Capítulo 35: Hatred. Despair. Rage.
"Don't worry, Mother," Elion said with quiet resolve, his voice firm and steady despite the storm raging inside him. "I'll find a way to get us out of this."
Graviel's lips twitched, almost forming a faint smirk. "Bold words for someone who has already failed once," he said, his tone calm but mocking. "But I'll admit... I enjoy your defiance. It's rare to see someone stand before me without trembling. Even rarer from someone so small."
Elion narrowed his eyes but said nothing. He could feel Verion's gaze on him, full of trust and reckless encouragement, and his mother's silent, unwavering support behind him.
"I accept your challenge," Elion finally said, his voice cutting through the tension like a blade.
Graviel's smirk widened, his silver eyes gleaming with interest. He clasped his hands behind his back, exuding an air of complete confidence. "Good. Then come—"
SLAM!
The heavy double doors of the grand hall burst open with a deafening crash, interrupting Graviel mid-sentence. Every head turned toward the entrance.
There, framed by the splintered wood and the flickering light of the grand hall's lanterns, stood Kaelan.
His disheveled hair clung to his sweat-soaked forehead, his face twisted with barely contained rage. His chest heaved as if he'd run a long distance, but his eyes burned with hatred—raw, unfiltered, and directed squarely at Verion.
"YOU!" Kaelan's voice was a guttural snarl, filled with venom. He took an unsteady step forward, his trembling hand pointing directly at Verion. "You… bastard…"
Verion tilted his head, wiping a trickle of blood from his temple as his grin returned. "Oh? Look who decided to show up," he said mockingly, his tone dripping with amusement. "Feeling a little incomplete, are we?"
Kaelan's body visibly shook, his fists clenching so hard that his knuckles turned white. "You ruined me!" he screamed, his voice cracking with fury. "You've taken everything from me! My pride, my future—my life!"
"You've still got your mouth, apparently," Verion quipped, his grin widening.
"ENOUGH!" Kaelan roared, his voice echoing through the hall. His entire body seemed to convulse as he staggered forward.
Elion's eyes narrowed as he studied Kaelan, something about the man's movements was setting off alarms in his mind. Kaelan's aura was strange—chaotic and unnatural.
Kaelan continued to rant, his voice growing more unhinged with every word. "I'll kill you... I'll kill all of you!" he spat, his gaze flicking briefly to Elara and Elion before snapping back to Verion. "Especially you… I'll make you suffer. I'll tear you apart with my own hands!"
"That's quite the tantrum," Verion muttered, though even he was starting to notice something off about Kaelan.
"Kaelan." Graviel's deep, commanding voice cut through the chaos like thunder, silencing the younger man's rant. Graviel's silver eyes narrowed as he studied his son with an unreadable expression. "Compose yourself. You're embarrassing the Vossmer family even more than usual."
But Kaelan didn't respond. His breathing grew heavier, more erratic, and a low, guttural growl began to escape his throat.
For a moment, it seemed as though Graviel's words had struck a nerve, and Kaelan's trembling body stilled. But then—
"Embarrassing?" Kaelan hissed, his voice low and trembling with rage. His head snapped up, and his bloodshot eyes locked onto Graviel, glowing faintly with crimson light. "Embarrassing…?"
A bitter laugh escaped his lips, shaky at first but quickly escalating into something wild and unhinged. "That's all I've ever been to you, isn't it?" Kaelan's voice cracked, his emotions spilling out like a dam breaking. "A failure… a disgrace… an embarrassment to the great Vossmer family!"
The elders exchanged uneasy glances, their whispers growing louder as the atmosphere in the grand hall grew increasingly oppressive.
"Kaelan, enough," Elder Lysandre said sharply, her cold demeanor wavering as the strange, suffocating energy around Kaelan continued to build. "This tantrum will—"
"SHUT UP!" Kaelan's scream cut her off, his voice echoing through the hall with a raw, guttural edge. He staggered forward, his clawed hands clutching his head as if trying to contain the storm raging within him. "You think I'm throwing a tantrum? You think this is just some childish fit?"
His breathing grew even more ragged, and black veins began to crawl across his pale skin, pulsating with unnatural energy.
