The dungeons of Armathil lay far below the singing bells and perfumed halls. Down here, no hymns echoed—only screams swallowed by stone.
Kael stood at the gate, cloaked in illusion, holy wards around him crumbling as the Ashen Flame hissed against their light. He stepped through rusted bars and spiraled downward, leaving the warmth of the surface behind.
With each step, memories clawed at him.
[Flashback – Year 7 of the Demon War]
He had visited these cells once—when he was still Saint Kael.
"I need to see the prisoners," he'd told the Warden. "I want to know how far we've fallen."
He saw children. Mages. Demon-bloods begging for mercy.
He never came back.
[Present – Dungeon Level Seven]
Kael's boots echoed as he moved through rows of cells. The deeper he went, the more twisted the inmates became—mutated, silenced, burned, or broken by the Church's twisted attempts to "purify" them.
And then he heard it.
"Kael…?"
He froze.
The voice was hoarse. Raw. But familiar.
He turned.
Cell 47-B.
A man slumped in the corner. Shackled in holy silver. His robes long rotted.
His right arm gone.
His hair, once radiant gold, now dull and streaked with blood.
Kael whispered: "...Lucien?"
[Lucien – Once Friend, Once Traitor]
Lucien had been his brother-in-arms. The first to kneel when Kael was named Saint.
And the one who held the blade to his throat the day they betrayed him.
[Cell Scene]
Lucien lifted his head. "I knew you'd come here eventually… Ashen."
Kael's hand tightened on his sword.
"You left me," Kael growled. "You followed the others."
Lucien coughed blood. "They… turned on me too. After you died. Said I knew too much. I tried to stop it—"
"Liar."
"I did, Kael! I tried—! But the Church doesn't need truth. It needs obedience."
Kael stared, fire rising behind his eyes.
Lucien looked up, tears tracking through dirt. "Kill me, then. I deserve it."
Kael stepped forward… but didn't raise the blade.
Instead, he broke the lock.
Lucien stared, stunned. "What—?"
Kael's voice was cold.
"You're going to show me everything. Every secret cell. Every experiment. Every lie."
"And if you're lying—"
The flame in Kael's hand flared white and black.
"I'll make your last moments last forever."
[Later – Surface Streets]
Lucien stumbled through shadows behind Kael, shivering.
Above them, the Church rang its bells.
A new Reaper had been appointed.
The city prepared for war.
And the Ashen Saint had just returned with a ghost from his past.