Kael ran.
Not because he understood what had awakened inside him—but because every instinct screamed that staying still meant death.
His boots scraped against cracked stone as he tore through the alleys of Ashen District. The slums blurred around him: rusted doors, hanging cloth, flickering lanterns. His breath came in sharp bursts, chest burning with each step.
The crimson veins beneath his skin pulsed again.
Hot.
Unstable.
Hungry.
Kael clenched his jaw and forced the sensation down. He didn't know how to control it yet—but he knew one thing.
If anyone from House Varyn saw this…
I'm dead.
He ducked sharply into a side passage just as voices echoed from the main road.
"—this way! I felt a resonance!"
Kael froze.
Blood Resonance detection.
Nobles.
His heart slammed against his ribs. Slowly, he peered around the corner.
Three figures moved down the street—men in dark crimson coats marked with House Varyn's sigil. Blood Enforcers. Not trainees. Not guards.
Executioners.
Kael's stomach dropped.
They felt it already…
So the presence hadn't been lying.
They really would hunt him.
"One more pulse," one of the enforcers muttered, hand glowing faintly red. "It's weak—but wrong. Not aligned with any registered bloodline."
"Good," another replied. "Lord Varyn wants it silenced before rumors spread."
Kael pulled back, pulse roaring in his ears.
Silenced.
That was the word nobles used when someone didn't deserve a name.
He backed away carefully—but his foot struck a loose stone.
Click.
All three enforcers turned at once.
"There."
Kael didn't think.
He ran.
He burst from the alley into a wider street, nearly colliding with a cart. Shouts erupted behind him.
"Stop!"
"Bloodless trash—halt!"
A red glow flared.
Something slammed into the wall beside Kael, exploding stone into shards. He stumbled, pain ripping across his shoulder.
Blood soaked through his sleeve.
The crimson veins beneath his skin surged violently in response.
Kael gasped as heat flooded his body. His senses sharpened—too much. Every sound became distinct. Every movement slowed.
He could feel the blood around him.
Not just his own.
Others'.
The enforcers were closing in fast.
"No choice," Kael whispered.
He ducked into a derelict building and sprinted up a broken staircase. The upper floor opened into a dead end—collapsed roof, no exit.
Footsteps thundered below.
"Cornered," a voice laughed.
Kael turned, chest heaving. His vision blurred red at the edges.
Hide. Grow. Survive.
The whisper returned—not a voice, but an instinct carved into his bones.
The enforcers emerged from the stairwell.
Three of them.
Fully awakened.
Kael stood alone.
Bloodless.
At least… that's what they thought.
"On your knees," the lead enforcer ordered, crimson energy crawling over his arms. "You should feel honored. Very few mistakes are corrected this quickly."
Kael's hands trembled.
Fear clawed at him—but beneath it, something else stirred.
Rage.
Not wild. Not explosive.
Cold.
"You're afraid," Kael said hoarsely.
The enforcer blinked.
"What did you say?"
Kael lifted his gaze. His eyes burned faintly red.
"You wouldn't send executioners for nothing."
The air changed.
The enforcers hesitated.
Then Kael felt it—the seal tightening.
Pain tore through his chest as if invisible chains were dragging his blood back into silence. He screamed, dropping to one knee.
"Kill him," the leader snapped.
The first enforcer lunged.
Kael reacted without thinking.
The crimson veins flared.
The world slowed.
Kael twisted aside as the blade sliced past where his neck had been a heartbeat earlier. He grabbed the attacker's wrist—too weak, too slow—
—but the blood responded.
The moment their skin touched, Kael felt the man's bloodline.
Stable. Obedient. Shallow.
He squeezed.
The enforcer screamed as crimson energy backfired violently, tearing through his arm. Bone shattered. Blood sprayed.
Kael recoiled, staring at his own hand in shock.
I did that…?
The second enforcer hesitated—just long enough.
Kael grabbed a broken beam and swung it like a club. It should have snapped.
It didn't.
The impact crushed the man's skull with a sickening crack.
Silence fell.
The third enforcer staggered back, eyes wide with terror.
"That's impossible," he whispered. "You're Bloodless—"
Kael moved.
Pain screamed through his body as he crossed the distance in a blur. His fist connected with the man's chest.
There was no explosion.
No light.
Just a sudden, unnatural collapse—as if the blood inside the enforcer had forgotten how to exist.
The body dropped.
Kael stood over it, shaking violently.
Blood pooled at his feet.
Three bodies.
His stomach twisted.
He had killed before—rats, thieves, monsters in the slums.
But this…
This was different.
The crimson veins faded abruptly.
The seal snapped tight.
Kael collapsed, gasping, vomiting onto the floor as agony ripped through him. His muscles spasmed. His vision went dark at the edges.
Backlash…
So this was the price.
He lay there for long seconds, barely conscious.
Then—
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
Slow. Deliberate.
Kael forced his eyes open.
A figure stood in the broken doorway—a woman cloaked in gray, face half-hidden, eyes sharp and amused.
"Well," she said lightly, surveying the bodies.
"That answers a few questions."
Kael tried to move.
Failed.
"Relax," she continued. "If I wanted you dead, you wouldn't have finished collapsing."
She stepped closer, crouching beside him.
Her gaze lingered on the dried blood at his lips… then the faint crimson traces still fading beneath his skin.
"A sealed bloodline," she murmured. "And a dangerous one."
Kael swallowed hard.
"Who… are you?"
She smiled.
"Someone who hates the Blood Houses," she replied. "And someone who just watched a 'Bloodless' kill three enforcers."
Her eyes gleamed.
"Come with me, Kael Varyn. If you stay here, you'll be hunted by dawn."
Kael's vision blurred again.
"And if I go with you?"
Her smile widened.
"Then you might live long enough to break your chains."
Darkness took him