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Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 26: The Rise of the Hollow Lords
The world was too quiet.Too still.Asha knelt next to Ethan, blood pooled beneath the wound, his breathing shallow, his pulse weak beneath her fingers. His body was cold, and his veins still ran dark from whatever had attempted to claim him.The crevices through which the hand had come were closed and sealed as if they had never existed.But Asha knew the truth.And then something had gone reaching for Ethan.And next time it wouldn’t miss.Kastiel stood a few feet away, arms crossed, watching the aftermath with disturbing glee.“Well,” he said, tilting his head. "That was dramatic."Asha shot him a glare. "Not. Now."Kastiel smirked but didn’t press.She looked back at Ethan, tightening her fingers around his wrist.“Ethan,” she said, whispering, voice urgent. "Wake up."Nothing.Then.The wind shifted.And the world changed.A Rift in TimeThe battlefield, the blood, the bodies, the ruins.Vanished.Asha’s breath caught.She was no longer standing in the wreckage.She was somewhere
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 27: The Hollow War
The Hollow Lords had come to collect on their debt.The instant Kael opposed them, the atmosphere splintered and glassed, spurting waves of bent energy coursing through the devastated foundation of Shadowborne Estate.The sky above ripped open, showing something huge, something monstrous, a hole where the stars used to be, where the light used to be only endless, watching darkness.From the depths of that void, whispers crept across the field of battle, wrapping around Kael’s flesh like invisible shackles.Selene and Dain stood with their weapons raised at his side, but Kael understood this was more than any of what they had encountered.The Hollow Lords were no more warriors than their soldiers, the Khargari.They were something older.Ah, something that exists that should not.And they were no longer tied to mortal rules.Kael gripped his sword tighter."Stay close," he murmured.Selene’s breathing was uneven, but she nodded. "Not going anywhere."Dain snorted through his nose. “Wel
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 28: The Assassin’s War
Blood and fire smelled in the battlefield.The air was cloying with the reek of iron.Kael was amidst the wreckage of the Shadowborne Estate, his sword wet with the blood of those who had come to take him back.The Hollow Lords looked on from the shattered throne room balcony, their masks inscrutable.And beneath them, mercenary factions had amassed; gladiators for hire from every corner of the continent.Some had once been loyal to the shadowborne. Others had come to seize authority for themselves.Kael wiped blood away from his eye, his voice unwavering. “Is this all you have?”.A silver-armed Hollow Lord walked forward, her voice a whisper over broken glass.“You misunderstand, Kael.This is not a battle.This is your execution.”.The mercenaries charged, and Kael danced disappearing into the smoke of the estate fire.A blade hissed by his ear; he spun, writhing into a counterblow that buried his sword into the abdomen of the first cutthroat.Selene's steps were quicksilver, dagger
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 29: A Blade Worth More Than Gold
The Shadowborne Estate had burned to the ground.Its ruins yet smoldered on the mountain, the flames consuming centuries of blood and secrets. The assassin order was dead, its legacy torn to shreds and left on the wind in little more than its name ash.Kael should have felt free.Instead, as he stomped through the muddy streets of Duskfall, a city in which shadows bought and sold lives, he felt the awful sensation of nothing at all.Hunted.It had been three weeks since he, Selene, and Dain disappeared into the underworld, fleeing the Hollow Lords and the mercenaries who’d battled for the throne, the throne he’d turned down.Now there was no throne to sit upon.Only contracts. Only gold. Only the lawless realm of killers and thieves and Kael was back in it, like any other discarded blade-for-hire.He pulled his hood down when they stepped into the Bloodcoin Bazaar, an open market where assassins, smugglers and mercenaries didn’t barter with gold but favors, information and blood.Sele
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 30: A Contract Written in Blood
