They said the ruins were cursed.
An old watchtower half-swallowed by the earth, nestled in the broken woods outside Caldrath. Hunters had gone missing. Locals heard screams that didn't echo right. No creature tracks. No bodies. Just vanishing.
It was a low-ranked mission. Kieran volunteered.
They thought he was chasing gold.
He was chasing a name.
At the Ruins
The wind was wrong here.
It moved in circles. Branches bent toward the ruins as if bowing to something inside. The ground itself felt thinner—like one layer removed from shadow.
Kieran drew his blade, the Void whisper humming faintly in his ear.
The tower's entrance was split in half. Ancient runes long dead. He stepped inside.
That's when he heard it.
"So the second flower blooms."
The voice was smooth. Calm. But soaked in venom.
A figure stepped from the black, his cloak stitched from torn banners, face veiled in a smooth porcelain mask—cracked down the middle. Blood-red eyes blazed behind it.
"You felt it too, didn't you? The book. The test."
Kieran lowered his blade. "You're Voidborne."
A slow nod.
"Yes. But I didn't pass. Not like you. The Whisperer left me a… different gift."
The figure raised his hand.
Darkness oozed from his fingers—alive, liquid, hissing.
"I wasn't calm. I fought the fear. And it rewarded me in kind."
Their First Clash
The shadow struck like lightning. Kieran barely blocked, his sword gleaming with a pulse of his own voidlight. The shock of it sent him skidding across the stone.
"You're strong," the masked man said. "But you're still bound by fear of what they'll think. You want to be accepted."
He struck again. Faster. Sharper.
Kieran met the blow.
"And you want to burn the world that rejected you," Kieran said. "I've met enough like you."
The masked man paused.
Then laughed.
"You'll learn, brother. The Whisperer doesn't bless heroes. It breeds survivors."
With a screech, the tower trembled—and the man vanished into the cracks of shadow.
Aftermath
Kieran stood alone, breathing heavy.
He didn't know the man's name.
Only what he left behind: a broken page torn from a massive book.
It whispered faintly in his hand.
Page 297: The One Who Was Not Chosen."He failed the bloom. And so he became rot."
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Chapter Seven: Names in the Dark
Back in Caldrath, rumors of a masked shadow-wielder spread. Kieran begins to hunt the truth, only to learn that the Voidborne have a long history—and not all who bear the mark are born equal. The capital hides secrets. And some are beginning to remember the name… "Kieran."