The Blood Altar stayed dead.
No light.
No resonance.
No mercy.
Kael Varyn stood barefoot on the cold stone, blood dripping from his palm onto the altar's surface. The black stone drank it in—but gave nothing back.
Silence stretched.
Then laughter.
"Again?"
"Three trials. Three failures."
"House Varyn keeps birthing trash now?"
The words cut deeper than the blade that had opened his hand.
Kael didn't look up. He knew better. The moment he showed weakness, they would enjoy it more.
"Candidate Kael Varyn," Elder Morthain said, his voice echoing across the square. Flat. Bored. "Blood resonance: nonexistent."
A pause.
"Verdict: Bloodless."
The word slammed into Kael's chest.
Bloodless.
In this world, blood was everything.
Blood decided status. Blood decided survival. Blood decided whether your life had value.
And Kael had none.
"Step off the altar," the elder continued. "You're finished."
Kael obeyed.
The instant his foot touched the ground, something struck his back hard enough to steal the air from his lungs. He staggered forward, barely keeping his balance.
"Careful," a voice said mockingly. "You might break. Oh—wait. You were already
broken."
Kael turned slowly.
Riven Varyn stood behind him, smiling.
His cousin's skin glowed faintly red, veins pulsing with awakened blood energy. Power radiated from him effortlessly, the kind Kael had chased his entire life and never touched.
"You really tried again?" Riven asked. "That's almost impressive. Stupid—but impressive."
Laughter exploded around them.
Kael's nails dug into his palms. Fresh blood welled up, warm and real.
Hit him.
The thought flashed through his mind like lightning.
He didn't.
Because Bloodless people didn't hit Awakened nobles.
They died for it.
Riven leaned closer, his voice dropping. "Do us a favor and disappear. Every time you step on that altar, you stain our name."
Then he walked past Kael like he didn't exist.
The Blood Altar flared to life behind them as the next candidate awakened. Red light surged. Cheers followed.
Kael walked away.
Ashen District welcomed him back with smoke-filled air and rotting stone.
This was where Bloodless people lived. Where failed bloodlines rotted quietly out of sight.
Kael collapsed against a wall in a narrow alley, breathing hard. His chest felt tight—too tight.
Why am I still trying?
He'd asked himself that question after the first trial. Then the second. Now the third.
Eighteen years old.
No bloodline.
No future.
Sometimes, when the nights were quiet, Kael dreamed of impossible things—crowns shattered by chains, crimson light burning
through darkness, and voices whispering his name with both reverence and hatred.
He had always assumed they were just dreams.
His chest burned.
Not emotionally.
Physically.
Kael gasped, clutching at his heart as pain tore through him, sharp and sudden. His vision blurred. The alley twisted.
"No—" he whispered.
The world went black.
He fell into darkness—
—and landed in something far worse.
Kael stood on cracked black stone beneath a sky of swirling red and shadow. Symbols burned faintly under his feet, ancient and hostile, like they resented his presence.
His breath echoed unnaturally loud.
"What is this place?" he asked.
Something noticed him.
The pressure was overwhelming. Ancient. Heavy. Like the weight of an entire era pressing against his soul.
A voice spoke—not aloud, but directly into his mind.
"Blooddenied.
Bloodsealed.
Bloodforgotten."
Kael dropped to one knee.
"Who are you?" he demanded, fear shaking his voice.
The symbols flared brighter.
"You are called Bloodless because the world fears remembering you."
Images crashed into him—empires drowned in red light, kings kneeling in terror, chains forged from law and power binding something vast and monstrous.
Binding him.
"No," Kael gasped. "That's not me. I failed the altar. I don't have—"
"The altar listens to obedient blood."
"Yours was never meant to obey."
Pain exploded in his chest.
Cracks of crimson light tore through the stone beneath him, converging on a single sigil: a broken crown wrapped in chains.
Words burned into his mind.
Seal Status: Damaged
Blood Resonance: Awakening (Unstable)
Kael screamed.
"What happens now?!"
The presence was silent for a long moment.
Then—
"Now… they will hunt you."
The world shattered.
Kael woke choking on air.
He was back in the alley, drenched in sweat. His heart pounded violently, like it had been reborn.
Slowly, trembling, he raised his hands.
Thin veins of dark crimson light pulsed beneath his skin—fading, unstable, but unmistakably real.
Blood.
Not bright enough to be seen from afar.
But alive.
Kael laughed softly, the sound broken and almost hysterical.
"They were wrong," he whispered.
From deep inside him, a quiet instinct rose.
Hide.
Grow.
Survive.
Because if the world had gone so far as to erase his bloodline—
Then awakening it again would come at a terrible price.
And Kael Varyn was done being Bloodless.