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Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 16: The Revenant’s Gambit
Kael's blade: the cold steel felt heavier than it ought to.Blood loss, fatigue, and Dain’s presence sat heavily on him like an iron yoke.On the other side of the clearing, his brother stood with the easy confidence of someone who had already won.His armor, cracked and stained with dried gore, glimmered in the fractured moonlight.The assassins at his sides, silent wraiths dressed in shadowsteel, had formed a wall of killers, blades gleaming like fangs.Kael’s body was screaming at him to run.But there was nowhere to go.“Dain stepped forward, slow and deliberate. Predatory.“You look like hell, little brother.” His voice was velvet over a dagger’s edge.“Did you really think it would end like this? You could quickly burn the past and walk away unscathed? ”Kael didn’t answer.And he tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword.Dain sighed, pretending to be disappointed.“I thought you always were the naive one.” He gestured languidly to the ruins outside.“This fire, you thoug
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 1: The Blood of Shadowborne
In the isolated peaks of Mount Umbra, where the winds howled like restless spirits and the shadows stretched long beneath the moon, stood the Shadowborne Estate.It was a fortress of silent death, an impenetrable labyrinth of gothic spires and hidden corridors. Within these walls, legends were not spoken they were carved in blood.The Shadowborne name was feared across kingdoms. They were the masters of the unseen kill, the architects of whispered demise.Each generation bred assassins of unparalleled skill, molded through discipline, brutality, and an unwavering loyalty to the family's code. Among them was Kael Shadowborne, the youngest heir to this dark dynasty.Kael knew no other life than behind these walls. Since the day he learned to walk, the harsh realities of the bloody lore hanging over them had defined him, trained him to brandish a dagger before he knew how to hold a quill, taught him that feeling was a sin and hesitation, death.Yet, unlike his siblings, he harbored quest
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 2: A Dance with Death
Kael's world narrowed to the figure before him, his brother Darius, whose presence seemed to draw the very darkness out of the night air.The pain in his shoulder was a searing brand, a constant reminder of the chaos he had unleashed upon the city. He had been running from the guards, but it seemed he had run into a far more sinister fate one that would drown him in a sea of blood and shadow.Darius's smile grew, his eyes glinting with malevolent intent in the dim light, like embers from a fire that had long since consumed all reason and mercy.Kael knew that look, knew what it meant his brother had come to collect him, to bring him back to face the consequences of his botched mission.The fact that Darius was here, waiting for him at the city gates, meant that their organization had already learned of Killian Voss's death and the messy aftermath.As Kael stood there, petrified, he could think of nothing but the carnage he had left behind in his wake. The merchant's wife still warm on
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 3: The Blood Pact
Kael's body crashed onto the cold, rain-slicked cobblestones. Ragged gasps came with every breath as he lay there weak and his limbs trembling in fatigue and agony, but the fire within his mind burned hotter than ever. Blood smells thick in the air: the sickly perfume of death clinging to his skin. Around him, the city had become a mass grave, bodies twisted in grotesque final poses, the streets painted in a viscous red sheen that shimmered beneath the pale glow of lantern light.Darius stood over him, the black steel of his sword glistening with the lifeblood of the innocent. His expression was one of disappointment, his golden eyes filled with something worse than hatred: amusement. The elder brother, the perfect assassin, the embodiment of everything the Shadowborne were meant to be. Kael had long feared Darius, but now, as he lay on the brink of death, that fear mutated into something else: a murderous resolve."You always were the weakest," Darius murmured, wiping a splatter of b
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 4: The Crimson Rebirth
The city burned.Flames licked at the heavens, casting long, writhing shadows against the bloodstained walls. The scent of charred flesh mingled with the iron tang of spilled blood, thick in the air like a funeral shroud.The cobbled streets, once alive with merchants and beggars, were now rivers of gore, bodies piled in grotesque towers, their limbs bent at unnatural angles. The massacre had only just begun.Kael was at the center of the mayhem, breathing slow and calculated. His fingers throbbed from the insistent grip of his twin daggers, edges dulled from the endless bloodshed.The clothes were sopping wet in crimson, telling him of lives lost. There was no option but to counterattack. Shadowborne wanted him dead, and he would not die quietly.The guards who had invaded the city gates hesitated, and their once hardened resolve wavered in the face of what was before them. There was no possible way a man could have achieved such carnage.But Kael was not an ordinary man; he had been
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 5: The Butcher’s Wake
The city's bell tolled like a death knell, its echoes swallowed by the thick smoke curling through the ruined streets. The scent of burning flesh clung to the air, mixing with the putrid stench of spilled intestines and drying blood.Kael staggered against a half-collapsed wall, his breath ragged, his side burning from the wound that carved through his flesh. The stranger’s words still echoed in his mind, but there was no time to dwell on their meaning.Reinforcements were coming.He heard them before he saw them the rhythmic march of boots against stone, the clanking of armor, the murmur of voices exchanging orders. The Shadowborne's elite hunters had arrived.These were not city guards or common foot soldiers. These were killers trained in the same art as Kael, assassins raised from childhood to perfect the craft of death.A hiss of steel echoed through the air as Kael pulled a discarded sword from the corpse at his feet. His daggers were still strapped to his belt, but he would nee
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 6: A Dance of Blades
Darkness closed in on Kael as he fell into the depths of unconsciousness. Pain reached out to him, a burning fire within his ribs and limbs. Then cold stone beneath him, damp air clamped around him. His eyelids fluttered open on the dim glow of torchlight flickering against the crumbling stone walls. Chains rattled in the silence.He was captured.A groan slipped past his lips as he shifted, the weight of iron shackles biting into his wrists. The metallic tang of blood filled his mouth. His body screamed in protest with every movement, and as he tried to sit up, a boot slammed into his chest, forcing him back down."Stay down, little brother," Darius murmured, his voice dripping with amusement. "You’ll only make this worse for yourself."Kael coughed, spitting crimson onto the floor. His vision cleared enough to see Darius looming above him, his golden eyes gleaming in the dim light. The smirk that wore a wedge of malice across his jaw sent a fresh wave of hatred through Kael's veins.
