Kael Ashvane had always loved building things that should not exist.
That had been one of the many reasons the elders of the Runeward Chapter found him exhausting.
While other initiates meditated beside waterfalls or copied scripture until their wrists cramped, Kael had spent his youth taking apart ward engines, rebuilding broken constructs, and occasionally creating monsters that tried to bite their owners.
He loved Wardplate Mastery.
He loved the Artificer's Art.
And he loved smithcraft most of all.
Which was why the sight before him nearly made him scream loud enough to get himself killed.
The furnace.
Gods.
The furnace.
Hidden behind a shattered ward-barrier deep beneath the Dread Mire stood the legendary artifact every smith in the Mortal Realm whispered about in drunken awe.
The Five-Light Furnace.
Kael nearly bit through his own tongue to stop himself from gasping.
Even crouched inside stolen skeletal armor, hidden among ranks of undead soldiers, he trembled with excitement.
Stories of the furnace stretched back nearly a thousand years.
It had supposedly been forged in the distant wilds of the Primordian Reach by a wandering master-smith who traveled the world harvesting fragments of five primal lights.
Sunfire.
Moon gleam.
Storm radiance.
Deep-earth glow.
Void flame.
Those five lights had been bound together into one impossible furnace.
Legend claimed countless divine weapons had been born inside it.
The most famous was a sacred relic wielded by an ancient order long since fallen to dust.
Then three centuries ago—
the creator vanished.
The furnace vanished with him.
And generations of smiths had hunted rumors ever since.
Yet here it stood.
Not in a royal vault.
Not in an ancient ruin.
Not in the heavens.
It sat inside a nightmare factory beneath a swamp filled with corpses.
Kael swallowed hard.
"Well," he thought, staring with wide eyes, "that feels about right for my life."
Five massive beams of light erupted from the furnace.
Gold.
Crimson.
Emerald.
Azure.
Violet.
They struck the edges of the ward-barrier—
then bent.
Kael's jaw slowly dropped.
The beams twisted like living serpents.
They slithered through the air.
Sometimes they looked like rivers of flame.
Sometimes lightning.
Sometimes ribbons of liquid glass.
They danced around the chamber and painted everything in impossible colors.
At the center of it all stood Aldric Crucible.
The old smith's hands blurred through one sigil after another.
His face looked corpse-thin.
His white hair clung to his skull with sweat.
The five streams of light obeyed him.
They wrapped together.
Separated.
Collided.
Spun.
Then something black slowly rose from the furnace.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
The floating object was carried upward by the swirling lights.
Again and again the five beams struck it.
Refining.
Tempering.
Purifying.
The object radiated rings of blinding light.
Gold.
Red.
Green.
Blue.
Silver.
The colors changed endlessly.
Kael leaned forward.
"What the hell is that?"
He squinted harder.
Then finally saw it clearly.
A mask.
Just a mask.
A human face mask.
Kael blinked.
"That's it?"
He stared harder.
"That thing is supposed to be some terrifying ancient relic?"
It looked unimpressive at first glance.
Aldric stopped changing hand seals.
The mask froze in midair.
The old smith trembled violently.
Steam rose from his head.
His Aether reserves were nearly empty.
Outside the ward-barrier, the woman in black raised one pale hand.
Several skeletal sorcerers stepped forward.
Six entered the formation.
They stood behind Aldric and began channeling their Aether into him.
The mask shook.
Harder.
And harder.
The rings of light grew brighter.
A strange humming filled the chamber.
Low.
Violent.
Wrong.
Aldric's body swayed.
His face quivered like paper in wind.
Sweat poured down him.
The six skeletal mages strained with everything they had.
Then—
the mask flashed white.
A burst of light exploded outward.
Kael instinctively slammed his eyes shut.
BOOM.
The blast sounded like the sky splitting open.
A hurricane of heat smashed into him.
He staggered backward.
When he opened his eyes—
everything had changed.
The furnace was gone.
Gone.
Where it had stood now floated countless burning chunks of metal.
The ward-barrier had shattered.
The entire chamber looked like hell itself had erupted upward.
