When he arrived, Kael stopped dead in his tracks. The world seemed to have been torn apart.
Before him, in a devastated clearing, the vegetation was crushed, ripped out by the roots, the ground turned into mud and blood.
And there it was.The beast.
It was gigantic. Its body looked like an impossible amalgamation of flesh and metal. Four long, deformed legs sank into the ground. Its torso was covered in organic plates that breathed, opening and closing like gills. Curved spines rose from its back, and its head… its head had no visible eyes, only a massive vertical mouth filled with translucent teeth, sharp as glass.
Every breath it took made the air vibrate.
Beneath it, standing with absolute calm, a man in a black cloak observed. Another Velkari soldier.
And in front of him, leaning against the shattered trunk of a tree… Iria.
Time froze in a single instant.
Her arms were twisted at impossible angles. Her legs… were gone. Blood soaked the earth beneath her. And yet, she was breathing. And yet, she was smiling.
She was delirious. But still alive.
"You won't win…" she murmured in a broken voice. "Your day will come. I… will be waiting on the other side."
It was not a threat.It was a sentence.A promise made from the acceptance of death.
The cloaked soldier raised his hand dismissively.
"End this," he ordered.
The beast moved.
And then Iria lifted her gaze one last time—and saw him.
"…Love?" she whispered, believing it was an illusion. "I'm sorry… I couldn't… buy more time…"
Tears traced paths down her ruined face as a small, nostalgic smile appeared.
Kael took a step forward and screamed.
But it was too late.
The beast descended. Its jaws opened wide, and without hesitation, it devoured her.
The sound of bones breaking, flesh tearing, blood splattering onto the ground—everything was etched forever into Kael's soul.
The world went dark.
And something inside him… broke beyond repair.
Kael did not scream.He did not cry.
Something inside him shut down… and something far worse took its place.
The world lost all sound for an instant. The blood dripping from what remained of Iria, the creaking of the beast as it moved, even the wind through the trees—all of it became distant, irrelevant. His breathing slowed. Controlled. Almost empty.
Then he stepped forward.
And the forest answered.
The creature turned its massive body toward him, sensing his heavy presence. The plates on its torso opened like living wounds, exhaling a dark vapor charged with corrosive energy. The ground sank beneath its weight as it advanced, uprooting trees with the simple movement of its legs.
Kael ran toward it.
Both knew they were a threat to one another.
Kael did not stop. His fury was so precise it felt rehearsed before birth. He felt no fear—only the desire for vengeance.
The beast unleashed its first attack: one of its legs slammed down like a living hammer, capable of crushing rock to dust. Kael spun aside at the last second, the impact raising a wave of earth and dried blood that completely covered him. He used the momentum to launch himself at the monster's flank, driving his weapon—the luminous blade—between two organic plates.
The creature roared.
A sound that made ears bleed.
It shook violently, hurling him through the air. Kael slammed into a tree, felt something break inside him, but was back on his feet before hitting the ground. The medicine burned through his veins, keeping him conscious by sheer force.
He jumped again.
This time, straight for the torso.
The blade cut through impossible flesh, releasing a dark fluid that crackled as it touched the ground. The beast tried to bite him, its vertical mouth snapping shut like a living trap, but Kael rolled beneath its neck, climbed its back as if born to do so, and drove the weapon in to the hilt.
The monster writhed, smashed into trees, slammed itself against the ground, trying to tear him off.
Then the man in the black cloak moved.
He vanished from his position and reappeared behind Kael in the blink of an eye. A precise blow, charged with pure Velkari energy, sent Kael flying, the air shattering in his wake.
"So Lukran wasn't able to finish you," the soldier said calmly. "I didn't expect much from him, to be honest—especially against you. I'll admit, at least you're not intact. That was the minimum he should have done as a soldier aspiring to be a hero."
The cloaked soldier looked at him with superiority. His gaze showed no fear. He did not see Kael as a threat.
"With those injuries, you shouldn't even be able to move," he remarked, analyzing Kael from head to toe. "Something admirable about you, Kael—you never stop being formidable."
The fight became two against one.
The creature attacked relentlessly, brutal charges, claws capable of tearing the earth apart. The soldier moved with inhuman precision, anticipating every dodge, every jump, every strike.
And yet… Kael endured.
He dodged by instinct. Struck with contained fury. Every wound only made him more dangerous. He used the environment—the trees, the shattered terrain. He jumped, rolled, attacked vulnerable points.
