Darkness spat him out into chains.
Kael hit the stone on his knees. Wrists already raw from iron manacles. The air stank of myrrh and blood. Thick. Cloying. Like a temple after sacrifice. Torchlight flickered on obsidian walls carved with writhing shadows. Floor 2. The Undervaults of Nyxara. Heart of the Dark Elf Matriarchy.
He was small again. One year old in a body that screamed for growth. The curse's reset. Always crueller. Around him, other infants wailed in pens. Branded with house sigils. Slave market.
A whip cracked. "Silence the whelps!"
The overseer. A lithe elf with skin like polished onyx. Eyes glowed amber. He yanked Kael by the scruff. "This one's marked. Bastard scent. Empress's blood?"
Kael bit his tongue. Tempest Grasp hummed faintly in dormant veins. It waited for puberty's fire. He retained it. One skill. Carried like a scar.
They dragged him through corridors that dripped with bioluminescent fungi. Whispers followed. "Illegitimate spawn. Coup bait. Nyx's weakness."
Empress Nyx. His second Lady. The shadow assassin who saved him. Or killed him. In the last loop of memory.
The throne room yawned vast. Ceilings lost in gloom. Stalactites like fangs. On a dais of woven nightshade, she sat. Nyx. Crown of spider silk. Gown slit to the thigh. Legs crossed with lethal grace. Her face. Sharp as shattered glass. Beautiful as poison.
The overseer bowed. "A foundling, Majesty. Bears your royal mole on the shoulder."
Nyx's eyes. Violet voids. They locked on Kael. Recognition flickered. Buried deep. "Bring him."
They unchained him at her feet. He toddled forward. Legs curse-accelerated. Already lengthening. By nightfall, he'd be five.
She lifted him onto her lap. Cold fingers traced the faint kraken Stigma peeking from his rags. "Not mine. Older magic." Her voice is silk over steel. "Who sired you, child?"
Kael met her gaze. "A storm."
She laughed. Low. Surprised. "Cheeky bastard."
The court murmured. Assassins in the shadows shifted.
Nyx waved them off. "He stays. My ward. Name him. Shade."
Weeks blurred in acceleration. Kael grew like a weed in manure. Five. Ten. Fifteen in body. Training yards of shadow. Dodging blades that phased through walls. Learning to weave darkness with fingers still clumsy from rebirth.
Nyx watched. Always. Her presence was a blade at his throat. And lower. Stirring lustforge embers.
Nights. Her chambers. "Teach me your storm," she'd say. She stripped him with her eyes alone.
First coupling. Moonless. On silk sheets that drank light. She pinned him. Stronger. Ancient. "You're no child."
He wasn't. Cock hard as obsidian. Mana pooled hot. She mounted slowly. Shadows coiled around them like lovers. Her nails raked his back. Drawing blood that healed instantly.
"Feel me," she hissed. Entry tight. Velvet vice.
He thrust up. Stigmas synced. Kraken met shadow. A new tattoo bloomed on his thigh. Coiling voids. Tendrils of night. Stigma Two.
Hybrid spell. *Shadow Tempest*. Darkness that stormed. Clouds that assassinated.
She came shuddering. Shadows exploded outward. Shattering vases. Snuffing torches. Kael followed. Seed fused magics. Power surged. He could vanish in a storm now. Strike from blind spots.
After. She traced the mark. "You bind me. Again." Memory fully awakened. "The sky pirate. You died in her arms."
Kael's heart. Foolish organ. It ached. Love sprouted roots.
But the matriarchy festered. Whispers of a coup. Nyx's sisters. The Triad. They plotted her fall. They feared the bastard heir. Him.
Training intensified. Kael sparred with assassins twice his age. Shadow Tempest turned blades to mist. He grew lean. Lethal. Harem seeds planted. A slave girl with silver hair. Eyes hungry. A guard captain. Scars like maps. But Nyx first. Always.
The coup struck on an eclipse night.
Alarms wailed. Shadow horns. Triad forces poured from hidden gates. Elves in bone armour. Wielding void chains.
Nyx armed in seconds. Daggers of nightglass. "To me, Shade!"
They fought back-to-back in the throne room. Kael summoned storms in corridors. Pressure crushed invaders. Nyx phased through strikes. Throats slit silent.
But numbers. The Triad leader. Sister Vesper. She unleashed a beast. Shadow wyrm. Maw dripped null.
It lunged. Kael shoved Nyx aside. He took the bite. Fangs pierced the shoulder. Void ate flesh. Pain white-hot.
He roared. Tempest Grasp full force. Clouds boiled inside the wyrm. Expanding. It burst from within. Gore rained black.
Vesper laughed. "The boy loves you, sister. Curse him."
Nyx paled. Understanding.
Kael bled but healed. He grabbed her hand. "I do. Gods help me, I love you."
The confession. Death flag raised.
Pain bloomed. Chest caved. But he fought it. Had hours.
They fled to the ascent gate. Hidden in the palace depths. A well of writhing shadows led up.
Triad pursued. Vesper's voice echoed. "He'll die anyway. Join us, Nyx. Rule pure."
Nyx snarled. "Over his corpse."
At the gate. A vortex of night. Guardian stirred. A colossal spider of void silk. Floor boss.
They battled. Kael's shadows stormed its legs. Tentacles wrapped. Crushed. Nyx danced webs. Daggers flashed.
The spider ensnared her. Silk bound tight.
Kael dove. He cut her free with a storm-blade. But Vesper struck. Dagger to his back.
He turned. Love and rage. "For her."
Shadow Tempest pinnacle. Eclipse storm. Pressure absolute. Vesper crushed. Bones to dust.
The spider fell. Gate opened.
But Nyx. Wounded deep. Void poison. "Go. I'll hold them."
"No." He lifted her. Heart failed. Love's toll. Minutes left.
They stumbled through the gate together. Floor 2 blurred.
Reincarnation pulled. But she clung. "Find me again."
Death took him mid-stride.
Darkness. Then light. Mechanical. Harsh.
He woke inside a womb of steel.
Floor 3. Mecha-Dragon Empire. Born in a cockpit.
Nyx's shadow Stigma pulsed anew on his skin. Two Ladies bound.
The climb continued.
The air tasted of rust and myrrh. Silence thick as wool muffled the wails.