Kael's blood ran cold.
"The furnace exploded…"
Six skeletal mages ran screaming from the flames.
Their robes burned.
Their bones glowed red-hot.
They threw themselves across the floor shrieking in agony.
Even undead things could scream.
That sound would haunt Kael forever.
Nearby skeleton soldiers instinctively retreated.
They feared nothing.
But they recoiled from those strange divine flames.
The twin-headed tiger commander roared at them to hold formation.
Then the woman in black moved.
She launched herself into the inferno.
Kael nearly shouted.
"Is she insane?!"
The Five-Light Furnace's flames could melt enchanted steel in seconds.
No living flesh should survive.
Yet moments later—
she emerged.
Carrying Aldric in one hand.
Kael forgot how to breathe.
Her black veil was gone.
Her robes had burned to ash.
And beneath them—
nothing.
She was completely naked.
Smooth white skin gleamed in the furnace light.
Perfect breasts rose proudly with each breath.
Her waist was narrow enough to span with both hands.
Her hips flared into sinful curves.
Long legs.
Soft stomach.
Dark curls between pale thighs.
Kael stared like a starving man at a feast.
"Oh, this place really does have everything."
Then he mentally slapped himself.
"Focus, idiot."
He tried very hard not to stare.
He failed.
Spectacularly.
Then she ripped a black robe off one of the skeletal mages and wrapped herself.
Kael nearly sighed in disappointment.
Then his gaze rose to her face.
And he forgot the rest of the world.
She was devastatingly beautiful.
Sharp brows.
Predatory eyes.
Soft crimson lips painted with shimmering violet gloss.
Her beauty felt poisonous.
Like a flower growing from a grave.
Kael swallowed.
"She's horrifying."
Beat.
"She's also the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
The woman steadied Aldric.
"Did you fail?"
Aldric shook his head weakly.
Then he raised one trembling hand.
The mask sat in his palm.
"Please... inspect it yourself…"
Her expression transformed instantly.
Greed.
Joy.
Hunger.
She seized the mask.
Turned it over repeatedly.
Then slowly placed it over her face.
Kael leaned forward.
Now he could see it clearly.
The mask was dark gray.
It covered only the upper half of the face.
Its eyeholes were narrow and cruel.
Seven curved horns rose from its crown.
Tiny cracks spread across its surface as if it had once shattered and been reassembled.
Blue lightning crawled over it like living veins.
Then the woman froze.
Her entire body convulsed.
Her fists clenched.
Her muscles twisted.
She looked like someone being electrocuted.
Her exposed mouth twisted in agony.
Kael blinked.
"That expression seems familiar…"
Then realization hit.
"Oh."
He grinned.
"She got backlash."
He'd seen enough failed creations to recognize it.
The woman shook harder.
Suddenly she thrust her hand outward.
A skeletal sorcerer standing several yards away screamed as invisible force yanked him through the air.
He flew directly toward her.
She shrieked.
Something invisible exploded outward.
The skeleton mage detonated midair.
Its robes shredded.
Its bones blasted apart in every direction.
The remaining sorcerers panicked.
Too late.
The woman vanished.
She reappeared beside them like a nightmare.
One.
Two.
Three flashes.
Three explosions.
Bone fragments rained across the chamber.
Even the undead soldiers looked stunned.
The tiger commander stammered.
"My lady... you…"
Each skeletal mage had been incredibly valuable.
Gone in seconds.
The woman stood trembling.
Then she laughed.
Loud.
Wild.
Mad.
"We did it!"
Her laughter echoed through the chamber.
"We repaired it! The Sevenfold Shroud lives again!"
She spread her arms like a prophet receiving revelation.
"The relic that made gods and demons tremble has returned!"
Kael's grin vanished.
The Sevenfold Shroud.
His stomach tightened.
He had heard stories.
Ancient stories.
Stories about a demonic sovereign who slaughtered armies.
Stories about a cursed relic tied to unspeakable massacres.
And now that thing was here.
Wonderful.
Just wonderful.
Aldric collapsed to his knees.
His forehead hit the floor.
"My lady…"
He could barely breathe.
