The frigid mist of the Grey Mist Mine clung to Kane's bones as he stumbled out of the tunnel, his pickaxe dragging heavily in the mud. Three years. Three years since his spirit contract had been violently shattered, turning him from the Blackveil Mine's most promising prodigy into a laughingstock—a "broken vessel" fit only to dig the lowest-grade ore, scorned by every pair of eyes that fell on him.
And today, the final insult was delivered at the mine's iron gate.
Leaning against the cold metal, bathed in the sickly glow of a spirit lamp, stood Lila. His childhood friend. The girl he'd once promised to carry out of these mines, to show her the stars beyond the grey fog. Now, her arm was locked through the elbow of Victor Blackveil, the spoiled heir to the entire mining operation, his smirk sharp enough to slice steel.
"Kane," Lila said, her voice like shards of ice, not a trace of the warmth he'd once cherished. She held up a cracked, star-shaped amulet—their childhood promise—and let it fall to the mud, grinding it beneath her boot until it crumbled to dust. "This ends here. I've signed a Strong Contract with Victor. In a month, I'll be a steward in Grey Mist City, living in a mansion, not huddling in a barracks with the dregs of the realm."
Victor laughed, a rich, mocking sound that cut through the mist. He stepped forward, his boots crunching on the remains of the amulet, and shoved Kane hard in the chest. Kane fell back, his shoulder slamming into the gate, pain lancing up his spine.
"Look at him, Lila," Victor sneered, his eyes glowing with the arrogant light of his own spirit contract. "A broken contract. No power, no future, no use. You were wise to cast this trash aside. A worm like him doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as us."
He raised his boot, aiming directly for Kane's face, intent on grinding the last shred of his dignity into the mud.
Kane flinched, but the blow never landed.
Instead, Victor's heel connected with something hard and metallic tucked inside Kane's tattered coat—the old pocket watch his parents had left him before they'd "vanished" in a supposed mining accident.
The watch shattered.
Cracks spiderwebbed across its face, and a faint, molten gold light seeped out, coiling around Kane's fingers like a living flame.
And then, a voice, old as stars and deep as the abyss, echoed directly in his mind.
"…Finally. After a century of slumber… a vessel with the fire to break."
Kane's eyes snapped open.
He looked up at Victor, at the sneer twisting his lips, at Lila's cold, dismissive gaze. Three years of humiliation, three years of being called trash, three years of swallowing his rage—all of it erupted, stoked by the strange, warm power surging in his veins.
He pushed himself up slowly, his hand closing around a jagged shard of the broken watch. The golden light flared, casting his face in a dangerous glow.
"Three years," he said, his voice low but steady, cutting through the laughter of the onlookers. "Three years I've let you walk over me. Three years I've been called a broken vessel."
He took a step forward, and Victor, for the first time, flinched. There was a hunger in Kane's eyes, a fury that made the noble heir's contract flicker with unease.
"Three months," Kane said, his gaze locking with Victor's, cold as forged star steel. "In three months, meet me in the Grey Mist City Arena. One on one. No back-up, no tricks. Just you and me."
A nervous laugh burst from Victor's lips, shaky and forced. "You? A broken contract? Fight me? You'll be a stain on the arena floor before the first bell rings!"
Kane smiled, a sharp, predatory thing that sent a chill through the crowd.
"Then I'll make sure you're the one cleaning it up," he said. "And when I win… you will leave the Grey Mist Realm. Forever. You will take your arrogance, your stolen contracts, and your filthy power—and you will rot in the void where you belong."
He turned, not waiting for a response, and walked back into the swirling mist, the broken watch shard glowing brightly in his fist.
The ancient voice chuckled in his mind, warm and approving.
"Feisty. I like it. Now, let's teach these arrogant fools what it means to face a Contract Breaker."
The path to vengeance had been lit.
And nothing—not a noble's pride, a church's dogma, nor the very contracts that bound the realm—would stand in his way.
Kane kept his head down as he tramped through the mud, the mist sticking to his face like a damp cloth. The mine's barracks were just ahead, a rickety cluster of wooden shacks that smelled like sweat and rot, but he didn't feel like going back—not yet. All the eyes in there would be on him, whispering, laughing, just like they always did. He'd had enough of that for one day.
Instead, he veered off the main path, toward the old, abandoned tunnel at the edge of the mine—his secret spot, the only place he could go to be alone. The wood planks blocking the entrance were rotting, easy to kick aside, and he slipped inside, the darkness swallowing him whole. The only light came from the shard in his hand, the golden glow casting faint shadows on the walls.
"Who are you?" Kane finally spoke up, his voice hoarse. He'd been too caught up in the rage and the shock earlier to ask—now, the question burned in his throat. The voice in his head was real, that much he could tell, and the power coursing through his fingers wasn't a dream.
"Call me Kael," the old voice rumbled, softening a little. "Once, I was the greatest Contract Breaker in the entire Shattered Spiral. Now, I'm just a soul clinging to that watch—your parents' doing, I suspect."
Kane's heart skipped a beat. "My parents? You knew them?"
"I knew enough," Kael said. "They were good people. Brave. They found that watch, figured out what it was, and hid it from the Church and the Blackveil family. They knew those monsters would kill to get their hands on a Breaker's legacy. And when they found out the truth about how your contract was shattered… well, that's why they 'vanished.' It wasn't an accident, kid. Victor's old man and the Church priests did it."
Every word hit Kane like a punch to the gut. He'd always suspected it—how could a spirit contract just shatter out of nowhere? How could his parents, both skilled contract users, die in a "mining accident" that no one was allowed to talk about? But hearing it out loud, from someone who knew the truth, made the anger in his chest burn even hotter.
"They did this to me," he muttered, squeezing the shard so hard his knuckles turned white. "They turned me into a joke. Killed my parents. Stole everything."
"And now you're gonna take it all back," Kael said, his voice firm. "That power you feel? It's the Breaker's gift. You can see the weak spots in any contract—like cracks in a wall. You can cut those contracts, strip people of their power, even fix your own shattered one. But first, you gotta learn to control it."
Kane stared at the glowing shard, the warmth seeping into his palm. For the first time in three years, he didn't feel like a broken mess. He felt like he had a purpose—like he could actually fight back, instead of just taking the abuse.
"What do I do first?" he asked, his voice steady now, no more hesitation.
"First, we train," Kael said. "This tunnel is perfect—no one comes here, and there's plenty of low-level spirit energy to practice with. Tomorrow, we start with the basics. You'll learn to see contracts clearly, to focus that power in your hand. And when you're ready… we'll make those two-bit thugs at the mine pay for every insult."
Kane nodded, a fire lighting up in his chest that the mist couldn't put out. He leaned against the cold stone wall, the shard's glow lighting up his face, and closed his eyes. For the first time in years, he let himself imagine it—Victor on his knees, begging for mercy. Lila staring in shock, realizing what she'd thrown away. The Church and the Blackveil family, finally getting what they deserved.
It wasn't a dream anymore. It was a promise.
Outside, the mist swirled thicker, and the distant sound of Victor's angry shouts faded into the night. But Kane didn't care. He was no longer the broken kid everyone laughed at. He was a Contract Breaker.
And the game was just getting started.