At last, he found the opening.
The creature charged head-on.
Kael did not move.
He waited.
Just before impact, he twisted his body, let one of the legs graze him, tearing open his side… and drove his weapon straight into the center of the monster's chest.
The blade shone with blinding intensity. Its insides spilled out in a horrifying cascade of dark fluid.
The beast's body tensed…
Then collapsed.
It fell like a dead mountain.
The silence was brutal.
The man in black watched him with genuine surprise.
"Incredible…" he murmured. "You've killed my guardian… without even showing your true capability. Something impossible for any Velkari soldier."
Both were covered in blood, breathing heavily, barely able to remain standing.
Kael, having exhausted most of his strength, dropped to one knee. He tried to rise, but his body felt impossibly heavy. His strength was gone.
The soldier, however, still had energy.
He walked toward Kael and stopped in front of him, looking down with disdain. He knew he had won. There was nothing left for Kael to fight for now.
And yet… something felt wrong.
The soldier tilted his head.
"Of course…" his eyes widened slightly. "I knew there was something strange about you. You didn't fight at full strength because you can't. What did you do…?"
His gaze hardened.
"That explains the reports… that child…"He didn't finish the sentence.
A whistle cut through the air.
A knife passed cleanly through his head. He had no time to react. The shock of what he had discovered had made him lower his guard.
The soldier's body fell lifeless before it even hit the ground.
Silence filled the clearing once more.
Kael still did not stand. When the soldier fell, it was as if his body told him there was no point in trying anymore.
The Great Wise Woman emerged from between the trees.
Kael saw her… and his legs gave out.
He collapsed beside the soldier.
He tried to crawl forward, dragging himself, leaving a trail of blood. Every movement was agony. He pulled strength from where none remained.
But the old woman was already there.
With his last shred of will, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace. Blood coated the metal as he placed it in her hand.
"Give it to him…" he whispered. "When the time comes… Let him live… happy… the way she and I would have wanted… Live… for us… my beloved son… Varen."
That night, the sky turned red.
Velkari reports spoke of a great victory. Of a revolutionary stronghold eradicated. Of multiple casualties… acceptable.
And among the confirmed names of fallen leaders, two echoed—names that made those who still believed in the revolution tremble.
________________________________________________________________
HELIOR / VELKARI DOMAIN — weeks after the attack
It was an artificial abyss, an open wound in the earth where the New Progress threw everything that no longer served: Velkari machine remains, collapsed structures, failed synthetic bodies, biological waste, defective weapons… and sometimes, people. The air was always heavy with a metallic, acrid stench—a mix of rust, ash, and something harder to name, something that burned the lungs when breathed.
The sky above the landfill was never blue. Always gray.
There, among mountains of twisted scrap and towers of technological debris still crackling with residual energy, the child cried. A weak cry, almost drowned out by the particle-laden wind.
The Great Wise Woman adjusted the cloak covering the small body. Her hands, old and marked by years of rituals and invisible wars, trembled slightly as she looked at the child's face.
He was asleep.
Not by magic this time, but from pure exhaustion. His skin was stained with dried blood that was not his own.
"Varen…" she whispered. "So this is the world they left you."
Around her, other figures moved through the shadows of the landfill. They were not soldiers. They were not villagers. They were the forgotten: exiles, deserters, humans mutilated by Velkari experiments, creatures that had once been something more. They lived there because there was nowhere else the Empire did not look… or pretended not to look.
A woman with a face covered in rusted implants approached.
"Is it him?" she asked quietly.
The old woman nodded.
A heavy silence fell over the group. Everyone knew what it meant.
The landfill was not just a refuge—it was a living grave. Here, one survived, but did not grow. Did not dream.
The old woman walked toward a half-buried structure: what had once been a Velkari processing core, now dead, split open like an empty shell. Inside, the environment was more stable. Less toxic. Barely habitable.
She laid the child down on an improvised surface.
"Listen carefully," she said, turning to the others. "No one must know who he is. From now on, he is one of us."
Some lowered their gaze. Others clenched their fists. Outside, the wind howled, making tons of dead metal groan.
Far away, in cities of marble and light, the Velkari celebrated past victories, certain they had extinguished the revolution.
And meanwhile, in the most forgotten place in the world, among waste and shadows, something began to awaken.