"The artifact is restored…"
He coughed blood.
"Please honor your promise."
His voice broke.
"Spare my family."
The woman's body continued twitching unnaturally.
Then she laughed again.
Cruel this time.
"Spare them?"
She tilted her head.
"We never had them."
Aldric slowly looked up.
His face turned white.
The woman smiled.
"The people sent to your estate that night were led by the Sanguine Lord."
Her smile widened.
"He loves blood."
Her eyes gleamed.
"And unfortunately…"
"He misunderstood his orders."
She leaned closer.
"No one in your household survived."
Silence.
Then—
"No…"
Aldric grabbed fistfuls of his thin white hair.
"NO!"
His scream tore through the chamber.
Raw.
Animal.
Broken.
The woman smiled wider.
"If you miss them that badly…"
Her voice dripped ice.
"Then die and join them."
Aldric trembled.
His eyes became empty.
Then full of hate.
"You lied…"
His voice was barely human.
"You will regret this…"
He repeated it like a curse.
"You will regret this."
The woman drifted past him.
She looked toward the tiger commander.
"I just had a wonderful idea."
Her smile sharpened.
"This old man would make an excellent blood-forged skeleton artisan."
The tiger commander laughed.
"Brilliant, my lady."
He pounded his chest.
"The blood refining pits need craftsmen."
"We'll throw him in immediately."
Kael's fists tightened.
Rage boiled inside him.
Aldric had spent nineteen years in hell trying to save his family.
And they were dead from the beginning.
Used.
Broken.
Discarded.
Aldric suddenly went still.
Completely still.
His lips moved silently.
The woman froze.
Her eyes widened.
"No—"
The mask ripped itself off her face.
It shot through the air.
Straight toward Aldric.
She lunged.
Too slow.
The Sevenfold Shroud slammed onto Aldric's face.
The old smith vanished.
The woman's claw struck only afterimages.
Aldric reappeared several yards away.
He looked physically the same—
but something had changed.
Something dark.
Something ancient.
The air around him felt wrong.
The woman screamed.
"You placed a hidden binding curse on it!"
Aldric's voice came from behind the mask.
Cold.
Inhuman.
"You will regret this."
Then he ran.
Fast.
Far too fast for an old man.
"STOP HIM!" the woman shrieked.
The tiger commander roared.
"SEAL THE DOORS!"
He charged with a massive twin-pronged spear.
Aldric leapt.
He moved like a hunting crane.
The spear missed.
He twisted midair in a way no normal human body should manage and flew over ranks of skeleton soldiers.
Two twin-headed skeletal swordsmen jumped upward.
Their blades crashed into him.
Aldric ignored the wounds.
Steel tore into flesh.
Blood sprayed.
He punched both undead warriors.
Their skulls shattered.
They flew backward.
He was almost at the door.
Then the enormous twin-headed tiger warrior blocked the exit.
Its massive body filled the doorway.
Aldric knew hesitation meant death.
He charged anyway.
The tiger roared.
"Die!"
Its giant blade crashed downward.
Aldric took the strike on his back.
His spine nearly folded.
At the same time—
his fist smashed into one tiger skull.
CRACK.
The head snapped sideways.
The beast barely moved.
Aldric struck again.
His second punch shattered the creature's chest armor.
The tiger staggered backward two steps—
but still blocked the doorway.
Kael made his decision.
He surged forward, secretly channeling fire Vitae.
Pretending to intercept Aldric—
he instead slammed into a line of skeleton soldiers.
Bodies crashed everywhere.
Halberds tangled.
Several pursuing undead fell in a heap.
The doorway became chaos.
Behind them—
the woman flew overhead.
Black streams of corruption wrapped her claws.
"The Soul-Eating Claw!"
Aldric's heart nearly stopped.
Then—
one "accidental" skeleton soldier slammed into the tiger warrior's stomach.
The giant beast stumbled sideways.
A tiny opening appeared.
Kael.
Aldric understood instantly.
The woman's claw tore into Aldric's back.
Agony exploded through him.
He roared—
then drove his elbow backward.
CRACK.