A Deal with the DevilThe Bloodcoin Bazaan never shut up.Not until now.Kael was facing the Bounty Master, the one who issued the contract, who put the bounty on a head, the one who wrote the rules for every hired blade in the underworld.Selene and Dain stood tense behind Kael, hands hovering above their weapons. They weren’t the only ones, and mercenaries lined the rooftops, assassins loitered in the shadows, all awaiting the outcome of it all.The offer was simple.Kill the Hollow Lords.In return, Kael’s bounty would be erased. His past sins are forgotten. His name was rubbed off the death record books.It was the only way to survive.And yet Kael didn’t answer the phone immediately.He looked at the masked man before him, the scarlet robes, the polished gold sigils woven into the cloth. A man like the Bounty Master would never give without getting.Selene leaned forward. “Kael… please tell me we’re not actually doing this.”Kael’s jaw tightened. “What choice do we have? ”Dain ex
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 31: No Shadows Between Us
The temple was silent.Not the peaceful kind.The kind that stood heavy in the air like before a storm, thick with the press of unspoken words and unsheathed steel.Kael and Calia stood a sword’s length from one another, eyes locked, bodies coiled like snakes about to strike.Once, she was his closest ally.They once fought side by side.Now only one would walk away.Selene and Dain stood at the edge of the ruined temple, unseen tension thrumming in their veins.Selene shifted uneasily. “You really think we’re not running in? ”Dain's hand was upon the hilt of his sword. "Not yet."Selene exhaled sharply. “I hate assassin politics.”Kael tuned them out.Because Calia was in motion already.First BloodWithout hesitation she lunged, her blade cutting toward Kael’s throat.He darted to the left, the strike narrowly missing him.But Calia never overextended.Her second blade glinted. Kael barely parried in time, the impact jolting his arm.She pressed forward. Faster. Sharper.In his life
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 32: The Hollow Reckoning
A bolt fired from the crossbow lanced Kael’s shoulder, pain pouring through his flesh.Something warm and sticky dribbled down his arm, going from there to the ruined stone beneath him.The Hollow Lord remained still but a few feet from him, his sword lowered at his side, his mask catching the flickering light from the torch.Kael was flanked by Selene and Dain, weapons drawn, panting from their battle with the Hollow Wraiths.The atmosphere was charged with tension.Kael exhaled, his posture shifting. The pain was nothing.He’d survived worse.And if this fucker thought he was going to die here, he was in for a very bloody disappointment.The voice of the Hollow Lord was deep and silky."You are wounded."Ignoring the bolt still stuck in him, Kael rolled his shoulder. “You sound disappointed.”A chuckle. "Not at all. This is simply… necessary."Selene tightened her grip on her daggers. “Do you always talk this much, or is that a Hollow Lord thing? ”The masked silhouette tilted his he
Shadow Born Legacy Chapter 33: The Assassin’s Gambit
A City That Breathes DeathDuskfall was built for murderers.Before Kael, the city unfurled as a writhing vein of stone and shadow, gutters criss-crossing in and out like arteries through a cadaver.It stank of iron and damp rot, of blood shed in silence, of secrets bought with gold.Kael had spent her childhood in cities like this.But this time he wasn’t there to vanish.He was here to hunt.Dain cracked his knuckles and peered down the could-be streets. “Remind me why we’re not just burning this place down?”Theroy section, adjusting her dagger belt with a smirk. “Because we’re out of oil.”Kael didn’t react. He thought of one thing and one thing only.Ronan.His brother.A man who was meant to be dead.Now the Hollow Lords’ greatest weapon.And if Kael wanted to end this war, he had to find him first.Selene glanced at him. “You’ve been quiet.”Kael let out a breath, eyes like blades of silver glass very sharp. “We need to move.”For the longer they waited, the closer the Hollow Lo
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Chapter 75: Rewriting Fate
