Chapter 90 – The Flame

News spreads faster than fire.

By dawn, Kael’s name—Exiled Flame—had already broken past the cavern walls. Whispered by zealots. Carried by fleeing Inquisitors. Twisted into warnings and prophecies.

And the world listened.

From the spires of the Holy Council to the dark guild halls of mercenaries, orders were given. Posters etched with his shadow spread like a curse. The price of his head was inked in blood and gold.

“Kill the flame before it spreads.”

Kael walked through the shattered ruins above, cloak pulled low. Every sound felt like pursuit. The shadows clung closer, whispering with hunger.

Aria kept pace, her tone sharp. “You see? Already they turn you into a monster. The Council doesn’t just want you erased. They want you feared.”

Kael’s eyes narrowed. “Let them fear.”

But he felt the weight of it—every step twisting belief further. Strangers looked at him and recoiled as if they already knew. As if reality itself had branded him.

In a distant chamber, Serin stood before the Council. His blade rested against his shoulder, expression unreadable.

“You faced him once,” a bishop demanded. “Will you face him again?”

Serin smirked, eyes glinting cold. “He should have stayed forgotten. But if he insists on clawing back… then I’ll bury him twice.”

The world had turned. Kael was no longer erased. He was the hunted.

And every arrow, every blade, every whispered curse would now point to him.

But as the shadows writhed tighter around his arm, Kael almost smiled.

Because a hunted flame did not flicker.

It burned brighter.