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 7: The Hunt Begins
The air was heavy with the stench of blood and fire. Kael's gasps for air were ragged as he dragged himself through the city's ruined streets, his body screaming protest. Selis pulled him on, her hand clamped over his wrist like a vice, her dagger stained with fresh blood. Behind them, the shouted cries of pursuit echoed through the broken streets.Darius was far from done.Kael ground his teeth together to silence the whimper as each step pulsed pain through the open wound in his side. "Goddamn. How much longer?""Not far," Selis whispered sharply. "If we make it over the northern wall, we can vanish."A piercing whistle shattered the silence.Instinct took over. Kael pushed Selis out of the way just in time as an arrow whizzed by, burying itself in the wooden frame of a collapsed building. A second arrow followed, grazing his shoulder. Pain flared, but he pushed himself to move."Move your ass, Kael!" Selis yelled, yanking him into a side alley. "They're closing in!"Kael sucked in
Latest Chapter
Chapter 16: The Revenant’s Gambit
Kael's blade: the cold steel felt heavier than it ought to.Blood loss, fatigue, and Dain’s presence sat heavily on him like an iron yoke.On the other side of the clearing, his brother stood with the easy confidence of someone who had already won.His armor, cracked and stained with dried gore, glimmered in the fractured moonlight.The assassins at his sides, silent wraiths dressed in shadowsteel, had formed a wall of killers, blades gleaming like fangs.Kael’s body was screaming at him to run.But there was nowhere to go.“Dain stepped forward, slow and deliberate. Predatory.“You look like hell, little brother.” His voice was velvet over a dagger’s edge.“Did you really think it would end like this? You could quickly burn the past and walk away unscathed? ”Kael didn’t answer.And he tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword.Dain sighed, pretending to be disappointed.“I thought you always were the naive one.” He gestured languidly to the ruins outside.“This fire, you thoug
Chapter 15: The Ashes of Brotherhood (Extended)
It was a world of fire and blood to Kael.Pain throbbed from his side, the wound deep and searing, but he wouldn’t stop.He couldn’t quit.He gasped for air as he ran, each footfall jarring through his broken body.His legs were heavy as lead, muscles throbbing with exertion, but the instinct to survive burned hotter than the flames licking at the Shadowborne Estate.The eruptions’ heat clawed at his back, licking at his flesh, thickening the air into smoke and cinders. Behind him, the great archive chamber an abyss of secrets and sins gave way with a final, thunderous crack.The mountain shuddered under the weight of history turned to ash.Selene tracked alongside him, a shimmer of motion, her frame flickering through the collapsing ruins.She was fast faster than him, even now, in this hell.The light of the flickering fire shadowed her face, sharp and merciless, like a knife sharpened by need.Kael didn’t look back.Dain was gone. Soil and flame cover your graves.And yet… doubt gn
Chapter 15: The Ashes of Brotherhood
Kael’s world was one of fire and blood.Agony pulsed from his side, the wound deep and searing, but he wouldn’t quit.He was panting as he ran, his legs felt like lead.The heat of the blasts licking behind him, smoke curling in his lungs.Selene ran alongside him, darting through the collapsing ruins as her body shifted in and out of his line of sight, everything a blur of speed and accuracy around them.The final echoing crash of the collapse of the archive chamber shook the ground and rain darkness and death of embers and rubble into the sky.Kael didn’t look back.Dain was gone. Mined under rock and flame.Yet as he fled the wreckage of Shadowborne Estate, doubt tinged the corners of his mind.Was it truly over? Had Dain the brother who had survived each of the impossible trials, each of the assassination attempts, each of the betrayals really died with such ease?No.Dain was a monster.And monsters did not die in darkness.They waited.They watched.They came back.Kael set his
chapter 14: Blood and Betrayal
Kael followed the strange woman through the winding tunnels, the cold night air spiky against his skin.His legs trembled, and his chest seared with every inhale, yet he forced himself to keep moving.He had no choice.She moved like a wraith silent, contained, each footstep in exactly the right place.The dagger Kael had begun with, the one she'd handed him earlier, still held fast by white-knuckled fingers.He didn't trust her.He couldn't.But she was his only way out.In the distance, a torch flared and sent quick slashes of light across the damp stone walls.Dirt, perspiration, and dried blood clung heavily in the air.Kael’s mind was spinning with questions, but his instincts told him that the smart thing to do was to shut up.He sought answers, but first he had to escape alive.Eventually, after an eternity, the woman stopped.Braced against the wall, head tilted just so to hear the unseen.So did Kael, holding his breath.Silence.Then a distant rustling of movement in front.
