Md_Alamin_1251

Betrayed. Murdered. Reborn.
Kael was once a loyal soldier—until his own comrades stabbed him in the back. But death was not the end. Awakening in a new world, he bears a forbidden soulmark—the mark of the First Flame, feared by gods and kings alike.

With a mysterious system guiding him and a fire burning in his veins, Kael vows to rise again—not as a soldier, but as a force of vengeance.

In a realm where power is law, secrets are deadly, and destiny is a lie, he must master his soulmark before

Rise of the Soulmarked: The Forbidden Awakening

The fires of Hollow still burned by dawn.

Soulmarked banners flew again, tattered but defiant. The blood of the fallen painted the walls, but the Crucible still glowed—alive, pulsing with promise.

Kael lay unconscious in the inner chamber, his chest rising shallowly, his skin pale, soulflame flickering faintly beneath his veins.

And above them, the first Soulmarked reinforcements began to arrive.

By midday, figures began descending from the clouds—Windrunners from the Frosted Cliffs, cloaked in white with ice-marks glowing on their arms.

From the forests came the Ashmarked, marked with bark-like sigils, led by a stooped old woman named Maenya who walked barefoot over fire.

And from the eastern deserts, sand-skinned warriors mounted on soulflame beasts, bearing the crest of the lost House Vel-Kaeth.

Revak met them at the gates, wary but grateful.

Maenya smiled. "The Empire burned our homes. We're here to return the favor."

Inside the sanctuary, Kael drifted in a haze of memory and magic.

He saw his mother again—her eyes gentle, her hand over his burning scar.

"You were always meant for more, Kael. But power without purpose is just a weapon."

He reached out. "I don't know if I can carry this."

Suddenly, her image vanished—and in her place stood Arion, wreathed in flickering blue.

"I saw what you did," Arion said quietly. "You held the line."

Kael looked at him. "You watched us die."

Arion's expression twisted. "If I joined you too soon, the Inquisition would've unleashed something worse. You think the Cleansers are monsters? They're children compared to what Vaelric is hiding."

Kael narrowed his eyes. "Then help me stop him."

Arion didn't answer. But as he turned to leave, he said one thing:

> "Hollow is just the spark. The real fire starts in Aetherfall."

When Kael awoke, he found Mira, Revak, Seris, and several new Soulmarked standing around him.

"You slept through a war council," Mira smirked, relief in her eyes.

Kael sat up. "Arion came to me. In my dreams—or something like it. He said the real threat is in Aetherfall."

"Aetherfall?" she whispered. "That place is forbidden. Even the Empire doesn't go there anymore."

Seris looked at them grimly. "Aetherfall is the Empire's oldest secret. A dead city. A rift between realms where the first Soulmarked were forged—and where the Inquisition now tests weapons meant to erase souls entirely."

That evening, with Hollow reinforced and reinforcements settling in, Kael stood before the gathered Soulmarked.

More had arrived—flame dancers from the western mountains, rune-singers from the drowned isles, soulbinders in robes of woven emberlight.

Hundreds now stood where only dozens had before.

Kael's voice echoed through the hollowed stone:

> "The Empire thinks we are broken. Scattered. Forgotten."

> "But today, we prove them wrong."

> "We are Soulmarked—not curses, not weapons. We are legacy. We are flame."

He raised the twin-colored sigil above his head, glowing brighter than ever before.

> "Tomorrow, we march on Aetherfall."

Far across the empire, in a chamber of black marble and floating light, High Marshal Vaelric stood before a glowing orb known as the Whispering Eye.

A shadowy figure behind him asked, "Hollow survived?"

"I expected it," he replied coldly, placing a piece on a soulglass board. "Let them come to Aethe

rfall. Let them walk into the trap."

The other voice chuckled. "And if the brothers reunite?"

Vaelric smirked. "Then I burn them both."

Shadows in the Flame