The temple's ancient stone doors groaned as they pushed open, revealing the outside world.
Kaelen stepped forward, his breath slow and steady. The weight of the mark on his arm still lingered—an invisible chain tying him to something he did not yet understand.
Lirien kept close behind him, her daggers still drawn. "I don't like this," she muttered. "Something's changed."
Kaelen felt it, too.
The air was thicker, the sky darker than when they had first entered. The land beyond the temple, once a desolate wasteland of cracked stone and forgotten ruins, now hummed with an unseen force.
As if the world itself had noticed his mark.
And was watching.
---
A Presence in the Dark
Kaelen and Lirien moved quickly, descending the temple steps. The wind howled through the ruins, carrying whispers that Kaelen couldn't quite understand.
Then—
He stopped.
Lirien followed his gaze. "Kaelen?"
Kaelen's hand tightened around his sword.
Because the shadows at the edge of the ruins—were moving.
Figures—wrapped in black mist, their forms shifting like phantoms—stood just beyond the reach of the fading daylight.
Watching.
Waiting.
Lirien tensed. "Tell me you're seeing this."
Kaelen exhaled. "I see them."
And then—
One of the shadows stepped forward.
---
The Voice in the Wind
"He is waking up."
Kaelen's blood froze.
It was the same voice—the one that had whispered to him in the void.
The shadowed figure did not attack. It did not move closer.
Instead—
It knelt.
A cold shiver ran down Kaelen's spine. "What the hell…"
Lirien swore under her breath. "Why is it kneeling?"
The figure's hooded head tilted up, revealing nothing beneath—only darkness where a face should have been.
And then, a second figure knelt.
Then a third.
A fourth.
And soon—all of them had bowed.
The wind shifted, and the voice whispered once more.
"The Black Sun rises again."
Kaelen's pulse pounded in his ears.
Something deep within him stirred.
Something old.
And for the first time, he realized—
These shadows were not enemies.
They were waiting for him.
---
The Gathering Shadows
Kaelen's breath came slow and controlled, but his mind was racing.
The kneeling figures surrounded him and Lirien, forming a silent, unmoving ring of shadows. Their presence was neither threatening nor welcoming—just a watching, waiting force.
Lirien gripped her daggers tighter. "This is bad, Kaelen."
"Yeah," he muttered. "I know."
His fingers hovered over the hilt of his sword, but a deep instinct whispered that drawing it would be a mistake.
These figures weren't attacking him.
They were kneeling to him.
And that scared him more.
The wind howled through the ruins, carrying whispers that were not spoken with words—just fragments of voices, dissolving into the night.
Then, as if on some unseen signal—
One of the figures rose.
---
A Messenger from the Black Sun
The shadow that had first knelt now stood before Kaelen, its form flickering like a flame.
It had no face—only a void where one should be.
But when it spoke, the voice was clear.
"You bear the mark."
Kaelen swallowed. "And what does that mean?"
The shadow tilted its head. "You do not remember?"
Lirien shifted uneasily. "He doesn't. And I'd love for you to start making sense before I start stabbing."
The shadow ignored her, its empty gaze fixed only on Kaelen.
"Then you must learn."
The others rose in unison, the movement eerily smooth.
Kaelen's pulse quickened. "Learn what?"
The shadow's voice was ancient, layered with something Kaelen didn't understand—but felt deep in his bones.
"The truth of what you were."
"The price of what you became."
"And the path of what you will be."
A chill crawled up Kaelen's spine.
This wasn't just about the mark.
This was about him.
---
The Hidden Past
The shadow raised its hand.
Kaelen tensed, expecting an attack—
But instead, the air rippled.
The ruins shifted, stone and sky bending as though the world itself was being rewritten.
And then—
The landscape changed.
The ruins disappeared, replaced by a towering city of obsidian towers and golden light. The sky above was not blue, nor the dark void of night, but a swirling black sun, casting its glow over the world.
Kaelen's breath caught in his throat. "What is this?"
"A memory," the shadow answered.
Lirien's eyes darted around. "This isn't an illusion, is it?"
"No."
The streets below bustled with life—but it was not a life Kaelen recognized.
Figures draped in dark robes walked beneath the golden banners of the Black Sun, their voices chanting in a language he did not understand—but somehow felt familiar.
Kaelen staggered back.
He knew this place.
But that was impossible.
---
The Emperor's Throne
A voice boomed across the city, cutting through the chants like a blade.
"All rise before the Emperor of the Eclipse!"
Kaelen's blood froze.
The crowd below fell to their knees—just as the shadowed figures had done in the ruins.
And there—standing at the highest tower of the city—
Was himself.
Not as he was now.
But as the Kaelen from the vision—older, colder, dressed in robes of black and gold. His eyes, no longer the deep blue he had known his whole life, burned with the fire of the Black Sun.
And when he spoke—
It was the same voice Kaelen had heard in his vision at the temple.
"Let the eclipse begin."
A wave of power erupted from his past self, swallowing the city in golden-black light.
And then—
Everything shattered.
---
The Awakening
Kaelen gasped, his body jerking violently as he was thrown back into the ruins.
The city, the towers, the people—they were gone.
Only the kneeling shadows remained.
Lirien grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him. "Kaelen! What the hell just happened?"
Kaelen's breathing was ragged. His hands trembled.
The truth settled into his bones like ice.
This wasn't just a curse.
This wasn't just a forgotten past.
He hadn't just been part of the Black Sun.
He had ruled it.
And now—
It was waiting for him to return.
---
End of chapter 1 0.
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