The morning after the frost burst, Norveil felt different. The air seemed thinner, quieter. Even the soldiers whispered when they passed Kairo in the courtyard. Some said he'd fought off a demon in the night. Others claimed the gods had touched him. Kairo said nothing.
He stood alone at the edge of the training yard, watching the ice still clinging to the walls he'd frozen. His breath rose in slow clouds. Beneath his ribs, the Specter Heart pulsed faintly, like it was waiting for something.
Then the bell rang. A summons from the fortress tower. And that meant only one thing: the General wanted him.
General Aedra Norveil waited by the long table, her cloak spread like a shadow behind her. Garron stood beside her, arms crossed, face unreadable. On the table lay a single parchment sealed in black wax.
"Kairo," she said when he entered. "Do you know why you're here?"
He shook his head. "No, General."
She nodded to Garron, who handed him the parchment. "A mission," she said. "But not like the others."
Kairo broke the seal. The words were simple:
Eliminate Lieutenant Varin. Betrayal. Leakage of classified reports to the Rebellion.
He froze. "Varin? He's… he's one of ours."
"Yes," Aedra said calmly. "And he's compromised. The order is absolute."
He looked up sharply. "You're asking me to kill a soldier. A Norveil Wolf."
"I'm not asking," she said. "I'm commanding."
That night, Kairo sat alone in his quarters, staring at the parchment. Varin had been one of his closest comrades, older, kinder, the one who used to share bread with him after missions. He was the only man who ever said you're still human when others called Kairo a ghost.
Now, the kingdom wanted him erased.
Kairo's fingers tightened on the page until it tore. He whispered to himself, "Betrayal.. or just truth they didn't want to hear?"
He stood and strapped his sword to his back. There was no choice. Not in Norveil.
The capital slept beneath heavy snow. Kairo moved through the alleys like smoke, no sound, no trail. He found Varin in the lower barracks, sitting outside with a flask in his hand, watching the frozen river.
"You shouldn't be here, boy," Varin said without looking up. "They sent you, didn't they?"
Kairo stopped a few steps behind him. "They said you betrayed us."
Varin chuckled softly. "If telling the truth is betrayal, then yes, I did. I told the villagers what Norveil's army was really doing to the miners. They deserved to know."
Kairo's hand hovered near his sword. "You knew the punishment."
"I did," Varin said. He looked back, eyes tired but calm. "And I'd do it again."
Silence.
Kairo stepped closer. "They chose me because you trusted me."
Varin nodded. "Then maybe, for once, trust will kill me gently."
The words stung. Kairo drew his blade slowly, the steel glinting blue in the moonlight.
Varin rose and faced him. No armor, no weapon." I won't fight," he said. "You've fought enough for both of us."
Kairo's breath caught. "Why make me do this?"
"Because you still have something left to lose," Varin said softly. "If you kill me, maybe you'll understand what that means."
The snow fell between them, quiet and merciless. Kairo closed his eyes.
When he opened them, the sword had already moved.
No scream. No struggle.Just one clean strike, quick enough to look merciful, cruel enough to haunt forever.
Varin collapsed into the snow, crimson spreading beneath him like ink. Kairo knelt beside him, hand trembling.
Varin smiled faintly. "Good," he whispered. "You still hesitate."
Kairo blinked through tears that burned his frozen cheeks. "Don't talk. Please."
Varin coughed, a thin line of blood staining his lips. "Listen, boy… the kingdom says we fight for order, but order built on silence is still… chaos."
His breath faltered. "When you find something worth protecting, someone, something, don't let Norveil take it too."
And then he was gone.
The snow kept falling, covering the body like a shroud.
Kairo sat there for a long time, watching the blood fade to pink in the frost. When he finally stood, the moon had sunk low, and his shadow stretched long across the snow, longer than it should have.
He returned to the fortress at dawn. Aedra and Garron waited in the hall. The General didn't ask for a report. She didn't need to.
"It's done," Kairo said quietly.
Aedra nodded. "Good. Then kneel."
He obeyed. She drew her ceremonial dagger and sliced her palm. "By the blood of Norveil," she intoned, "you are bound to the kingdom. Speak your oath."
Kairo hesitated. Then, in a voice that barely trembled, he said:
"I am the wolf of Norveil. My life for the crown, my will for the command, my soul for the snow."
Aedra pressed her bleeding hand against his chest. The warmth of her blood burned through the cold fabric of his uniform."You are one of us," she said. "Remember, loyalty is the only truth."
Kairo nodded, but in his mind, Varin's last words echoed louder: Order built on silence is still chaos.
After that night, Kairo changed. He trained harder, fought better, spoke less. To others, he looked like the perfect soldier, cold, efficient, loyal.
But inside, something had broken. The Specter Heart pulsed unevenly now, like it was rejecting something.
Sometimes, when he walked past the armory, he'd see Varin's reflection in the blades. Sometimes, when he touched the snow, he felt warmth instead of cold, like the ground remembered.
And sometimes, he wondered if Norveil's greatest strength wasn't discipline… but denial.
Weeks later, as Kairo patrolled the northern wall, he heard two guards whispering.
"They say the southern kingdoms are stirring again," one murmured. "The gods haven't answered their prayers for years."
"Good," the other said. "Let them fight each other. The snow will outlast them all."
Kairo looked out beyond the wall, at the endless expanse of white, where the wind carried no sound. For the first time, he wondered what lay beyond it. Beyond Norveil. Beyond the chains that had turned him into something neither man nor monster.
The Specter Heart thudded once, louder than before, and his breath fogged the air like smoke.
He whispered, "If I am a weapon, then who forged me?"
No answer came. Only the sound of the wind, or maybe, faintly, the echo of Varin's last breath.