Episode 25 – The Price of Revival
The air hung heavy with smoke and ash. The battlefield, once the sacred ground of the Whispering Arena, now resembled a smoldering graveyard. Faint embers floated through the air like lost souls searching for peace.
Kael stood motionless.
Around him were the broken remains of demons, burnt black and twisted in death. His team lay scattered—alive, but bruised and bleeding. Tunde groaned from under a pile of rubble. Rhea sat against a stone wall, bloodied and panting, her magic drained.
But Kael wasn't looking at them.
He was looking at her.
Lana.
Her body lay limp in the ruins, her hair splayed like a golden halo around her. The magic that had pierced her heart was still faintly humming, crackling with dark energy. Her chest didn't rise. Her lips were pale.
"No…" Kael dropped to his knees beside her. "Lana—no, no. Come on, stay with me."
He shook her, gently, then more desperately. "I was supposed to protect you. You weren't supposed to—LANA!"
The world responded to his scream.
The sky darkened. The clouds twisted into a spiral. Thunder roared. The earth beneath Kael cracked again, and Velmorth'Rael pulsed violently beside him.
Rhea tried to crawl toward him. "Kael… stop. You'll lose control."
But he already had.
A blast of raw energy erupted from Kael's chest. His mark flared, bright as a supernova. His eyes turned black, then white, then flickered between both. The runes on Velmorth'Rael lifted into the air, circling him. Lightning smashed the ground. Winds screamed.
The few demons that had survived began to flee—but the blast incinerated them where they stood.
Kael rose, trembling. His voice was hollow. "She gave her life… for me."
Behind him, a cold, slithering voice echoed through the shadows.
**"Would you give your soul for hers?"**
The devil-like figure stepped forward from a crimson portal. Tall, clad in flames and shadows. Horns like jagged blades curled from his head. His smile was made of nightmares.
"Kael of the Dual Flame… there is a way to bring her back."
Tunde, limping toward them, shook his head. "Don't listen to it, bro. This thing is all kinds of cursed."
Kael turned to the devil. "What do you want?"
"A piece of you. Not your body. Not your magic. Your soul. A shard of your essence. And the mark of the chosen one must bleed."
Kael clenched his jaw. "And she'll come back?"
"She will rise," the devil whispered. "But every miracle has a price."
Kael looked at Lana again, broken, still, lifeless. He didn't hesitate.
"Tell me what to do."
**---**
That night, under a sky carved with blood-colored lightning, Kael performed the ritual.
They stood at the center of the Vortex Ring—five symbols etched with ancient magic and his own blood. Tunde and Rhea stood by, watching helplessly, their injuries forgotten in the storm of what was happening.
Kael carved the sigils onto the earth. Then he cut his palm and let the blood drip into the heart of the circle.
He spoke the words.
Words that hadn't been uttered in a thousand years.
"Verak-thol'drim… ezkar'nai… Velmorth'Kael."
The symbols burst into flames. The ground split, revealing the crimson void beneath. From it came arms of smoke and whispers of souls.
Kael closed his eyes and offered the shard of his soul.
He felt it tear inside him.
Then… silence.
And a heartbeat.
Kael turned.
Lana's chest rose.
"LANA!" He rushed to her side as her eyes fluttered open.
She looked up at him. Confused. Weak.
"Kael…?" she whispered.
He hugged her tightly, shaking. "You're back… you're back."
Rhea ran forward, stunned. "You did it… you really—"
But then Lana gasped.
Her body jerked. Her eyes flickered—once.
And for a split second… they turned pitch black.
So fast that no one but Kael noticed.
The devil's whisper echoed faintly in Kael's ears as the portal closed:
*"What is returned… is never the same."*
**To Be Continued…**
---
**Episode 26 – Echoes of the Curse**
Lana's recovery was miraculous—or so everyone thought.
By morning, the group had regrouped in the shattered ruins of Shadowkeep's inner sanctum. Tunde was cracking jokes about getting "demon insurance," Rhea was trying to stabilize the protective wards, and Kael… Kael was watching Lana.
She moved the same.
Spoke the same.
But something in her aura had changed. Darker. Heavier. A flicker of shadow clung to her like a second skin.
They didn't have time to dwell.
The earth trembled.
A portal opened high above them—one made of black flame. From it descended not demons… but cloaked humans.
Cultists.
Blood priests of the Outer Pit.
Tunde squinted. "Who are these Mortal Kombat rejects?"
Rhea's eyes widened. "They're summoners. The kind that trade human lives for darker power."
The cultists began chanting in an inhuman tongue. The sky cracked. Lightning bled. And from the vortex above came a **creature**.
Its name couldn't be spoken. The air warped when it was summoned. Its body was a mixture of flesh, bone, and obsidian armor. Its eyes glowed a sickly green.
Kael felt the mark on his arm burn.
"Positions!" he shouted.
**The battle began.**
Spells flew. Blasts of dark magic slammed into Rhea's shields. Tunde dashed across the field with superspeed, smacking a cultist with a pipe while yelling, "Ever heard of breath mints, dark dude?!"
The summoned creature roared. It slammed the ground, creating shockwaves. Lana summoned her twin daggers, dancing through the battlefield—too fluid. Too perfect.
Kael blinked.
For a moment, her shadow moved *before* she did.
They fought like never before.
Rhea used celestial chains to bind a demon. Tunde summoned a makeshift spell circle using chicken bones and sarcasm.
Kael called on Velmorth'Rael.
The sword crashed into his hand with lightning so violent it threw half the cultists backward.
He sliced the creature—sending a pulse of power that echoed through dimensions.
Then Lana approached the downed beast.
And whispered a word Kael couldn't hear.
The creature twitched… then disintegrated into smoke.
Silence.
Rhea limped over. "Is everyone—"
Kael interrupted. "Lana. What did you say to it?"
She turned slowly. Her eyes… still blue. But distant.
"I just ended it."
That night, Kael stood alone with Tunde.
"Something's wrong with her," he said.
Tunde nodded, unusually serious. "I saw it too. She moved like she was *waiting* for us to get tired. Like she wasn't really fighting for us. Just watching."
Kael clenched his fists. "I brought her back. But I don't know what came with her."
From the shadows, Lana stood watching them.
And somewhere deep in her mind… something laughed.