"You… you all don't understand… you've never understood!" Kaelan's gaze swept across the room, filled with a mix of fury and despair. "All my life, I've been nothing but a shadow to my siblings. Kaelric, the golden son! Kaelissa, the Martial Sage prodigy! And me?!" His voice cracked again, and he let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "I was born without talent… without strength… without worth!"
Elion watched in silence, his sharp eyes narrowing as he observed Kaelan's erratic movements. The aura surrounding him was growing thicker, darker, and far more volatile.
Kaelan turned his burning gaze back to Graviel, pointing a trembling claw at his father. "And you… you!" he spat, his voice trembling with a mix of hatred and pain. "You were supposed to be my father. You were supposed to protect me… guide me… believe in me!"
Graviel's silver eyes narrowed slightly, but he said nothing, his expression unreadable.
"But no," Kaelan continued, his voice breaking as tears streamed down his face. "You called me weak… useless… a waste of Vossmer blood. You never even looked at me, not the way you looked at Kaelric or the others. To you, I've always been… trash."
The word hung in the air like a dagger, cutting deeper than any blade. The energy radiating from Kaelan surged, a torrent of chaotic power that crackled and hissed, sending faint tremors through the marble floor.
"Kaelan, control yourself!" one of the elders shouted, though his voice betrayed his unease.
"Control myself?" Kaelan's head snapped toward the elder, his twisted features contorted with fury. "Why should I? I've spent my entire life trying to control myself—trying to be something I'm not, just to earn your approval. And for what?!"
His voice cracked, raw with emotion. "For you to look at me with disgust? For you to cast me aside like I was nothing?"
Kaelan's breathing grew heavier, each exhale like a growl. The dark veins crawling across his skin thickened, spreading to his face and arms, and his fingers elongated further into claw-like appendages.
"Why… why did I even try?" he muttered, his voice dropping to a whisper. Then he snapped, his voice exploding into a roar that shook the hall. "WHY DIDN'T YOU EVER LOVE ME?!"
The hall fell into stunned silence. Even Graviel, for all his unshakable composure, stood motionless, his expression unreadable as Kaelan's anguished words echoed in the air.
But the silence didn't last.
The oppressive energy surrounding Kaelan erupted like a tidal wave, slamming into the walls of the grand hall. The marble beneath him cracked, spiderwebbing outward as if the very ground couldn't bear the weight of his emotions.
The elders exchanged uneasy glances, their whispers filling the hall.
Kaelan's body twisted further, his form becoming more grotesque with each passing second. His muscles bulged unnaturally, his bones snapping and reforming as his body warped into something monstrous. His once-human face stretched into a hideous, jagged snarl, and his glowing crimson eyes burned with an inhuman light. His fingers twisted, elongating into claw-like appendages, and his skin took on a sickly, ashen hue.
The air thickened with something primal and unnatural. It wasn't just dark—it was suffocating, as if the very essence of life in the room recoiled in fear.
The room erupted into chaos.
The elders recoiled in horror, their Qi flaring defensively as they watched Kaelan's transformation.
"What is happening to him?!" one elder shouted, his voice trembling.
"This… this power isn't Qi!" another elder stammered, his voice trembling. "What is this?"
For the first time in decades, Graviel's silver eyes flickered with something foreign—uncertainty. This wasn't Qi. This wasn't something he could control.
"Kaelan!" Graviel's voice boomed, his silver eyes narrowing as he stepped forward. For the first time, there was a hint of unease in his expression. "What have you become?"
Kaelan—or what was left of him—let out a guttural, inhuman roar, the sound reverberating through the hall like a nightmare-given voice.
" ǬǮǶǙǚɁѬ..."
Elion's mind raced as he watched Kaelan's grotesque transformation. The air around him warped, suffused with a suffocating darkness—not physical but emotional. Hatred. Despair. Rage.
No… it can't be.
His golden eyes widened in shock.
That aura… that distorted sound… that overwhelming chaos.
He had faced it before—countless times in his past life.
"How…?" Elion whispered, his voice barely audible. "How is there a Dred… in this world?"
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