"Round them up!"
Inquisitor Vox's voice cut through the morning air like a blade. Within heartbeats, the peaceful village square erupted into chaos. Silver-armored soldiers stormed from every direction, their boots thundering against worn cobblestones as they dragged terrified villagers from their homes.
Kayden pressed himself between his mother Emily and older sister Verael, their backs against the old fountain at the square's center. His heart hammered so hard he was sure everyone could hear it. Every muscle in his body screamed at him to run, but where could they go? Soldiers blocked every street, every alley.
Around them, neighbors he'd known his entire life were being bound with rough rope. Mrs. Kenna from the bakery sobbed as they tore her from her doorway. Old Henrik, who'd taught Kayden to whittle, stumbled and fell as a soldier shoved him forward. Children screamed for parents who couldn't reach them.
Then she appeared, and somehow the chaos felt even more terrifying in her presence.
Inquisitor Vox moved with the fluid grace of a predator, her white robes flowing behind her seemed to glow even in the darkness. The crimson mark of Celestial blazed on her breastplate, catching the morning light. Each step of her polished boots against stone sounded deliberate. When her gaze swept over the crowd, Kayden felt like prey being sized up by something that had already decided he wasn't worth keeping alive.
"Now then," Vox said, her voice carrying easily over the whimpers and prayers. It was almost conversational, which somehow made it worse. "Where is the anomaly?"
The silence that followed was suffocating. Even the children seemed to hold their breath. Finally, Henrik struggled to his feet, his weathered hands shaking as he spoke.
"Please, my lady, we don't know what you mean. We're just simple folk—"
A soldier's boot caught him in the ribs before he could finish. Henrik crumpled with a wet gasp, and Kayden flinched at the sound. Verael held her brother's hand tighter, her small body trembling.
"We live quiet lives," Henrik wheezed from the ground. "We follow Aetherion faithfully. We don't know anything about anomalies."
Vox's lips curved into something that might have been a smile on someone else's face. On hers, it looked hungry.
"How disappointing. It seems you don't value your lives very highly." She clasped her hands behind her back, studying them like insects in a jar. "So I'll make this simple. Bring me the anomaly, and we leave your little village in peace. Continue to lie to me..." She shrugged elegantly. "Well. Treason is punishable by death."
The word 'treason' hit the crowd like a physical blow. Someone started crying—deep, broken sobs that seemed to come from their soul. A woman near the back dropped to her knees, pulling her children close. Men who'd worked the fields their whole lives stood helpless, hands clenched into useless fists.
"By Aetherion's light, we swear we don't know," called out Marta, the village elder. Her voice cracked with age and fear. "Search our homes, our records. We have nothing to hide."
Rita, Vox's lieutenant, stepped forward with a tired sigh. Unlike the common soldiers in their silver armor, she wore a crimson tailcoat over hers—a mark of higher rank that everyone recognized. "Why is it always like this?" she muttered, more to herself than anyone else.
A soldier approached carrying a device that made Kayden's skin crawl just looking at it. Dark metal formed an intricate frame around a core that pulsed with blue light, like a mechanical heart. Veins of the same cold light traced patterns across its surface, and it hummed with an energy that felt wrong somehow.
The villagers shrank back instinctively. Even the bravest among them whispered protective prayers under their breath.
Vox lifted the device like she was presenting a gift. "Curious little thing, isn't it? Let me show you how it works."
Emily's hand suddenly clamped down on Darian's arm with bruising force. She leaned close, her breath warm against his ear as she whispered urgently.
"Kayden, listen to me carefully. Whatever happens here, whatever they ask, you must never tell them about your failed bonding rituals. Do you understand me?"
The words hit him like cold water. His throat went dry. So it was true,they were here for him.
Her fingernails dug into his skin. "Promise me. No matter what you see, no matter what happens to us, you stay silent about it."
Understanding crept over him immediately. He was the reason they were here.
"Promise me." Her voice broke on the words.
"I... I promise." As soon as he said that he regreted it immediately. He was basically saying it was ok for everyone to die just for his sake. It felt wrong. Part of him wanted to just confess it all immediately...but at the same time fear gripped his heart. He...he didn't want to die.
Relief flickered in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by something that looked like grief. With shaking hands, she lifted the crimson amulet from around her neck—the one she'd always claimed was "just a family keepsake" and fastened it around his.
"If you survive this," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the growing commotion, "protect this with your life. Someone will come looking for it. Someone important."
He glanced over at Verael who was still holding his hands tightly. She had managed to force a smile from her terrified face. One that Kayden couldn't accept.
Before he could ask what she meant, Vox's voice rang out again.
"Let's begin, shall we? Bring the first one."
They dragged forward Master Jorik, the carpenter. Kayden had spent countless afternoons in his workshop, learning to shape wood with patient hands. Now those same hands were bound as Jorik struggled uselessly against his captors.
"Please," Jorik gasped as they forced him to his knees. "I have a family. Young children."
Vox pressed the device to his forehead almost gently. The blue light pulsed brighter, and something like hunger flickered in her eyes as she waited. After a moment, the light faded to its usual dim glow.
"Not our anomaly," she announced with theatrical disappointment.
Jorik's shoulders sagged with relief. "Then... then I can go? My family—"
"When did I say that?" Vox tilted her head like a curious bird.
The hope died in Jorik's eyes. "But you said..if I wasn't..."
