They Betrayed Me So I Summoned The Leviathan

Kairos stood over the bodies, boots leaving wide marks in the slush that covered the blackened yard.

The burned house steamed behind him, its skeleton half-buried beneath fresh white, every plank and beam weeping smoke into the morning cold.

Charred timber stuck out like broken ribs; windows gaped hollow, the drifts piling in.

Above, smoke slipped around broken beams and vanished into the trees.

The world was silent except for the slow hush of snowfall and the distant groan of something settling in the ruins.

Virenth crouched by a corpse, brushing snow from a stiff sleeve. His gloved hand worked gently, almost careful.

"Look at this," he said, voice low. "Every wound's clean. Frozen, too. Whoever did this, they knew where to hit."

Kairos didn't answer. He scanned the ruins, eyes moving over the jagged black walls, the drift of frost eating away at the fire's edges.

Steam curled up in delicate threads, ghosts escaping. He exhaled once, slow, his breath hanging in the air.

"This was the general's house?"

Virenth's mouth twisted; it wasn't quite a smile.

"You wouldn't call it that, looking at it now."

Kairos squatted beside another body, nudging the shoulder with his knuckles.

The flesh was stiff, cold, the eyes glazed open toward the sky.

"The kid fought hard, though. All four, dead before they touched the door."

He points to Katsu, unconscious against the bark.

Virenth stood, rubbing his hands together for warmth, breath fogging.

"You think the boy did it?"

Kairos glanced up, not meeting his eyes. "Doesn't matter what I think. He's alive. That matters."

Both men turned. There, slumped against the trunk of a winter-stripped birch, the boy blinked at them.

Face gray, eyes hollow.

His coat was torn, blood crusted along one sleeve, and the snow at his feet was marked by a wide, clumsy trail. Kairos walked over, boots heavy in the slush.

He knelt, hands on his knees, his shadow falling over the boy.

"You awake?"

Katsu pushed himself upright, back pressed hard to the tree.

His breath rattled in his chest, each inhale sharp. He wiped at his mouth with a dirty sleeve, then turned his face away from both men.

Kairos tried again, this time gentler, voice low and steady.

"Can you walk?"

Katsu nodded, slow, his whole body shivering.

He tried to stand and nearly slipped; Kairos caught his arm, steadying him. Katsu's eyes darted to the bodies near the burned house, then quickly away.

"Get up, then. No one's coming to save you here." Kairos's tone stayed flat, matter of fact.

He stood and waited.

Virenth approached, quiet as wind through branches.

He crouched beside Katsu, looked over his hands.

"You're bleeding," he said.

Katsu looked down. Blood had dried in sharp, dark lines across his knuckles and the back of his hand.

His skin was mottled and raw from the cold.

"Not much," he said, voice rough.

Virenth unslung a battered canteen from his belt and handed it over.

"Drink."

Katsu took a slow sip, wincing as the water stung his split lips.

He handed it back without a word.

Kairos glanced at the sky, then over the ruined house.

"We need to move. They'll send someone to check on these four, and I'd rather not be here for that."

Kairos reached into his coat and pulled out a slim, horn-shaped tube.

Polished bone, capped with silver.

He pressed it to his lips and blew once. Short, low.

The sound rolled out over the trees and faded. Everything went still.

Virenth helped Katsu up, bracing him by the shoulders.

"You hear that?" he murmured.

Katsu shook his head, dazed.

He clung to Virenth's arm, his knees threatening to buckle.

He felt hollowed out, as if some vital part of him had burned away in the fire.

The three waited in silence, the snow deepening. It muffled all sound; the world felt distant, suspended.

Then the air shifted. A low, thrumming beat, like thunder from beneath the clouds.

A dark shape swept out of the sky, broad wings slicing through falling snow.

Feathers flashed white and gold.

A griffin descended, its huge paws sending up whirlwinds of powder as it landed, wings folding in a gust of cold wind.

Kairos nodded to Virenth, who gently lifted Katsu onto the griffin's back and swung up after him.

Kairos followed, settling behind, his presence solid and wordless.

The griffin took off, wings cracking against the frozen air.

Below, the burned house and the four bodies shrank away, buried in a widening sea of white.

The world turned distant, lost behind clouds and memory. The flight was cold and loud, wind snapping at their coats and stinging any bare skin.

Virenth kept one arm braced around Katsu, holding him upright as the griffin's body moved beneath them.

Muscle and bone shifting, claws digging for purchase in the wind.

The world below blurred.