It smashed into her ribs.
She coughed blood and fell back.
Aldric dove through the opening.
He hit the ground rolling.
Then ran.
Kael slipped through the chaos right behind him.
The tiger commander turned—
and saw him.
Its eyes blazed.
"SPY!"
It pointed a giant claw.
"THAT ONE'S THE SPY!"
Kael cursed loudly.
Then ran for his life.
Behind him—
the twin-headed tiger thundered after him with terrifying speed.
"This isn't working…"
Kael's lungs burned as he tore through the tunnels of the Bone Warren.
Behind him came the thunder of claws, steel, and screaming undead.
The twin-headed tiger commander was still gaining.
That monster moved like a war engine wrapped in muscle and grave-dust. Its two skull-faced tiger heads snapped and roared as it charged, its twin-pronged spear smashing sparks from the stone whenever it clipped a wall.
Behind it came a flood of skeletal soldiers.
And somewhere farther back—
the Emissary.
Kael could feel her.
That cold, crawling pressure on the back of his neck felt like spiders moving beneath his skin.
He ran harder.
Think.
The tunnel ahead narrowed.
Perfect.
Kael secretly began gathering fire Vitae while sprinting. Heat pooled inside his Crucible, surged through his channels, and climbed into his Sanctum until his skull throbbed.
Then he spun.
"Eat this, you flea-bitten corpse!"
He thrust both hands forward.
"The Thousand Fire-Bird Curse!"
Hundreds of flaming birds exploded into existence.
A crimson storm filled the tunnel.
Shrieking firehawks slammed toward the tiger commander in a tidal wave of blazing feathers.
The twin-headed beast recoiled instantly.
Undead feared fire by instinct.
Both tiger heads roared in alarm as it skidded backward.
But the tunnel was too narrow.
The skeleton soldiers charging behind it couldn't stop.
They slammed into its back.
Then more crashed into them.
A heap of bones, steel, and curses piled into a screaming knot of undead bodies.
Farther back, a towering skeletal general was blocked by the jam.
"MOVE!" it roared.
"MOVE, YOU USELESS FILTH!"
It hacked apart its own soldiers in rage.
The tiger commander swung wildly to defend itself—
and finally realized something was wrong.
Several fire-birds slipped past its spear defense and struck its body.
They burst harmlessly.
Barely stronger than sparks.
The attack looked terrifying.
But it hit like a drunk child throwing candles.
The tiger commander froze.
Then both heads twisted into identical expressions of murderous rage.
"YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"
Kael was already gone.
He sprinted through twisting tunnels until his vision blurred.
Left.
Right.
Down a sloped passage.
Through a broken archway.
At last—
silence.
He stumbled into a shadowed corridor and braced himself against a wall, gasping for breath.
His stolen skeletal armor felt like wearing an iron coffin.
Sweat soaked his back.
"This disguise sucks."
He ripped off the skeletal helmet first.
Then tore away the chest plate.
Fresh air hit his skin.
He nearly moaned in relief—
until distant shouting echoed from every direction.
Footsteps.
Orders.
The entire Warren was hunting him now.
"Wonderful," Kael muttered. "I've gone from insignificant disciple to wanted criminal in under an hour. A personal record."
"Come here."
The whisper made him nearly jump out of his skin.
Kael spun.
His hand shot toward the Eight-Claw Flamescourge.
Behind a massive skeletal statue—
someone was waving at him.
Kael crept closer, whip ready.
Then his eyes widened.
"Aldric?"
The old smith leaned against the stone giant, barely standing.
Blood leaked from beneath his ruined robes.
Black veins crawled across his exposed skin.
He looked half-dead already.
Kael exhaled sharply.
"You scared the hell out of me, old man."
Aldric stared at him through the Sevenfold Shroud.
"Who are you?"
"Kael Ashvane."
Blood dripped from Aldric's mouth.
Kael caught him before he collapsed.
"Easy."
"What happened to you?"
Aldric ignored the question.
"Why are you here?"
Kael gave a tired laugh.
"That's... a long story."
He looked around nervously.
"Maybe we should survive first and exchange life stories later."
