Blood Hounds

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Chapter 21: The Echo of Betrayal

Kael's breath was ragged, his mind struggling to separate past from present.

The shadowed figure hadn't moved, but its presence still weighed on him, its burning eyes a silent challenge.

Behind him, the ruins were eerily still. The Black Hounds who remained were frozen, caught between battle instincts and sheer terror. Even Garran—so confident, so sure of himself—stood motionless, his sword gripped tightly, but unused.

"Do you remember now?" the shadow whispered again.

Kael's pulse pounded. He wanted to say no.

But he did remember.

Not everything. Not yet. But enough.

Enough to know that this presence—this thing—was tied to his past. That it had been waiting for him to return.

And that the last time he had stood before it…

Someone had died.

"Kael."

Not the shadow's voice.

Garran's.

Kael turned, slowly, his muscles stiff with tension.

Garran's gaze was sharp, wary—but beneath it, something else lingered.

Recognition.

Kael's stomach dropped.

"You knew," he murmured.

Garran exhaled sharply. "Not everything." His grip on his sword tightened. "But enough."

The words were quiet, but they hit like a blade to the gut.

Kael stared at him.

The tension between them shifted, no longer just an old rivalry, an unfinished fight.

It was something deeper.

Something that had started long before today.

The ruins pulsed, the air growing heavier.

"The past does not rest," the shadow murmured. "Nor do those who break their oaths."

Kael flinched.

Because he had.

And now, it was time to face the cost.

.