill. One of the very people who orchestrated his family's fall.

Kailas took a slow step forward, boots echoing against the stone floor. The faint metallic scent of his armor mixed with the thick, suffocating stench of death.

He wasn't alarmed by the corpses. Not even slightly.

That told Raizen everything he needed to know.

"You've changed," Kailas said, his voice smooth, almost amused. His gaze flickered to the dark tendrils still slithering around Raizen's feet before returning to meet his eyes.

"But not enough."

Raizen smirked.

"Not enough?" His voice was calm, but beneath it, something shifted. The shadows at his feet curled, as if responding to his thoughts.

The hunger inside him whispered.

"Devour… or be devoured."

Kailas tilted his head. "You hear it, don't you?"

Raizen's smirk faltered for a fraction of a second.

"Ah," Kailas murmured, a knowing gleam in his eye. "Then it has begun."

Something was wrong.

Raizen knew how to read people—manipulation was second nature to him. He had spent years hiding behind a mask, deceiving those who sought to use him.

But Kailas wasn't trying to intimidate him.

He wasn't even threatened.

That meant one thing.

Raizen wasn't the only one who knew the truth.

"You seem confident," Raizen said, tilting his head. "Tell me, does that confidence come from ignorance, or do you actually understand what's happening?"

Kailas chuckled. "Do you think you're the first?"

The shadows around Raizen shivered.

"What do you mean?"

Kailas stopped just a few steps away, standing over the corpses of his fallen men like they were nothing more than discarded tools.

"You're arrogant," he said, shaking his head. "And you don't even realize it yet."

Raizen didn't react, but his mind sharpened.

Every movement, every word—a puzzle to be unraveled.

"You think you're the first to awaken? That this power makes you special?" Kailas' voice dropped lower, his expression unreadable.

"You are merely the next piece in the cycle."

The next piece?

A slow, creeping sensation coiled around Raizen's thoughts.

Kailas watched him, waiting for him to connect the dots.

Raizen's fingers tensed.

"Who else?"

Kailas smiled. "Good. You're asking the right questions."

The flames flickered.

"The power you wield," Kailas continued, "is not your own. It never was. It was given to you—just as it was given to those before you."

Raizen froze.

Something in those words unsettled him.

Given?

The hunger inside him twisted, restless.

"Devour… or be devoured."

Raizen clenched his jaw.

"Who gave it to me?"

Kailas' smile didn't waver.

"If you were truly ready for the answer, you wouldn't need to ask."

A flash of frustration surged through Raizen, but he swallowed it down.

This was a game. A test.

Kailas was drawing him in, trying to see how much he understood.

Fine.

Two could play.

Raizen relaxed his posture, feigning ease. His golden eyes gleamed with amusement.

"So let me guess," he said. "You're here to kill me before I get too powerful?"

Kailas laughed. "Kill you?"

He took another step forward.

"If I wanted you dead, Raizen, I wouldn't have come alone."

The room suddenly felt smaller.

Kailas was telling the truth.

Raizen studied him carefully.

Then why was he here?

"Then what do you want?"

Kailas' smirk faded.

"To make sure you don't repeat their mistakes."

A chill crawled down Raizen's spine.

"Their?"

Kailas didn't answer. Instead, he reached into his cloak and pulled out something small.

He tossed it.

Raizen caught it instinctively.

A small, metal emblem.

The symbol was familiar.

Too familiar.

Raizen's fingers tightened around it.

His family crest.

But it was different. Tarnished. Altered.

And beneath the crest, there was something else—a second symbol.

One he didn't recognize.

Yet.

Kailas watched him carefully.

"Before your family fell, they were trying to break the cycle."

Raizen's breath stilled.

His family. His parents.

They weren't just executed.

They knew something.

Something that got them killed.

His grip on the emblem tightened.

A piece of the puzzle fell into place.

The nobles hadn't betrayed his family because of mere politics.

It was something deeper. Something older.

The hunger inside him stirred.

"Devour… or be devoured."

Raizen looked back at Kailas.

This man knew the truth.

But he wasn't giving it freely.

A test.

Fine.

He would play along.

For now.

Raizen slipped the emblem into his robes, masking his expression.

"Why tell me this?"

Kailas smiled.

"Because whether you realize it or not, Raizen… you don't have a choice."

The torches flickered.

And then—he was gone.

Not a sound. Not a trace.

Raizen was alone.

But not the same as before.

Everything had changed.

He looked down at his hand.

The hunger still whispered.

And now, he was listening.

To be continued ....