CHAPTER 2
414 Words
Kael worked in the scrap district, a slum of broken machines and discarded fragments of old technology. No Ranked citizen bothered to come here. Even guards avoided the area unless there was a raid.
He dragged a sack of metal toward the sorting pit when the sky suddenly darkened. Clouds swirled in unnatural patterns, spiraling toward the center of the city like a whirlpool. People hissed and whispered.
“That’s near the Palace.”
“Is it an omen?”
“Another execution maybe…”
Kael didn’t care about the Palace — he just wanted the day to end.
But the wind picked up again, stronger this time, carrying a familiar whisper.
Find it…
Kael froze.
“What are you?” he muttered under his breath.
The wind didn’t answer, but it tugged at his clothes like an impatient hand, pulling him toward the old ruins at the edge of the scrap district.
Everyone knew better than to go near them. The ruins were forbidden — remnants of a time before the Hierarchy existed. Rumors said the old structures were alive.
Kael wasn’t the type to chase danger.
But the voice was the only thing that had ever spoken to him like he mattered.
He followed.
The ruins were little more than crumbling pillars and broken platforms. But at the center stood a pedestal, carved with ancient lines that pulsed faint blue — the same shade as the Hierarch Bells.
Kael stepped closer.
The air grew hot. Thick. Heavy.
Touch it.
He lifted his hand slowly, hesitating. “And if I die?”
Then you were never meant to rise.
His palm met the stone.
The world exploded.
A surge of power punched through his chest. Symbols burst from the pedestal, spinning around him like a storm. The ruins trembled. A deep hum shook the ground.
Then—
A blinding beam of blue light shot into the sky.
It pierced the clouds, ripping them open.
Every Hierarch Tower in the city flickered. Bracelets malfunctioned. People screamed as their Ranks glitched, numbers changing rapidly.
Kael staggered back, clutching his chest.
A burning mark glowed over his heart — the same ancient symbol from the pedestal.
In the Grand Square, the central tower displayed something it had never shown before:
NEW ENTITY DETECTED
RANK: UNKNOWN
POWER: UNCLASSIFIED
STATUS: DANGEROUS
The projection pulsed again, this time revealing a face.
Kael.
His blood ran cold.
“Oh no…”
The Dominion had found him.
And they were coming.
- Writer
