Chapter 2 – Whispers Beneath the Stone

The castle’s heart was carved from obsidian and shadow, and in those long halls that stretched into silence, a child’s voice echoed — desperate, broken, unheard.

Leo ran until his legs gave out, his cries for help swallowed by the cold indifference of towering walls and watchful eyes. He searched every corridor, called out to servants, to guards, to anyone who might listen. His voice cracked. His breath turned ragged.

But no one answered.

No one dared.

The boy collapsed at last in the empty courtyard, the twilight winds licking at his torn tunic, his hands scraped raw from stone.

The world faded into black.

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When Leo opened his eyes, the world was still red, but softer now. He was in his cot. The blanket drawn. His pouch still pressed against his chest — the letter inside, now wrinkled.

Beside him sat Captain Kael, arms crossed, gaze heavy with a sorrow that never fully left his face.

“You’re awake,” the old knight murmured. “Good. But you must calm yourself, Leo. Rushing into shadows won’t bring her back.”

Leo sat up slowly. His chest ached. His limbs felt like stone. But deeper than that — was the ache of helplessness.

He was a demon. But unlike the others, he had no wings, no magic, no talent with sword or spell. He was a child born of nothing, carrying no legacy but grief.

He had always hidden that shame… buried it deep.

But today, it broke him.

He turned away, tears burning his eyes, his small fists trembling as they clenched the sheets.

And then — he cried. Loud. Unashamed. The pain of a soul shattered with no place left to store it.

Captain Kael said nothing. He simply sat there — a silent witness to the boy’s agony.

When the sobs finally quieted, Leo whispered, voice hoarse, “I’ll find her. No matter what. I’ll never be helpless again.”

Kael closed his eyes and nodded solemnly. “That path is dark, Leo. Be careful not to lose yourself chasing the light.”

A sudden knock interrupted the moment.

The door creaked open.

A small figure stood at the threshold.

Rily — seven years old, hair like silver threads, eyes wide with quiet courage. A fellow apprentice in the Royal Demon Knights. To Leo and Lera, she was family in all but name.

She stepped forward and spoke with hesitation. “Leo… yesterday morning, I saw something. Two Royal Knights — they were taking your sister away. When I asked them… they denied everything.”

She paused, her voice trembling. “Now those knights are missing too. As if they were never there at all.”

A cold silence fell.

Leo stared at her — not in shock, but in realization. His pain crystallized into clarity.

This wasn’t a disappearance.

It was an abduction.

A cover-up.

And no one in this cursed castle would help him.

He was alone.

But he had always been alone.

He swung his legs out of bed, fists clenched at his sides. “Rily… where were they taking her?”

She looked down. “Toward the Dungeons.”

The room froze.

Even Kael stood abruptly. “No,” he said. “You will not go there. That place is forbidden. Even knights tread carefully. The things sealed beneath this castle… they don’t belong in this world.”

Leo didn’t speak. He only nodded slowly.

But deep within, his mind was already made.

Kael sighed, rising from his seat. “I know that look. Damn it, boy. You’re not ready for what’s down there.”

After the old knight left — shaking his head and muttering prayers to forgotten gods — Leo turned to Rily.

Their eyes met.

No words were needed.

They both understood.

The castle would not give them answers.

The nobility would not lend them ears.

The truth was buried beneath stone and blood.

And so, under the weight of fear and purpose, they prepared to descend — into the forbidden belly of the Demon King’s castle, where even hardened warriors dared not tread.

The Dungeons awaited.

And with them, the first whispers of a legend in the making.

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Stay tuned.

For when fate calls a fool into the dark… sometimes, he returns a flame.