Before he was the Shadowblade, Kael had a name.
He hadn't spoken it in years.
Not since the fire died. Not since the king fell. Not since the shadows claimed him.
But once, he had stood in the sunlight.
Seven Years Ago
The court of King Ravien the Bright was a place of music, marble, and lies.
Kael had been his most trusted knight. Not by blood—but by bond. Orphaned and raised in the palace guard, Kael had grown from servant to swordmaster to brother-in-arms.
He wore gold. He laughed. He believed in things like justice.
And Ravien had trusted him.
Right until the day the king burned his own people.
It began with the flame cults—scattered villages where fire-worship still lingered. Ravien had deemed them heretics. Dangerous. He ordered them cleansed.
Kael had ridden out with his men.
He expected rebels.
He found children.
Families. Priests. Healers.
Kael disobeyed the order. Stopped the massacre.
And for that, he was branded a traitor.
The Betrayal
He returned to the palace, blood on his cloak, and demanded the king's answer.
He was thrown into chains instead.
"You were my sword," Ravien had said. "But even the sun casts shadows. And now you've become one."
Kael was sentenced to death.
But he didn't die.
Because in the dungeon below the palace, he found something else.
Or rather, it found him.
The Shadowforge
No records mention the forge beneath the throne.
It was a relic from before Ravien's line. Before light. Before fire.
There, in the dark, Kael heard it for the first time:
"I can unmake your chains."
A voice like smoke. Like silk wrapped around a blade.
He thought it madness.
Until the shadows moved.
They slid across the stones, curled around his wrists, seeped into his skin.
They showed him the truth.
The throne was never Ravien's.
It was a cage. A lock. A lie.
And Kael… Kael could be the key.
The Night the Sun Died
He returned to the palace wrapped in night.
The guards did not see him.
The gates did not hold.
Ravien sat on his golden throne, smiling—right until Kael stepped from the shadows behind him.
"I gave you everything," the king said.
"You gave me silence," Kael whispered. "Now I give it back."
The blade found his heart.
The crown fell.
And Kael walked away, alone.
Back to the Present
Kael stared into the campfire. The forest still buzzed with quiet tension, but Aryelle was asleep now, curled beside Halric. Her breathing steady.
She didn't know what he had done.
Not fully.
And if she ever did…
Would she still look at him the same way?
Would she still reach for his hand in the dark?
The shadows whispered softly.
They still remembered the blood.
Kael closed his eyes.
And for the first time in years, he spoke his name aloud.
Not the one the world feared.
The one he was born with.
Just once.
Just for himself.