"I said I was looking for an anomaly. I never said anything about letting you live." Her smile widened. "You see, godless are also seen as traitors. They do not deserve to live in our world today. Their failed rituals are seen as an insult to the gods power and an insult to the Divine Order " Vox explained with a crooked smile tugged at the edge of her lips "And harboring a traitor makes you traitors too."
"We didn't harbor anyone! We don't even know what you're looking for!"
"Your ignorance isn't my concern." She nodded to one of her soldiers.
The blade was quick. Efficient. Jorik fell forward without another word, his blood spreading dark across the ancient stones.
The screaming started then. Real screaming, not just fear but pure animal terror as the reality sank in. Some villagers tried to run only to be cut down by the soldiers forming a perimeter. Others fell to their knees, begging, pleading, offering everything they had.
"Bring the next one," Vox commanded over the chaos.
One by one, they were tested. One by one, they died. The baker. The blacksmith. Young couples who'd just married. Elderly grandparents who could barely walk. It didn't matter. The device would pulsed, Vox would shake her head, and another life would end.
"This is your fault," she called out between executions, her voice carrying over the sobs. "Every death is on your hands. Give me what I came for, and this ends."
Kayden watched in numb horror as his world was systematically destroyed. These weren't strangers—they were people who'd known him since birth. Who'd celebrated his birthdays, taught him trades, scolded him for mischief. Now they were dying because of him. Because of what he was.
When the soldiers finally reached for his family, something inside him snapped.
"NO!" He lunged forward, grabbing a piece of broken fence post and swinging it at the nearest soldier's helmet. The impact sent vibrations up his arms, and the soldier staggered backward.
For one impossible moment, Kayden thought he might actually fight them off.
Then pain exploded across his ribs as a boot caught him in the side. He hit the ground hard, tasting blood as his teeth cut his tongue. Rough hands hauled him upright while others seized his mother and sister.
"Kayden!" Emily screamed, struggling against her captors.
"Leave them alone!" he choked out, blood running down his chin. "They didn't do anything!"
Vox ignored him completely, pressing her device to Emily's forehead with the same clinical detachment she'd shown all the others.
The blue light pulsed. And pulsed again.
"Fire element," Vox announced. Then she looked directly at Darian. "But not our anomaly."
"Then let her go," Kayden pleaded, his voice breaking. "You said—"
"I said I'd find the anomaly. I never promised to spare anyone else." She stepped back from Emily. "Kill her."
"WAIT!"
The word tore from Kayden's throat with such force that even the soldiers paused. Every eye in the square turned to him.
Vox raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
Kayden swayed on his feet, blood dripping steadily from his split lip. His vision kept wavering, but he forced himself to focus on her face. "If... if I tell you who the anomaly is... will you let them go? Will you let my family live?"
The Inquisitor's smile was like winter. "If you tell me the truth, the innocent will walk free. You have my word as an Inquisitor of the Divine Order."
Emily's eyes locked onto his across the square. Even bound and helpless, she still managed to shake her head desperately, her lips forming silent words: 'Don't. Please don't.'
Verael agreed with her mom as she pleaded for him to stay silent.
But he couldn't watch them die. Not when he could stop it.
"I'm the anomaly," he whispered.
The words seemed to echo in the sudden silence. Then gasps and murmurs rippled through what remained of the crowd.
"Bring him forward," Vox commanded.
They dragged him to her, forcing him to his knees on stones slick with his neighbors' blood. The device hummed as she brought it toward his face, its blue light reflecting off her eager eyes.
The moment it touched his skin, everything changed.
'Foolish child.'
The voice came from inside his head—ancient, cold, and definitely not his own. Kayden's blood turned to ice.
Vox's expression twisted from anticipation to fury. "What did you say?"
"I didn't—"
Her fist caught him across the jaw, snapping his head sideways. Stars exploded across his vision.
"You think I'm stupid?" she screamed, all pretense of control abandoned. "The device shows you're already bonded! You're not an anomaly...you're a liar!"
Bonded? That was impossible. He'd failed the bonding ritual three times. He knew it. His mother, Verael...they both knew it.
She kicked him in the stomach, doubling him over. Then again in the ribs. Each impact drove the air from his lungs until he could barely breathe.
"Stop it!" Emily cried, tears streaming down her face. "He's just a boy!"
"Commander," Rita said quietly, "perhaps that's enough."
But Vox was beyond hearing. She stood over Kayden's broken form, breathing hard, blood spattering her perfect boots.
"Fine," she snarled. "If I can't find the anomaly, I'll kill everyone. The anomaly dies with the rest of you."
She turned away, already giving orders to her soldiers.
Darian blinked through the pain, trying to focus on his mother's face one last time.
'No..don't touch them.Come on. Tell them....tell them I'm the anomaly' he begged. His mouth had already been bruised by the kicks from Vox 'Please Verael....Mom...i'm sorry..." The world was growing dim at the edges. His heartbeat felt sluggish, wrong. Cold was creeping up from his fingers and toes.
"Mom," he whispered, tasting copper and salt. "I'm sorry."
He took one last look at his sister's face. Strangely, there was a sign of relief on it. His mother smiled briefly as she stared towards him, a magic rifle pointed at her head.
Then another voice spoke—not in his head this time, but somehow through him.
"Foolish and weak you are"
And the world went dark.