CHAPTER 3
348 Words
The guards arrived first — cloaked in silver armor, eyes glowing from the embedded Rank trackers in their helmets. But behind them came the true threat:
The Arbiters.
Elite enforcers ranked below the Royal Council but above every other living soul. Their presence meant only one thing:
Kael was a national threat.
“Spread out!” the lead Arbiter commanded. “The anomaly is close.”
Kael crouched behind a crumbled wall, heart pounding like a drum. He didn’t understand the power that had awakened in him. He didn’t know why the symbol burned in his chest like fire.
But he understood one thing:
If they found him, he was dead.
An Arbiter stepped closer, scanning the ruins. The device on his gauntlet beeped rapidly.
“He’s here. The Rankless anomaly.”
Kael swallowed. Move. Now.
He sprinted.
“THERE!” a guard shouted.
The chase exploded instantly. Arbiters leapt with impossible speed, landing on pillars like birds of prey. Kael darted between ruins, dodging beams of blue energy. One shot fired past him, blasting a pillar into dust.
Another shot grazed his shoulder — pain seared through him like lightning.
He stumbled—
—and the whispering voice returned, louder than ever.
Fight back.
“I CAN’T!” Kael gasped.
You can. You already did.
Another beam shot toward his back.
Instinct took over.
Kael threw his hand backward.
A wave of blue energy exploded from his palm, forming a pulse that knocked the incoming attack away. The Arbiter who fired it was thrown into a wall with a sickening c***k.
Kael stared at his hand, horrified.
“I don’t know how I did that…”
But the symbol on his chest glowed brighter, as if answering.
You will.
The lead Arbiter’s voice boomed across the ruins.
“Kael of the Rankless! By order of the Dominion, you are to surrender immediately for classification!”
Kael shook his head. “I’m not going back.”
“Then you will be neutralized.”
Five Arbiters raised their weapons.
Kael closed his eyes.
And let the power rise again.
- Writer
