Blood Hounds

The ruins shook.

A deep, guttural howl echoed through the chamber, reverberating through Kael's bones. The air grew thick, suffocating, as the flickering symbols on the walls burned brighter—too bright.

Then the shadows moved.

Not like flickering light. Not like wind. They moved with purpose.

Garran tensed, his grip on Kael loosening for just a second. His smirk was gone now, replaced with something sharper—instinctive wariness.

"What the hell is this?" he muttered.

Kael didn't answer.

Because he didn't know.

The presence in the chamber was old. He could feel it pressing against his skin, sinking into his thoughts.

It was watching.

Then, the whisper came.

"Kael."

Not Elias's voice.

Something else.

Kael's breath hitched. It knew him.

The shadows at the far end of the chamber peeled away, revealing a figure. Not fully human. Not fully real.

A silhouette of darkness, shifting like mist, but its eyes—they burned.

Kael's heart pounded. He had seen those eyes before.

A long time ago.

A time he had tried to forget.

The figure stepped forward, and as it did, the Black Hounds froze. Even Garran.

Not out of hesitation. Out of fear.

One of the mercenaries gasped. "Impossible…"

Kael barely had time to react before the figure spoke.

"You should not have come here."

The moment the words hit the air, everything broke loose.

The shadows exploded outward, striking like living tendrils. The nearest Black Hounds screamed as the darkness tore into them, unraveling their forms as if the light itself had rejected their existence.

Garran staggered back, his confidence shattered. His eyes darted to Kael, then to the thing that had just consumed his men.

"Damn it," he spat. "This isn't what I signed up for."

Kael didn't move. Didn't speak.

Because he knew.

This thing—whatever it was—hadn't come for the Black Hounds.

It had come for him.

The burning eyes locked onto his.

"Come, lost one."

Kael felt it then.

A pull. A command. Something deep inside him—something old—responded.

His vision blurred. The world tilted.

And suddenly, the ruins were gone.

He was somewhere else.

Somewhere he remembered.

Somewhere he never wanted to see again.