Chapter 4 – The Price of Knowing

The gate behind them shut with a groan that echoed like a final heartbeat. The torch flickered, casting trembling shadows across the stone as Leo and Rily descended deeper into the forbidden underbelly of the Demon King’s castle.

The first floor of the dungeon was disturbingly quiet — no guards, no echoes of chains. Only the muffled drip of water and the faint, ever-present hum of something… wrong.

The walls were slick with moss and rot. Iron bars lined the corridors — cells that stank of old blood, despair, and decay.

Inside them were the damned.

Eyes sunken, skin stretched thin over brittle bone. Some moaned faintly; others stared blankly into the dark. There were corpses still breathing, and skeletons that had not yet collapsed. Torture marks carved grotesque patterns on their bodies — seared symbols, claw marks, broken limbs. The air swarmed with flies and the scuttle of rats feeding on what little life remained.

Rily covered her nose. Leo clenched his fists.

And yet — a cold flicker of relief sparked in him: his sister was not among these living dead.

But that relief came with a growing terror.

If she wasn’t here… where was she?

---

Deeper they went.

Their footsteps were silent, their breaths held.

Then, at the far end of the corridor, they found a stairwell, spiraling down into deeper darkness.

From below… came sound.

The clash of steel.

The scent of fire.

Voices raised in pain.

Leo’s heart lurched. “We have to hurry!”

Rily grabbed his arm. “Wait. Don’t panic. She’s strong. We go together.”

They descended.

At the base of the stairs, the corridor flared with flickering light. And then they saw her.

A familiar silhouette, bloodied but unbroken.

Lera.

Her long hair was matted, her armor torn. Shackles clung to her wrists, one broken — a clear sign of a jailbreak. Blood trickled down her side. Yet her eyes blazed like a knight born of fury itself.

She fought two Royal Guards, blades clashing in bursts of steel and flame. She moved with desperation — and skill.

By the time the children reached her, she had already felled the last of them, panting, gripping her wounded side.

“Lera!” Leo cried, rushing forward.

She turned — surprised, eyes wide with both pain and love. “Leo… Rily... you shouldn't have come.”

But before they could speak, a sound shattered the silence.

Footsteps. Heavy. Slow. Terrible.

Something — someone — approached.

Lera's body tensed. Her voice dropped to a whisper, urgent and fierce. “Listen closely.”

She took a scroll from a pouch tied to her belt and pressed it into Leo’s hands.

> “I found something. Something that was never meant to be discovered.

No one knows you’re here. No one can know. That’s the only way you live.

Hide. Now.”

Leo opened his mouth to protest — but her gaze silenced him.

She pushed them behind a broken wall of stone just as he entered.

The King.

Not the man from portraits. Not the figure who smiled in public court.

But the true tyrant — cloaked in black flame, taller than any demon should be, eyes glowing with malice, power spilling from him like a storm. His mere presence crushed the air around them. Leo gasped — unable to breathe, his small body trembling under the weight of the king's magic.

The king spoke. His voice rolled like thunder.

> “You could have lived in glory. In power. But you chose death.”

Lera, barely standing, glared up at him, her knees shaking under the pressure. But she did not kneel.

Her voice, cracked and steady, replied:

> “I am a knight of this kingdom. I will do my duty. Even if it ends in fire.”

The king raised his hand.

And fire answered.

A storm of hellfire surged forth — red, black, and blue, scorching the walls, melting the stone.

As the flames engulfed her, Lera crushed the ring on her finger.

The scroll in Leo’s hand glowed. Magic burst forth. A teleportation rune began to activate beneath the children’s feet.

Before they vanished, Leo caught one last glimpse through the flames.

Lera — burning, standing firm, eyes locked on him.

She smiled.

And though the roar of flame drowned everything, Leo read her lips:

> “I love you, brother.”

The king turned — sensing the magic too late.

Lera, now consumed in a vortex of fire and light, lunged toward him, blade raised, her final strike burning with the last of her soul.

And then —

Darkness.

---

Leo awoke, alone.

The air was thick, damp, and cold. A new forest surrounded him — one not from the castle, but from somewhere… else.

The trees loomed like shadows with teeth. The soil pulsed under his hands. Mist coiled like fingers. His heart thundered.

And then — a roar.

Not human. Not demon. Not anything he had ever heard.

Something ancient was hunting.

He was alone.

Wounded.

Lost.

And the nightmare had only just begun.

---

Stay tuned.

For the flame of revolution was born in fire… and now must survive the dark.