Chapter 30. Ashes of the Past

  Once, he had a name. A real one, not a lifeless symbol carved into his skin. Once, he had a family.

  Beligor… No, that was not his name back then. He was a child of two worlds—neither Light nor Darkness, but something in between. His blood carried the magic of both elements, his soul wavered between fates. But neither world accepted him.

  Since childhood, he had seen the way people averted their eyes, how they whispered, how they feared him. He belonged to neither Light nor Darkness, which meant he was a stranger to all. An outcast.

  But he had a family. A mother, warm as sunlight, and a father, strong as the night wind. They told him that one day, he would find his path. They told him he was not alone.

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  And then the Shadow Sentinels came.

  They arrived at night, like silent wraiths, without warning. No one could stand against them. His mother’s fire spells dissolved into the darkness, his father’s sword could not pierce the void. They fought to the last breath… and fell.

  He ran.

  He remembered the screams, remembered looking back and seeing the light fade from his parents’ eyes. He remembered being caught, held down. He remembered the darkness swallowing him whole.

  But death never came.

  They did not kill him, did not burn him, did not tear him apart like the others. They took him. They erased his memories, drained his emotions, stole his voice. Left him hollow.

  — You are something different now, — said the Third Lord, his cold voice like the whisper of a storm on the horizon. — You will be mine.

  And so he became.

  They took everything from him—his past, his feelings, his dreams. All that remained was an empty shell, convenient, obedient. He no longer asked questions. He no longer resisted. He simply followed orders.

  But deep within his soul, in the darkest corner where even the shadows could not reach, something still remained.

  And when he handed Leonel the note, he himself did not know why he had done it.