A sea of pines, valleys choked with drifts, old roads vanishing beneath snow.

Katsu pressed one hand inside his coat, feeling the folded slip of paper his father had forced him to write.

Unreadable to anyone else. He kept his eyes fixed on the horizon, refusing to look back.

After a while, Kairos spoke, voice cutting flat against the rush of air.

"Why did you come here?" Kairos' head turned slightly, enough for Katsu to see the scar that ran from ear to chin.

Katsu hesitated. "I—" He bit the inside of his cheek. "I lived there…"

There was a calm then. Kairos and Virenth traded glances. Recognize.

Call it a click. Virenth broke the silence. "You got a name, kid?"

Katsu hesitated. "Katsu."

"Family name?" Virenth's voice was gentle, nothing forced.

"Nori."

Kairos is the first to turn, to look down at Katsu after he uttered the name Nori from his mouth.

"Well that changes everything. He's the general's son."

Katsu looked confused.

"... What?"

"We owed your father," Virenth said, answering Katsu with context. "You don't remember us, do you?"

Katsu shook his head.

"No. My father didn't talk much about anyone."

He felt a strange emptiness at that; all his life, his world had been his father and a handful of stories.

Half-remembered.

Now, even that was gone.

Kairos stared ahead, jaw set tight.

"He had his reasons."

They flew over a stretch where the forest broke apart, frost-covered farmland showing through.

Black branches poked through snow like grasping hands.

Virenth leaned closer to Katsu, voice barely a whisper.

"Your father wasn't just a soldier. He commanded men. Saved more than he ever let on. Until they turned on him."

Katsu's breath came out in a sharp cloud. "He was exiled for a reason. That's what everyone says."

Kairos shook his head, never turning.

"He was betrayed. The reason doesn't matter. It's what happened after that counts."

The griffin's wings angled, dipping lower, catching an updraft.

Virenth pointed to a line of trees, half-hidden by snow.

"This is as far as most would go. But you…you've got a way out."

Katsu let his gaze wander to the world below. "Why help me?" The question was barely more than a breath.

Kairos replied, voice quiet but solid.

"Because your father gave us a second chance. Now it's your turn."

They rode the griffin in silence. The wind filled every gap, carrying old smoke and the promise of a storm.

Katsu pressed his lips together, pulling out the slip of paper.

It was crumpled, worn at the corners from being held too tight.

He unfolded it.

"My father made me write these," he said. "He said when he dies… find Kairos Durango. Find Virenth..."

He looked up, as if daring them to say it was a lie.

"And beware of Votum de Caelo..."

Virenth and Kairos eyes widen. Then both narrow. Kairos met Katsu's eyes. Forcing a smile. It seemed real.

"That's me. Kairos Durango. Your father didn't waste words."

Virenth nodded, exhaustion in his shoulders. Worry in his eyes.

"And I'm Virenth. He never let us forget our promises to him."

Katsu gripped the paper tighter.

"I'm Katsu. Katsu Nori." He realized, with a start, that saying it aloud made it real, like naming something you hoped would survive the night.

Kairos's mouth quirked.

Almost a smile.

"Now we're all clear."

The griffin banked left, wings spreading wide, and the horizon tilted.

Far ahead, the first shapes of towers broke through the gloom.

Gray stone, high walls, banners dark and unreadable at this distance.

"You're safe with us. As safe as you can be."

Virenth's voice cut through the wind. Reassuring.

Kairos nodded, eyes locked on the clouds ahead.

"Hold on. We're almost there."

Katsu glanced back one last time, watching the wilderness shrink behind him.

The names in his pocket pressed warm against his chest, a reminder of all he'd lost and everything left to fight for.

He tightened his grip on the griffin's feathers, chin lifted against the wind.

The unknown lay ahead; he forced himself to look forward.

As they flew, Katsu's mind drifted to his father's instructions.

Never use the magic I taught you infront of strangers. Trust only those whose names you've written yourself.

He thought of the burned house, of Shizune Nori's last warning.

Keep breathing. Smile. Stay alive, even if it means running.

Even if it means hiding who you are.

The griffin soared above the clouds.

The land falling away below.

For the first time since the flames, Katsu let himself hope.

Not for safety, not for peace, but for a chance. A new beginning waited beyond the towers on the horizon, in the shadow of legends and lies.

He pressed the slip of paper tight in his fist and closed his eyes, ready to face whatever the world would demand of him.

The snow kept falling, silent and relentless, as the past burned away behind them.