He lowered his voice.
"You know these tunnels?"
Aldric let out a hollow laugh.
"Know them?"
He coughed blood.
"I've rotted in this grave for nineteen years."
His voice cracked.
"If escape were possible... do you think I would have stayed here?"
Kael had no answer.
Fair point.
Still—
he refused to surrender to despair.
"There's always a way."
Aldric stared at him.
Long.
Quiet.
Studying him.
Then footsteps exploded from both ends of the corridor.
Kael's eyes widened.
"Damn it."
He dragged Aldric behind the giant skeleton statue.
The smell there was unbearable.
Old blood.
Rot.
Burned marrow.
Kael crouched low and held his breath.
Moments later—
the Emissary arrived.
Her black robes whipped behind her like living shadows.
The tiger commander marched beside her.
The long-boned skeletal general followed.
Then another commander arrived from the opposite tunnel.
This one wore silver chain armor.
Massive bone wings spread from its back.
Its soldiers had wings too.
Kael's heart pounded.
How many monsters are in this cursed hole?
The Emissary shouted—
"Skybreaker General! Report!"
The winged skeletal commander dropped to one knee.
"My lady, I searched from the Blood Refining Pits and sealed three tunnels."
"No sign of the intruders."
Her face twisted with fury.
"Then search again."
Her voice became ice.
"That artifact was personally designated by our lord."
"If it is lost…"
She leaned closer.
"I will make sure all of you beg for true death."
Every undead commander knelt.
"Yes, my lady!"
Then her voice rose again.
"I don't care whether those two live or die."
"I want the mask."
"I want the Sevenfold Shroud."
Kael froze.
Mask?
That thing on Aldric's face?
The commanders scattered.
Once they were gone—
Kael finally whispered.
"What exactly is that mask?"
Aldric laughed weakly.
"That…"
He touched the black mask.
"…is the Sevenfold Shroud."
"An ancient treasure forged by a Demon Sovereign."
"It feeds on the seven darkest urges in creation."
"With enough time…"
His breathing worsened.
"It can make its wearer endlessly stronger."
Kael frowned.
"The seven urges?"
Aldric's voice grew weaker.
"Wrath."
"Hatred."
"Jealousy."
"Lust."
"Greed."
"Cruelty."
"Pride."
Kael stared at the mask.
"That sounds incredibly cursed."
Then he looked at Aldric's worsening condition.
The old man's skin was turning black.
"What happened to you?"
"I can heal wounds. Not perfectly—but enough to help."
Aldric smiled bitterly.
"No."
"The Emissary struck me with the Soul-Eating Claw."
He trembled violently.
"My soul is rotting."
"Even a god couldn't save me now."
Kael's stomach tightened.
That attack had done this?
That fast?
He reached for him anyway.
"Let me try."
"I practice the Five-Force Path. There are healing methods—"
Aldric's eyes sharpened.
"The Ascendant Covenant…"
He went silent.
Thinking.
Deciding.
Then suddenly—
"Kael."
"I can help you escape."
Kael blinked.
"You can barely stand."
"There's a price."
Of course there was.
Kael sighed.
"What price?"
Aldric grabbed him with surprising strength.
"Swear to me."
His voice became ragged.
"Swear you will slaughter every demon, monster, and unnatural creature you encounter."
Kael stared at him.
"…what?"
"Swear it!"
Kael frowned.
"That's insane."
"Not every non-human creature is evil."
He thought of his sworn siblings.
The strange allies he had made.
People others would call monsters.
People who had saved his life.
"My brothers and sisters include creatures most humans would call monsters."
"I'm not murdering them because of what they are."
Aldric's eyes burned.
"I don't care!"
"I can make you stronger than you can imagine!"
"I can save your life!"
"Swear it!"
Kael shook his head.
"No."
The old man trembled with rage.
"Without me—you die here!"
Kael forced a grin.
"I've escaped worse."
Not true.
But confidence was free.
"I'll get out."
"I'll bring my Master and my elder sorors."
"And they'll burn this entire place to the ground."
Aldric stared at him.
