Chapter 58 – Kael’s Trial: The Chain Empress’ Judgement

The air was thick—cold, yet suffocating.

Kael stood alone in a throne room of black marble and rusted chains. The silence screamed louder than a battlefield. At the far end of the hall, seated atop a jagged throne of bone and steel, was her.

The Chain Empress.

She was draped in flowing silver threads that shimmered like spider silk. Her face was hidden beneath a veil of broken glass, but her voice… it slithered straight into Kael’s mind.

“The traitor. The coward. The boy who ran from duty.”

Kael clenched his fists, chains tightening around his wrists—literal chains, wrapping tighter with each accusation.

“I didn’t run,” Kael hissed. “I survived.”

“Survived by abandoning them,” she replied, rising slowly. “Do you remember their faces?”

Kael tried not to. But the memories surged:

Commander Rhys, crushed while holding the line.

Mira, who screamed for help as the portal collapsed.

The others who trusted him… who died while he escaped.

The chains yanked him to his knees.

[System Alert: Trial of Guilt – Initiated.]
[Mental Stability: Declining.]

The Empress descended the throne, dragging a chain longer than her body. With every step, it looped around Kael’s body, tightening like a serpent.

“You call yourself a warrior. But you’re nothing more than a scared little boy playing hero.”

“Shut up…”

“You left them to die.”

“SHUT UP!”

Kael’s aura erupted in a burst of crimson flame—his soulfire raging. But the chains held fast, glowing with ancient runes.

[Soul Suppression Engaged.]

The Empress raised her hand—and suddenly, Mira stood beside her. Or rather, a twisted memory of her. Bloodied. Silent. Judging.

Kael’s soul cracked.

“You… were my family…”

“And yet you left,” Mira whispered.

His screams echoed across the chamber.

But then—

A voice. Faint, but familiar.

“Kael. You don’t carry their deaths. You carry their will.”

Ren’s voice. Oris’s. Even Astra’s. A flicker of the present cutting through the illusion.

Kael opened his eyes. His flame roared brighter. The chains trembled.

“You’re right,” he said quietly, rising. “I did run… and I’ve lived with that every day.”

He yanked the chains with brute force, breaking one.

“But I’ve never stopped fighting.”

Another chain shattered.

“And I won’t let their deaths be meaningless!”

His final burst of power incinerated the illusion—burning the Chain Empress into ash.

[Trial 5 Completed.]
[Guilt Acknowledged. Burden Accepted.]

Kael stood alone again. But this time, taller.

“Rest easy, Mira. I’ll finish what we started.”

Next: Chapter 59 – Astra’s Trial: The Mirror of a Thousand Eyes