The voice was a blade that sliced through the quiet like thunder in a tomb.
I turned slowly, my grip tightening on the leather-bound ledger, heart pounding in a rhythm I hadn't felt since the day they dragged me away in chains.
He emerged from the shadows like a memory given flesh.
Captain Jace Halvren.
My second-in-command. My friend. My brother-in-arms. The man who had stood by my side through sieges, bloodshed, and betrayal. The same man who had watched them condemn me without saying a single word.
He hadn't aged a day. Or maybe he had—and the rot inside him just wore it better than I did.
"Still wearing the captain's badge?" I asked, my voice low, venom-laced. "Or did they promote you for keeping your mouth shut?"
A smirk tugged at his lips. "I see exile hasn't dulled your tongue."
"I see betrayal hasn't dulled your pride."
His smile faded. "You should be dead."
"And you should've died with your honor, but here we are."
For a moment, the room was silent, save for the flicker of torchlight and the tension boiling between us.
Then, slowly, he drew his blade — the same blade he once raised in my defense.
"You shouldn't have come back, Alex."
"I didn't come back," I replied. "I rose."
With a flick of my wrist, dark energy surged around my arm like coiling smoke. It didn't hurt anymore. The magic didn't burn like it used to — now it sang to me.
We clashed.
Steel screamed against unnatural force. Sparks flew as my arcane strike met his blade. He was still good — fast, precise — but I was something else now. Something sharper. Something deadlier.
"You're using their power," he growled as we broke apart, both panting. "They twisted you."
"They gave me what I needed," I spat. "They made me this. But you — you let them."
Jace lunged again, aiming high. I ducked, spun, and drove my elbow into his side. He staggered, and I pressed forward, sending a wave of force that slammed him into the wall.
"You were my brother," I said, voice trembling with fury. "You left me to rot."
He coughed, blood staining his teeth. "You were already rotting the day you questioned the crown."
I stopped. That old wound burned fresh.
"Then maybe," I said coldly, "I was always meant to be the villain."
With a burst of magic, I vanished into the shadows, the ledger tucked beneath my cloak.
I didn't kill him. Not tonight.
Because Jace Halvren wasn't the end of my story.
He was the beginning of my war.