Then—
he calmed.
Too suddenly.
A strange look entered his eyes.
Calculation.
Then regret.
"Very well."
His voice became soft.
"I won't force you."
His hands formed a sigil.
Kael panicked.
"Stop!"
"You're dying!"
"Don't use Vitae!"
Aldric ignored him.
He completed the sigil.
The Sevenfold Shroud flashed once.
Then dimmed.
Aldric sagged.
"Come closer."
Kael leaned in.
Aldric whispered several strange phrases into his ear.
Ancient words.
Sharp.
Twisted.
They felt wrong.
Like hearing chains scrape across a coffin lid.
"What is that?"
Kael scratched his head.
"Sounds like an activation chant."
Aldric gave a strange smile.
"Remember it."
He made Kael repeat it.
Again.
And again.
Until he memorized every word.
Then Aldric whispered to himself—
"Thank the gods…"
"You were sent here…"
"Only you…"
"Forgive me…"
Kael frowned.
"What?"
Aldric looked at him with unbearable sadness.
"Repeat the words one last time."
Kael did.
The moment the final word left his mouth—
the Sevenfold Shroud ripped itself off Aldric's face.
And flew onto Kael's.
He screamed.
Agony detonated inside his skull.
His body convulsed.
He collapsed against the stone.
"What—?!"
Aldric smiled.
A terrible, broken smile.
"Destroy them all…"
"Kill every last evil thing…"
Then black corruption erupted across his body.
Without the mask suppressing it—
the Soul-Eating Claw finished its work.
His flesh shrank.
Wrinkled.
Collapsed inward.
His face twisted into something inhuman.
Then—
he died.
Kael ripped at the mask.
It wouldn't come off.
"What did you do to me?!"
He grabbed Aldric's corpse.
No answer.
Only dead flesh.
Kael tried pouring fire Vitae into him.
The moment his energy entered the corpse—
something cold attacked him.
Dark.
Hungry.
It tried devouring his Vitae.
Kael recoiled in horror and broke contact.
Aldric's body rapidly shriveled.
Shrank.
Dried.
Until it looked like an ancient corpse.
Kael staggered backward.
His breathing became erratic.
The mask pulsed against his face.
Then came the sensations.
Wrath.
Pleasure.
Pain.
Excitement.
Hatred.
Hunger.
Everything at once.
His blood felt molten.
His heartbeat became thunder.
Something inside him wanted release.
Violence.
Destruction.
Blood.
The stench of blood in the tunnel suddenly smelled—
sweet.
Kael froze.
"What the hell…"
Footsteps approached.
A squad of skeletal halberdiers rushed down the corridor.
They saw the light leaking from Kael's body.
Turned.
Charged.
Kael looked up slowly.
Something snapped behind his eyes.
Destroy them.
The thought slammed into him like a hammer.
Destroy all evil.
Fire Vitae exploded from his body.
The tunnel became daylight.
The skeleton soldiers shrieked and rushed him.
Kael stomped once.
He launched into the air.
The Eight-Claw Flamescourge exploded from his sleeve.
He swung.
A dragon made of fire erupted into existence.
It roared through the darkness.
The halberdiers thrust upward—
too late.
The fire dragon swallowed seven of them whole.
They burned mid-scream.
Steel melted.
Bones cracked.
Ash rained across the corridor.
Kael stared in shock.
His power—
had doubled.
Maybe more.
The Flamescourge screamed with wild heat.
He laughed.
Then swung again.
Another wave of skeletons exploded into flaming ruin.
But the survivors kept charging.
Mindless.
Relentless.
Kael met them head-on.
He whipped left.
Bodies shattered.
He whipped right.
Skulls burst.
He whipped downward.
Bone powder exploded across the floor.
Every kill fed something inside him.
A strange electric thrill raced through his veins.
Straight into his heart.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Each death felt better than the last.
Hotter.
Sharper.
More addictive.
Kael's breathing turned ragged.
His eyes burned red beneath the mask.
He kept swinging.
Kept burning.
Kept killing.
And somewhere deep inside—
a terrified part of him realized he no longer wanted to stop.