Mina's footsteps rang out in the darkness, the sand grinding beneath her boots as she stepped further into the center of the Ashglass Desert. It seemed as if the desert itself was observing her, the wind carrying whispers she was not yet prepared to hear. The moon, bloated and ghostly, hung like a lantern in the sky, casting long shadows across the desolate landscape.She had no way of knowing how long she'd walked. Time had lost all meaning. The world around her was a twist endless night and horizonless sands that moved forever. But she could not stop.Kaiza was inside somewhere.Somewhere inside the Sanctum Orbis, a secret crypt that had remained hidden for centuries. Myths talked about it as the birth of all tales, the very spot where ink and paper had first crossed paths, where the Author had penned the world into being. It was claimed that within its decaying walls, the Tear in the Story lay a tear in the fabric of reality where one could remake anything. And at present, that was
The Ink of Sacrifice
The Vault had fallen silent.Ashes of lost memories swirled like snowflakes around them. Where there was once the Redacted King — wrathful and enraged — lay now a blackened seal burned into the stone floor. It glowed weakly, like a flickering pulse of life.Kaiza floated inches from the ground, his form no longer fully his.Lines of writing moved under his skin, rewriting and shifting with each breath. Each second he was alive now was a draft, wavering between what he was and what he might be. His eyes no longer contained irises, only ink, dark and old, stacked with unnamed languages.Mina crawled towards him, her voice shaking."Kaiza, it's me. Come back.He gazed at her, and for an instant, she saw him. Really saw him.Not the damned boy who lived through death and mermaids.But the man who'd traded fate for liberty."Mina," his voice was like static. "You must go. The Vault will not hold."The walls shook once more, ink seeping from the crevices. The Redacted King had not been kill
Chapter 73: The Tide That Never Sleeps
The salt stuck to them well after they departed from the sea.Kaiza rested under the decaying arch of a ruined lighthouse, his clothing still wet, hair stuck to his brow in dripping ringlets. His left hand ached — not from the Pen of Recursion any longer, but from something within him, something ancient. Something's stirring.Mina knelt beside the fading fire Soryn had constructed out of driftwood and anger. She didn't say anything. Not since they emerged. Not since the sea whispered something in her ear before releasing her.Soryn finally spoke."The god we bound…" Her voice was rough. "It wasn't the only one, was it?"Kaiza's eyes never left the black sky. "No. That was only the beginning memory. There are others waiting to be recalled.""Or revised," Mina spoke low, her voice barely audible. "Because that's what we do now. Writers of the lost."A gull screamed overhead, cold and isolated.Elsewhere…Away from the sea, across parched deserts where no water had kissed earth in decade
Chapter 72: The Salt in Her Blood
The salt seared her lips.Mina lurched ahead, boots crunching on the salt-crusted rocks of the flooded temple. Water trickled from the ceiling like blood from an open wound. Above her, sunlight filtered through the shattered ribs of the dome, a broken recollection of the sea.She had been following the call.Not Kaiza's, although her heart wept with his loss.No, this one came from something deeper. Older.From them.The mermaids.Not the ones who raised her.The ones who waited.The ones who still breathed her name in the marrow of the world.She approached the altar at the center of the room. It glowed dimly with blue light, vibrating with the beat of a faraway heartbeat. Mina looked down at the reflection in the shallow water gathered on the surface of the stone.Not her face.Not quite.Her eyes were darker, deeper. Her skin glimmered faintly, as if moonlight had passed through water. Gills haunted the shape of her neck.Something within her was waking."Do you recall your purpose
Chapter 71 The Echo Between Pages
The stars were disappearing.Not all at once. Not like a light switch being flipped off but dwindling, softly, one by one, as if something was slowly scrubbing the sky away.Kaiza stood at the ridge's edge, the blood-stained page held hard in his fist. Soryn's breathing next to him was harsh and strained. They had lived through gods, rewrites, and the end of time itself. But this… this was different.This wasn't chaos.It was precision."'This world belongs to the forgotten now,'" Kaiza quoted, her eyes narrowing. "What does it even mean?"Soryn remained silent. She returned her gaze to Velhallow, where sparks of fire danced across the skyline, lanterns being lit by citizens attempting to be normal in a world that no longer knew what normal was.But then she saw it.Perched atop the central tower, the Tower of Testament, an ember of black flame.It did not glow. It consumed.And on all sides, the sky quivered.Soryn clamped Kaiza's wrist. "We need to leave immediately."Velhallow—Tower
