Vécxai

In a kingdom where divine blessings determine one’s worth, Prince Ruvan Artheim was born with nothing.

No blessing. No power. No future.

To the royal court, he is a worthless shadow the sickly youngest prince they mock and ignore. But on the night his father, the Emperor, is assassinated and his eldest brother seizes the throne, everything changes.

As blood drips down his forehead from a brutal strike, a voice whispers within him:

“Do you wish to make them bow, Ruvan?”

Awakening the Blood Puppet Curse, Ruvan gains the power to manipulate emotions and memories through blood. From that moment, the lamb becomes a predator. Quietly, ruthlessly, he begins weaving strings of blood across the palace, turning enemies into puppets, and puppets into corpses.

In a kingdom that worships divine blessings, he will rise to claim the Throne Of Sins, feared by all and loved by none.

Once a powerless shadow. Now, he sits upon the Throne of Sins.

Throne Of Sins

He walked across cracked stone fields The wind slapped cold ash against his cheeks Shadows flowed at his heels silent rivers swallowing broken spears and shattered helms Lightning flickered inside rotting clouds The smell of burned fat blood smoke choked the pale dawn

When he was seven he found a dead man rotting behind the pig pens Flies crawling over sunken eyes He sat beside the corpse and tore off dried bread from his pocket Chewed slowly careful not to vomit The flies landed on his face He let them

He opened his eyes Shadows pulsed around him whispering silent curses

He stood still Wind rattled burned gates His pulse slow cold Steady like iron chains rattling in forgotten dungeons

At his feet lay a broken bronze pendant shaped like a curled dragon Wings etched with dawn sigils Its chain snapped twisted with blood

He stole a dragon pendant once Sold it for half a copper Used it to buy a boiled rat Chewed each bone clean

Ahead rose the Dawn Temple carved from white marble crowned with crystal spires Flames flickered within shattered windows Smoke curled into dawn sky carrying the smell of burning silk and scorched parchment

He stepped over collapsed gates Shadows curling around fallen priests Robes black with ash Eyes boiled away in sunken sockets

Inside incense smoke mixed with the stink of burned flesh Statues of radiant gods lay shattered across cracked tiles Golden offerings spilled across marble floors Coins gems silks all soaked in pooled blood

At the altar stood the High Priest draped in robes of woven silver etched with sapphire prayers Face hidden behind a dawn mask carved from ivory Hands raised clutching a staff crowned with burning opal

Shadow King Even you cannot kill the sun Even you cannot unmake gods

Ruvan tilted his head Shadows rippled around his feet

Gods are only kings with better liars

The priest screamed Staff flaring with white flame Sigils burned across marble floors Light seared shadows Walls shook Dust rained down from shattered vaults

Ruvan raised his hand Shadows surged upward Silent tide devoured white fire Flames sputtered dying within black coils Shadows wrapped around silver robes lifting priest from cracked tiles Bones snapped under crushing dark Blood splattered upon broken altars Burning opal shattered into molten shards

He dropped the corpse Shadows swallowed it Bones split Flesh torn into drifting dust

He turned toward a shattered statue of the Dawn God Its face split in half Sapphire eyes cracked Fingers broken off at the knuckles

His mother's voice whispering prayers to that statue at dawn every morning Asking for mercy for food for warmth for him

He stepped away Shadows flowing after him consuming golden offerings burning banners sapphire inlays Ash drifted down covering silent corpses in grey oblivion

Near the temple gates lay a fallen candleholder shaped like an open hand Its wax melted down into a twisted grey stump Fingers coated in dried blood

Beyond the temple walls the empire lay silent Towers burned to black husks Rivers clogged with bloated corpses Fields withered into cracked deserts

Today I burned your gods Today I erased your prayers Today I slaughtered your kings Today I devoured your hope

Tomorrow I will consume your dreams

Beyond dreams I will teach you despair carved into your bones

Beyond despair I will teach you oblivion

And beyond oblivion I will teach you the silence of the eternal abyss

Dawn burned pale across silent mountains Shadows rose behind him like endless walls of darkness The empire lay upon broken knees Echoes of silent screams carried upon dead winds

And they would teach the world the truth of unending nothingness

Chapter 20: The God Who Fell