~ Soul vs. Soul. No masks. No mercy. Only will to decide their fates.
*******
Darkness.
That was all that was there to embrace Kael beneath the surface of the Shattered Veil.
The kind that wraps around your soul like iron chains soaked in memory and guilt. It pressed inward, pulled at thought, tried to reshape Kael into something else. Something lesser.
Kael had no physical body here.
No lungs to burn, no arms to raise, no gem to call upon. Just will. Just soul. A golden ember of light shaped vaguely like him, flickering and smoking at the edges.
Even now, he still felt pain. Not in the way of broken bones, but in truth. It was the ache of being seen for what he really was and wondering if it was enough.
He'd always questioned that.
How could he ever be enough? Kael had no experience. No life lessons. He only had ambition. That didn't make him important or special.
It just made it easy to single him out. That was why people followed him. Not because he was enough.
