The city stood like a ghost with no voice left to scream.

The wind pushed ash across the shattered streets. Burned banners hung like forgotten memories. Kael stepped onto the broken stone path, eyes scanning what once was a city—and once, a home.

Rin walked beside him in silence, her cloak trailing through soot.

Graffiti across a scorched wall read:

“No one came. We faded in silence.”

Lux floated above them, its glow dimmer than usual.

“This place…” it whispered, “…you were here once.”

Kael’s eyes didn’t blink. “A long time ago.”

He passed a crumbling archway. The scent of smoke still lingered, trapped in the cracks of time. His footsteps led him to a small, half-burned house. Inside, on the dusty floor, lay a child’s toy—charred on one side. Next to it, a strip of cloth embroidered with his family’s crest.

His breath caught. For a moment, the walls around him weren’t ruins—they were home. Laughter echoed faintly in his mind. His mother’s hands. His father’s strength. Then flames. Screams. Loss.

His hand trembled.

“You don’t have to carry it all,” Rin said gently from behind him.

Kael closed his fingers around the crest.

“I already do.”

High above, far from the ashes, Vael watched through a vision mirror—an arcane pool of swirling light and shadow.

“He always did love ruins,” Vael murmured, a faint smirk on his lips. “Still looking for peace in ashes…”

Later that night, as darkness cloaked the ruins, Kael and Rin crossed the city square. They weren’t alone.

From the shadows emerged a squad of enforcers—grim, armored figures with weapons drawn. At the center stood their leader, taller than the rest, his armor etched with kinetic lines that pulsed with energy.

“So,” the man sneered, “you’re the Shadow Flame? You look tired.”

Kael stepped forward, calm, unmoved.

“And you look like someone who underestimates silence.”

Without warning, the square exploded into motion. Shockwaves tore through the ground as the enemy struck. Rin deflected the first blast with a wave of radiant light. Kael’s blade met the next.

He fought not with fury—but with clarity. Each movement precise. He dodged, countered, absorbed pressure. His flame stirred but didn’t erupt.

The enforcer charged again—but Kael moved like water, sidestepping, striking once.

A single blow. Clean. Controlled. Final.

The armored man crashed to the ground, weapon slipping from his hand.

Kael knelt beside him—not in anger, but in power.

“I’m not angry,” Kael said. “Not anymore.”

He looked into the man’s eyes, firm and unshaken.

“But I am stronger. And I won’t stop.”

He turned and walked away, the fire in his veins silent—but alive.

Far above, cloaked in fog and rooftop mist, Vael watched from the shadows.

Now his smile faded.

“Now,” he whispered, “we see what you truly are.”