The day itself felt wrong.
The twilight sky of Aethalium twisted unnaturally, its ribbons of emerald and sapphire light bending as though recoiling from an unseen hand. The air was heavy, charged with static that made the hair on Zoran's arms stand up.
Even the beasts were silent.
Zoran stood at the edge of the ruins, his new Celestial Instinct prickling at the base of his skull. It wasn't a sound or a sight; it was a pressure.
"We are being watched," Zoran whispered, his hand drifting to the hilt of his new sword.
Vorn's granite face tightened. He drew his greatsword, the King's Stone on his gauntlet pulsing with a warning rhythm. "Bad omens are warnings, Prince. Steel yourself."
The warning became reality. From the fractured streets, shadows detached themselves from the walls. Cloaked figures emerged—dozens, then hundreds. They moved with military precision, their footsteps silent on the crystal pavement.
This was not a pack of beasts. It was an army.
At their head strode a man clad in armor of black crystal, pulsing with a raw, ugly energy that fouled the air. This was Kaelus, the Executive of the Hidden Society.
"Behold the will of Malakor," Kaelus sneered, his voice sharp as a blade. "The Goddess abandoned you. But our god has not. He will rise, and through him, Terra will be remade."
Kaelus gestured, and the disciples surged forward.
"Protect the Queen!" Vorn bellowed, stepping in front of Eliana.
Zoran didn't wait. He let his King's Aura expand. A wave of golden pressure slammed into the first rank of disciples, forcing them to their knees. They gasped, crushed by the sheer weight of his will.
"Get back!" Zoran shouted, weaving through the stunned attackers.
He fought with a new fluidity. His Instinct told him where the strikes were coming from before they were thrown. He dodged a black energy bolt, pivoted, and struck a disciple with the flat of his blade, sending the man flying.
But there were too many. And they weren't trying to kill him. They were distracting him.
Zoran's head snapped up. Kaelus wasn't fighting. He was walking calmly through the chaos, ignoring Vorn, ignoring the battle. He was looking directly at Queen Eliana.
"The stone," Kaelus hissed, his eyes locked on the dark iron pendant beneath her gown. "The key to ascension."
"Mother!" Zoran screamed.
He tried to turn, but three disciples grabbed his arms, their hands burning with corrosive void energy. Zoran's eyes flashed red—the Rage aspect scratching at the door of his mind—and he blasted them back with a shockwave of heat.
It was too late. Kaelus was there.
Vorn swung his massive sword, but Kaelus dissolved into smoke, reappearing instantly behind the Queen.
"No!" Zoran screamed.
Kaelus reached for Eliana. But the Queen did not cower. She was the wife of Avelon Kai, and she was done running.
"You will not touch him," Eliana whispered.
She grabbed the Edict of Solmir with both hands. She didn't know magic, but she knew sacrifice. She poured her remaining life force—the energy keeping her alive in this hostile realm—into the iron pendant.
BOOM.
A blast of pure, kinetic force erupted from the Queen. It wasn't divine light; it was the raw rejection of a mother defending her cub.
Kaelus was blasted backward, his black armor cracking. He hissed in pain, looking at his hand—the skin was seared.
"You wretch," Kaelus snarled.
The effort cost her everything. Eliana collapsed, her skin turning a deadly shade of grey. She had nothing left.
Kaelus didn't hesitate this time. He lunged, faster than thought, snatching the unconscious Queen and the pendant in one motion.
"The Queen is ours!" Kaelus's voice echoed across the ruins. "Pursue us, Prince Zoran, and watch her fade into dust."
The shadows swirled. Kaelus and his army melted into the darkness, taking the only family Zoran had left. They left behind only the foul scent of Void Essence and a devastating silence.
Zoran stood frozen. He stared at the empty spot where his mother had been. He saw a single black feather on the ground.
SNAP.
Something broke inside Zoran's chest.
It wasn't grief. It was the Rage he had battled in the Goddess's trial. The red door he had closed in his mind was kicked wide open.
"I will kill them..." Zoran whispered.
The air around him began to boil. His golden aura turned a violent, unstable crimson. The grass beneath his boots withered and burned.
"Zoran," Vorn warned, stepping toward him. "Prince, listen to me—"
"I WILL KILL THEM ALL!" Zoran screamed, a sound that tore his throat. He didn't look like a Prince anymore. He looked like a disaster. Red lightning arced from his skin, shattering the nearby crystal pillars.
He turned blindly toward the wilderness, ready to charge into the dark, ready to burn the entire world to ash to find her.
"Let me go!" Zoran howled, his eyes glowing with possessed fury.
Vorn moved. The Commander dropped his sword and tackled Zoran.
CRACK.
Zoran reacted on pure instinct. He punched Vorn in the chest plate, the red energy denting the divinely forged steel. It was a blow that would have killed a normal man.
Vorn grunted, sliding back, but he didn't attack. He planted his feet.
"Get out of my way, Vorn!" Zoran raised a hand, a sphere of unstable, destructive magic forming in his palm. "I'll go through you!"
"Then do it!" Vorn thundered, spreading his arms. "Strike me down! And when you get to Kaelus, tired and alone, you will die, and she will be lost forever!"
Zoran froze, the red lightning crackling violently around his hand. The Rage wanted to throw it. The Rage wanted blood.
"They took her..." Zoran sobbed, the voice fracturing. "Vorn, they took her."
Vorn stepped through the red aura. The energy burned his skin, singeing his armor, but he didn't stop until he grabbed Zoran by the shoulders. He shook the boy—no, the young man—hard.
"Control yourself, Zoran!" Vorn commanded, his voice cutting through the mental storm. "You are not a beast! You are a King! Rage is a tool, not a master!"
Zoran trembled. He looked at Vorn's burned hands. He looked at the dent in the chest plate.
The realization hit him. He had almost killed his protector.
The red light flickered and died. Zoran collapsed to his knees, gasping for air, the tears finally coming. The Rage retreated back into the cage of his heart, leaving him hollow and shaking.
"I... I almost..." Zoran looked at his hands in horror.
Vorn knelt beside him, breathing heavily. "You didn't. You held back."
Vorn picked up the black feather Kaelus had left behind. He placed it in Zoran's trembling hand.
"We do not run blindly," Vorn said, his voice low and dangerous. "We hunt. We plan. And we make them pay."
Zoran closed his fist around the feather, crushing it. He wiped the tears from his face. When he looked up, his eyes were clear. The gold had returned, colder and harder than before.
"We will find her," Zoran whispered. "And when we do... Malakor will wish he had never touched her."
Vorn stood, pulling Zoran up. He retrieved his greatsword.
"Then we move," Vorn said. "The price of the Edict has been paid. Now, we go to collect ours."