Chapter 70: The Unwritten Rebellion
The Pen of Possibility floated in the air, quivering with unseen power. It shone with a soft, ethereal light like it knew Kaiza's determination but was afraid of the decision he was preparing to make.Soryn was at his side, silent but watchful. Lioran breathed shallowly, his gaze darting between the ink-filled room and Kaiza's motionless body. The silence was palpable too heavy like the world itself was holding its breath.Kaiza at last extended his hand to grasp the pen.The chamber throbbed, responding to his touch. The parchment walls blazed not in flame, but in billowing glyphs and runes that twirled in spirals, with glimpses of his history. The coward of the Second Rewrite, the dictator of the Fourth, the martyr of the Fifth… and the dreamer of the First.They were all looking at him now.But he did not quake.Kaiza fell on his knee, took a deep breath, and started writing.Let there be one truth. Let the Sixth Rewrite be not a correction… but a culmination. Let pain have meaning
Chapter 69: The Sixth Rewrite
The winds had shifted.Kaiza sensed it even before the temple bells tolled in Hollow City—the grinding slowness of fate twisting once more. For weeks, there had been peace. The sky above no longer ripped apart with the creaking of shattered timelines. The streets of Hollow City teemed with individuals rediscovering how to live.But deep within, Kaiza knew peace was borrowed time.He stood upon the topmost balcony of the Hall of Echoes, the ruin now refashioned into white stone and twilight sigils. The Pen of Undoing was lost, broken at the close of the Fifth Rewrite. But his mind was still a razor's edge—carved into him as a second self.Below, the city pulsed with life again.Children giggled. The Tethered had assumed new names, new meaning. They cultivated gardens on top of ancient ruins. Lioran's name was a silent prayer among them—whispered at dawn, when the light was gentle and the air was full of memory.Soryn sat down beside him with two mugs of spiced tea, her hair tied back,
Chapter 68: The Echo of the Unwritten
The dreams grew darker now.Not distorted by fear or sorrow but by the shadow of something forgotten. Kaiza stood in a forest that glimmered like paper trapped between worlds. Trees leaned backward. The earth breathed. And above, a blank sky throbbed like the pages of an unread book.In this dream, he wasn't alone.Standing in the clearing was a copy of himself—same voice, same height, but empty. Eyeless. Pale skin like parchment. Its mouth moved open and shut silently, its fingers smeared in ink that refused to dry."Give me the ending," it mouthed, again and again.Kaiza awoke to Soryn yelling his name.He panted, soaked with sweat, and surveyed the apartment they had occupied in the midst of Hollow City's reconstruction quarter. The dawn was not yet come, yet the horizon flushed pale blue toward morning.Soryn positioned herself by the window, the hand emitting the faint afterglow of remaining sigil energy an instinctual guard in the event he sprang at her during sleep.Kaiza drew
Chapter 67: In the Inkstorm
The black tower yawned in front of them, towering, written into a million lines of evil literature, each with words that wheezed nastiness. And this was the core of the Fifth Rewrite, the last citadel of Kairen the impostor writer, the treacherous brother.Kaiza and Soryn stood on the precipice of madness.Wind composed of shredded parchment whipped around them. Ink fell from the air like rain, soaking into the earth and becoming distorted forms of memories, skeletons of decisions they had never taken. A Kaiza who had murdered Soryn. A Soryn who had become the Shadowborne queen. All their nightmares were here. All their terrors had a voice.Nevertheless, they moved on.This world isn't just being rewritten," Soryn grumbled, dropping her hood low. "It's rewriting us."Kaiza's jaw clamped. "Then we don't let it."They stepped into the Inkstorm.It wasn't just weather; it was alive. Words hurled at them like daggers, embedding in their flesh, whispering lies into their bones.Kaiza stumb