Chapter 13: Ashes & Awakening
The first thing that Kael felt was pain.A low, searing pain pulsated from his sternum; his body groaned in dread as if he were melting into blackness.His ears buzzed, a dull, choking hum, the sound of everything else drowning out. Was he dead?No.The hurt was too genuine, too piercing.His heartbeat, though weak and steady, thumped against his skull like a drum of war, pulling him back from the edge of the void.Then came the cold.Something slick and wet was pressed against his skin, the unmistakable chill of stone underneath his back.He struggled to open his eyes, but the world swirled in reds and blacks.Torchlight flickered, casting the dancing shadows in shapes too grotesque for his frazzled mind.He attempted to shift, but a wave of pain washed over him, and a jagged gasp fell from his throat.He was alive but barely.A voice broke from the fog of his thoughts, low and laced with muted humor."You should be dead."Kael’s pulse spiked. He knew that voice.Knew it the way he k
Chapter 12: Through the Fire
Kael breathed in shallow gasps, his chest heaving as he strained to stay upright. The warrior beside him was a blur of motion, a whirlwind of death, slicing through the last of the assassins with precision akin to that of a seasoned predator. Bodies littered the alley, blood thick in the air, but Kael's mind was solely focused on one thing: survival.More would come. They always did.But this time, Kael wasn't waiting to die.He stumbled forward, forcing himself to stand upright, his sword still clutched in his bloody hand. His vision swam, but he gritted his teeth, blinking away the dizziness that threatened to pull him under. The warrior glanced at him, his expression unreadable as he wiped the blood from his blades, his movements so fluid they almost seemed inhuman.Stay on your feet, Kael," the warrior growled. "If you want to make it out alive, you need to move faster.Kael shot him a glare, but there was no time for a response. From the shadows ahead, more figures emerged, their
Chapter 11: A World of Ashes
Kael's legs shook beneath him, the pain of his wounds drawing him down to the ground, but he couldn't fall. Blood welled up around his boots and spread through the wet, dark alley to become a crimson nightmare.His breath panted out in rough gasps, his sword a dead weight in his hand, screaming from every inch of his body, his muscles protesting in sheer defiance. But he wasn't done yet. Not when more death was closing in.The footsteps came faster now, a cacophony of boots hitting the wet cobblestones, and Kael's eyes darted around the alley. The figures emerged from the shadows, their silhouettes black and predatory, their movements deliberate, as though they knew their prey was weak, already at the brink.Kael's heart thudded in his chest. His fingers tightened around his sword as he stumbled into a defensive stance, though every muscle in his body screamed at him to lie down and die."Where's your savior now, Kael?" one of the figures sneered, his voice rough with amusement. "Isn'
Chapter 10: Last Stand
Kael's pulse pounded in his ears, the blood booming through his body like a tidal wave, drowning out everything else.The figure before him moved with terrifying ease, the curved blade glinting in the dim light. He wasn't human, not exactly his movements were far too smooth, too deliberate, and his eyes. Those cold, calculating eyes held nothing but death.The last of the Shadowborne, the one Kael had not yet encountered, had finally shown his face.The figure took another step forward, his blade raised, the wicked smile on his lips barely visible under his hood. “You’ve been a thorn in my side for too long, Kael.”Kael gasped for ragged breaths, his blood-soaked clothing heavy as he struggled to maintain his posture. The strange elixir of the enigmatic stranger had afforded him a mere moment of respite in the battle, and it was over. His wounds were deep, and the burning inside his muscles continued unabated; his grip on the sword slipped.The figure's lips curled into a slow, predat
Chapter 10: Last Stand
Kael's pulse pounded in his ears, the blood surging through him like a tidal wave, drowning everything else out. The figure before him moved with terrifying grace, the curved blade glinting in the dim light.He wasn't human, not entirely his movements were too smooth, too deliberate, and his eyes.Those cold, calculating eyes were filled with nothing but death. The last of the Shadowborne, the one Kael had not yet encountered, had finally shown his face.The figure took another step forward, his blade raised, the wicked smile on his lips barely visible under his hood. “You’ve been a thorn in my side for too long, Kael.”Kael's breathing rose in ragged gasps; the blood staining his clothes was heavy as his body fought to stay upright. The wild elixir that the enigmatic man had given him was a short-lived spurt of power, but it wasn't near enough.His wounds were deep, and the sear in his muscles began burning steadily. His grip on the sword was slackening."Not today, you son of a bitc