chapter :The Cursed Orphan

The night smelled of blood and smoke.

Flames roared across the small border village of Elden Hollow, turning homes into funeral pyres. Screams tore through the air as black-robed figures moved like demons among the villagers.

Eight-year-old Kael Voss hid behind a broken wooden cart, his small body trembling uncontrollably. His mother, Elara, held him tightly against her chest, her hand pressed over his mouth.

"Shh… don’t make a sound, my love," she whispered, her voice shaking. Tears streamed down her dirt-streaked face.

A group of men in dark robes bearing the symbol of a crimson fiend stepped into the clearing. Their leader, a tall man with cruel eyes, laughed as he kicked aside a dying villager.

"Search every house! The Black Lotus Seed must be here. The Sect Master’s orders are clear — kill everyone if you have to!"

Kael’s mother stiffened. She knew what they were looking for.

She gently pushed Kael deeper into the shadows of the cart. "Run when you get the chance, Kael. Run far away and never look back."

Before he could answer, a black-robed man spotted them.

"There! A woman and child!"

Two cultivators lunged forward. Kael’s mother stood up, pulling out a rusty kitchen knife — the only weapon she had.

"Stay away from my son!" she screamed, slashing wildly.

The first attacker laughed and backhanded her so hard she crashed into the ground. The second grabbed Kael by his hair and lifted him up.

"Pathetic. Is this the so-called cursed bloodline?"

Kael screamed as pain exploded in his scalp. "Mother! MOTHER!"

Elara crawled toward him, blood dripping from her mouth. "Let him go… please… he’s just a child!"

The leader walked forward slowly, his eyes glowing with greed. "The Black Lotus Bloodline is forbidden. If the boy has it, we’ll cut it out of him."

He raised his hand, and a sharp blade of dark energy formed above his palm.

Kael watched in pure terror as the blade descended toward his mother’s neck.

"NOOO!"

A strange heat suddenly erupted inside Kael’s chest. Something ancient and terrifying awakened. A black lotus pattern, glowing with ominous purple-black light, appeared on his chest and spread across his skin.

Time seemed to slow.

The blade stopped inches from his mother’s neck.

"What… what is this power?!" the leader shouted, eyes widening in shock.

Dark tendrils of shadow exploded out of Kael’s small body. They were weak, unstable, but filled with terrifying potential. The shadow energy struck the two men holding him, throwing them backward.

For a brief moment, Kael felt power — real power.

But it wasn’t enough.

The leader snarled and unleashed a devastating palm strike filled with killing intent. The attack slammed into Elara, who had thrown herself in front of her son at the last second.

"KAEL… LIVE…!"

Her body flew through the air and crashed heavily onto the ground, blood pooling beneath her. Her eyes, full of love and pain, looked at her son one final time before the light in them faded forever.

Kael fell to his knees beside her lifeless body.

The world went silent.

He didn’t scream. He didn’t cry.

He just stared at his mother’s face as the black lotus mark on his chest continued to throb painfully, keeping him alive even as his small body was covered in wounds.

The leader looked at the boy with disgust and fear.

"Kill him. Make sure nothing remains of that cursed bloodline."

As the cultivators raised their weapons, the black lotus inside Kael pulsed once more — protecting the last spark of life in his broken body.

The last thing Kael remembered before darkness consumed him was his mother’s final words and the burning hatred that began to take root deep inside his soul.

End of Chapter 1

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