(Kael Varos — Age 13 — The Storm After the First Strike)
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I. The Courtyard Trembles
Silence.
Not peaceful silence. Terrified silence.
The kind that follows lightning striking far too close.
Kael stood at the center of the courtyard, wrapped in a half-formed mantle of stormlight. White-blue electricity arced off his arms in snapping bursts. His hair floated weightlessly, caught in the invisible updraft of his own Source.
His eyes burned molten gold.
"Give me the antidote," he said quietly.
The air vibrated.
"…or die."
He didn't shout. He didn't need to.
His King Presence crushed the courtyard like an invisible mountain.
Six assassins lay smashed flat against the stone, faces pinned to the ground, unable to breathe more than shallow gasps.
The leader trembled, mask fracturing.
Even Valdyros—ancient storm Sovereign—watched from above with widened white eyes.
« Child… rein it in. Your aura strains the stone itself. »
Kael didn't respond.
Lightning hummed around his feet like miniature thunderclaps.
And the assassins broke.
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II. The Assassins Break
The leader fumbled inside his robe, hand shaking violently under the weight of Kael's aura, and produced a small glass vial of swirling blue liquid.
With a shaking arm, he tossed it at Kael's feet.
It skidded across the stone.
The assassin managed a rasp before passing out due to the pressure:
"Take it…and know…this was only the first test."
Kael crouched, storm-light flickering off his hands as he picked up the vial. Kael released kings presence.
The others stood up in relief, from the pressure but looked at Kael in awe.
Then he turned to Lyria.
She lay in Nira's arms, breathing shallow, poison-black veins crawling up her shoulder toward her throat. Sweat beaded on her skin; her eyelids fluttered weakly.
"K…Kael…?"
His storm aura softened just enough to kneel beside her.
"I'm here," he whispered.
Nira's hands glowed emerald, but tears rimmed her eyes.
"It won't heal," she whispered. "The poison strips the Source wherever it touches. I can only slow it—she needs the antidote now."
Kael didn't hesitate.
He pushed a spark of Soul Source into the vial—just enough to activate, not empower it—then lifted Lyria gently and guided the antidote to her lips.
Her breathing steadied. Her color slowly returned.The dark veins stopped spreading.
Nira exhaled a trembling breath. "She'll live. But she needs the Healers' Hall immediately."
Kael lifted Lyria into his arms.
The electricity still crackled across his back.
Students watching from the balconies whispered in awe and dread.
"That's Kael… "
"He shattered assassins with pressure—"
"He's… dangerous."
"Are we safe?"
Serin stood frozen, pale but unable to look away.
Ryven swallowed hard. "Holy—Kael…"
Kael didn't hear any of it.
His focus was entirely on Lyria.
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III. The Instructors Arrive
The courtyard exploded again—this time from Source Knights bursting onto the scene, weapons drawn, armor glowing.
Master Eiran was at the front.
He stopped dead.
Assassins unconscious on the ground. Poison scorched into the tiles. Valdyros crackling with residual lightning. Kael glowing like the offspring of thunder.
Lyria limp in his arms.
Eiran moved toward Kael carefully, like approaching a wild elemental.
"Kael," he said. "What has happened, we felt that pressure and rushed here."
The storm inside Kael eased. His aura dimmed.The electricity faded to sparks.
Kael's knees shook.
He looked down at Lyria in his arms, and looked at his friends who were a little bumped and bruised up.
"I… couldn't protect her, I couldn't protect them."
He began to reminisce of the soldiers he commanded from his previous life.
"I know," Eiran said quietly placing a hand on his shoulder. "That is why you must learn to."
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IV. Emergency Action
Eiran turned sharply.
"Escort Lyria Saren and Nira Elen to the Healers' Hall. Now."
Two senior instructors moved instantly. Ryven and Korran steadied Nira as Kael carried Lyria up the courtyard steps.
Another knight barked commands:
"Secure the assassins. Full restraints. Prepare interrogation circles!"
The assassins were hauled upright, still unconscious.
Their leader awoke in restrains and hissed through his cracked mask:
"The boy is marked.Our master sees him. Others… will come."
