Chapter 9 – The Traitor's Name
The forest still smoked with death.
Kael sat beneath a broken tree, his hands shaking, chest heaving. The ground around him was scorched black—bodies buried in shadow, the aftermath of Abyssal Army still fresh in his mind.
> "I didn't mean to kill them all…"
"Some of them were just following orders."
Roan crouched beside him. Her eyes were sharp, but not unkind.
> "This is what they made you into, Kael. A weapon they now fear."
He didn't answer.
Because above them, where the cliff stood moments ago, the figure had vanished—but left behind a mark.
A sigil.
Kael recognized it instantly.
> A black serpent swallowing its tail.
His blood ran cold.
---
A Memory That Shouldn't Exist
Years ago—before his awakening, before the Codex—Kael had seen that mark once before.
Not on paper.
But burned into his brother's back.
> "No…" he whispered. "He's dead. He died protecting me."
Roan stepped back. "Wait… your brother?"
Kael nodded.
> "Lior."
> "The youngest Flame-Class prodigy in our generation. A hero in the war."
But there it was—etched into the rock.
> "Why would my dead brother be watching me?"
Roan's voice trembled. "Because… maybe he's not dead."
---
Meanwhile: In the Guild's Depths
Inside a hidden temple beneath the Thorn Crown Guild, the masked man removed his disguise.
Not a scarred old assassin.
But a young man, face calm, eyes cold.
He placed a core onto an altar—one of Kael's clones had left behind a piece of dark essence.
He smiled.
> "He's improving. Faster than expected."
Another voice echoed in the chamber.
> "Are you afraid, Lior?"
The young man turned.
> "Afraid of my little brother?"
"No. I'm training him."
---
Back at Camp
Kael looked at the sigil again.
And for the first time in weeks… he felt hope.
"If he's alive, I have to find him," he said. "Even if he's changed. Even if he's…"
He couldn't say it.
Roan said it for him:
> "Even if he's your enemy."
Kael stood up. The Codex flickered in his hand.
> New Quest Unlocked: "Bloodlines of Shadow"
Locate the bearer of the Black Serpent Sigil.
Kael clenched his fists.
> "I'll find him. And if he's really become one of them…"
He closed his eyes.
> "Then I'll stop him myself."
---
End of Chapter 9