The wind howled through the Wild Expanse as Kael stood at the crest of a jagged cliff, the Moon-Claw sigil glowing dimly on his chest. Below, ancient stone paths wound through dense jungles and abandoned temples—the last remnants of the Ruined Tribes.
"We're close," Nyra said. Her eyes flicked toward the trees. "Too close."
Kael didn't respond. His shadow moved before he did—curling outward, touching the vines, the air, the presence watching them.
A moment later, the jungle parted.
And the Warhost of Karthuun stepped into view.
---
The Warhost
Dozens of warriors emerged—tattooed with beast-marks, armored in bone and scale. At their center stood a massive figure cloaked in the pelt of a thunder-lion. His eyes were not human. His voice growled.
"You bear the mark of the Pact."
He pointed at Kael. "Yet I smell divine war on your flesh."
"I carry the Sovereign's chain," Kael said, stepping forward. "And the blood they tried to bury. I'm not here to command you."
He raised his hand—and let the shadow crown flicker for a heartbeat.
"I'm here to finish what the gods began."
Silence.
Then the warlord laughed. "You speak like a king."
Kael's eyes darkened. "No. I speak like something worse."
---
Trial by Hunt
The Warlord, Karuun of the Ninth Fang, demanded one thing: prove worth in the ancient rite—the Trial of the Wild Blood.
"You will hunt," he declared. "Not for prey. But for echoes—the lost beast spirits we banished when they fell to corruption. Bring one back. Alive. Or die in their jaws."
Nyra flinched. "No one has survived that trial in decades."
Kael just nodded. "Then it's overdue."
---
Into the Woundgrove
Kael entered alone.
The Woundgrove was a festering scar of tainted energy where corrupted beast spirits roamed. It was where the gods had first bled the earth, striking down tribes that refused to kneel.
Now it was full of ghosts.
Kael walked for hours. Days blurred.
Until he found it.
A stag, twice his height. Antlers like spears. Eyes weeping silver fire. A once-noble spirit, now broken by celestial curse.
It charged without warning.
Kael dodged barely, his gauntlet flaring as chains lashed out—not to kill, but to bind. The beast fought like a storm. Kael was hurled through stone, his ribs cracked. But he stood again.
Not as a man.
As a sovereign of the Abyss.
"Enough," he roared, slamming his palm to the earth. The Sovereign's chain ignited, shadow and beast-energy forming a circle of dominion around the stag. Its body froze. Its mind screamed.
Kael whispered something ancient, something not of this world.
And the stag bowed.
---
Return to Karthuun
Kael emerged from the jungle bleeding, barely standing—with the spirit-stag walking silently behind him.
The Warhost dropped to one knee.
Karuun's voice was hoarse. "We follow."
Nyra turned to Kael, stunned. "That wasn't taming. That was... resurrection."
Kael stared at the beast. "No. That was reclamation."
---
In the Shadows of Heaven
The gods watched again.
"He's building too fast," snarled the Archon.
But the Masked God simply traced runes in the air. "He's not building. He's remembering."
---
End of Chapter 37