Eiran's grip tightened on his blade knowing that something darker was in stored for his apprentice and the kingdom.
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V. The Message to the King
High-ranking academy officials rushed in, breathless, robes fluttering.
One spoke urgently to Eiran:
"Master—this can't be concealed. An assassination attempt inside academy walls? At night? A student manifesting partial King Presence?"
Another added:
"And a sacred beast releasing combat aura in defense of a student."
They exchanged grim looks.
Eiran knew the backlash of trying to conceal the events.
The conclusion was inevitable. Eiran nodded.
"We must inform His Majesty at once."
A messenger sprinted toward the academy main hall where they handle all communication with the capital.
The king would know before dawn:
Someone had just attacked the Academy for a single boy.
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VI. The Interrogation Fails
Within minutes, the assassins were placed inside a reinforced Source circle.
Inquisitors demanded answers.
"Who sent you?""What is your master?""Why target Kael Varos?""How did you infiltrate academy wards?"
The assassins answered with one phrase:
"You will see."
Then—
Their bodies ignited from within.
Not flame. Not lightning.
Source collapse.
A perfected death curse.
They turned to ash in seconds, collapsing silently into charred dust.
The interrogators shouted in alarm.
Eiran's expression darkened.
"They were willing to die rather than be questioned. This is no simple faction."
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VII. Eiran's Warning
Hours later, Eiran led Kael to a quiet training hall overlooking the moonlit campus.
Kael sat on the wooden floor, trembling slightly—not from fear, but from the storm resonance still coiled under his skin.
Eiran sat across from him.
"You protected your friends tonight," he said. "But you also saw the cost."
Kael's voice was low. "Lyria almost died because I wasn't focused."
"She was attacked because assassins came for you," Eiran corrected. "Your power saved her. But power without control… is destruction."
Kael looked away."I felt something break inside me. When she fell… I stopped thinking."
Eiran nodded.
"To think that a thirteen year old boy can use King Presence. Or the beginnings of it at least."
Kael froze.
Eiran sighed.
"Your life is about to get more complicated my child".
Eiran continued quietly:
"Only true rulers, or sacred beasts can manifest that pressure."
"Many eyes will be on you from now on but understand Kael, that surge was instinct, not mastery."
He leaned forward, voice firm:
"You cannot unleash that again without understanding it. Do you understand?"
Kael swallowed. "Yes, Master."
He meant it.
But the storm inside him still churned restlessly.
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VIII. Valdyros Reveals Fate
Valdyros landed on a beam above them, wings tucked neatly, silver eyes glowing like twin moons.
« The boy's path sharpens.The storm answers because he is chosen. The Prime Architect marks him openly now. »
Eiran stiffened. "Chosen… for what?"
Valdyros's tail flicked.« The false king senses a threat he cannot name.The shadows recognize an emerging force.And this boy—your student—will stand at the center of what is to come. »
Kael remembered the dream. The Architect's warning. His friends seen in that vision—Serin, Lyria, Nira, Ryven, Korran.
"I won't walk this path alone," he whispered.
Valdyros dipped his head.
« Good. If you try… you will not survive. »
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IX. Final Scene — Malek Watches
High atop a towering spire of the academy, a owl cloaked in shadow, watched the lamps of the Healers' Hall flicker through an open window.
Under the city wall somewhere secluded, Malek Voren sat on his throne.
Three masked people appeared before him and knelt.
"Was the test successful?" one of the masked people asked.
"Oh… far beyond expectations."
Malek's lips curved into a slow, satisfied smile under his mask.
He watched Kael through the window, still carrying residual sparks of lightning through the eyes of his owl familiar.
"A child who forces assassins to kneel…A boy who ignites King Presence through instinct alone…"
He chuckled—a deep, dangerous sound.
"Let the kingdom tremble.Let the old powers panic. Let the false god-king choke on fear."
Thunder rumbled overhead.
Malek's cloak swayed as he stood.
"When the time comes…" he murmured,
"…Kael Varos will either stand beside me—"
(The scene flashes back to Kael sitting on his bed)
Lightning flashed across the sky—
"—or the world will burn with him."