Chapter 70: Ashes and echoes
The sky was painted with ash. Not the kind that settled from a hearth or fire, but the heavy kind—born from destruction. The kind that whispered stories of chaos and blood. Cain felt it before he saw it, a chill crawling down his spine like a predator's breath on his neck.
They stood at the edge of the village, or what was left of it.
Charred homes leaned like drunk ghosts, beams cracked and smoldering. The air reeked of smoke, sulfur, and something far worse—old magic. Leo crouched beside the soot-covered remains of a child's doll, singed at the edges, its eyes melted into blankness.
"This wasn't just destruction," he muttered. "This was a message."
Eren's jaw was tight. "Why here? This village had no ties to us."
"Because it was untouched," Selene whispered, stepping carefully over a fallen beam. "Because it was innocent."
Cain walked forward, every step heavy. He could feel the lingering presence, the echo of something familiar. Something ancient. He reached down and pressed his fingers into the blackened earth. It pulsed.
"A seal," he said. "Someone broke one."
Aelira appeared behind them, her cloak whipping in the breeze. "More than one. I felt the ripple across the planes. Our father... he's waking up."
That name. Their father. It always felt like a curse on their tongues. Not a man, not even a demon, but something older. A being of shadow and wrath that had planted seeds in human skin—seeds that became Cain, Leo, and Eren.
"Who would do this?" Selene asked, her voice trembling slightly.