Kade's eyes snapped open, the world around him spinning in a blur of colors and strange, unrecognizable sounds. He tried to move, but his body felt like it was made of stone—heavy, rigid, and unresponsive. His head throbbed with pain, as if it were being split open by an invisible force. For a moment, he wondered if he was dead.
But the cold, damp air and the faint scent of earth told him otherwise.
He was alive, but where? And how?
His breath came in shallow gasps as he struggled to rise, his limbs aching with every small movement. Slowly, as his body regained some semblance of control, he pushed himself to a sitting position. The pain in his head eased, though his mind felt foggy. Something important was missing. Memories, perhaps? He couldn't quite place it.
It was then that he realized something far more unsettling.
He wasn't alone.
From the shadows of the dimly lit forest, a group of ragged figures emerged, their eyes glinting with malice in the dark. They were no more than a handful, but their presence felt suffocating—each one radiating a cruel intent. In their hands, they carried crude weapons: rusty swords, jagged knives, and wooden clubs. They looked like bandits, their clothing torn and stained with dirt.
Kade's mind raced. What was happening? Where was he? Who were these people?
One of the bandits, a tall man with a scar running down his face, stepped forward, sneering as he pointed a rusted blade at Kade. "Well, look what we have here. Another lost soul."
Kade's throat tightened. Fear? No. His heart didn't beat with terror. It beat with something far colder—a burning, instinctual need to survive.
The man laughed. "Don't think we'll let you go without a fight. We're not the forgiving type."
Without warning, the bandits advanced, closing the distance in a heartbeat. Kade's body reacted before his mind could fully process it. A surge of energy coursed through him—raw, untamed, and ancient. It exploded from his chest in a violent wave of force, a storm of blood-red flames that engulfed the bandits in an instant.
The first man was consumed completely. His scream was cut short as his body disintegrated in the inferno. The others recoiled in shock, eyes wide with fear, but Kade was already moving.
He surged forward, his body a blur of motion. The world slowed as if the air itself thickened with the weight of his actions. A flash of steel. One of the bandits was already on the ground, his throat slit with inhuman speed. Another tried to raise a club to strike, but Kade was faster, grabbing the man's arm, twisting it with brutal force. The sound of snapping bone echoed through the night as he wrenched the weapon from the man's grip and drove it through his chest.
The remaining two tried to flee, but Kade was upon them in an instant, his hands like iron claws. There was no mercy in his grip, no hesitation. They struggled, but it was useless. One died from a shattered neck, the other from a fatal blow to the heart.
Kade stood alone in the clearing, the smoke from his Bloodfire curling in the air around him. His chest rose and fell as his breathing slowed. The forest was eerily silent now, save for the crackling of the flames that had devoured the bandits. His heart still beat, steady and strong. But something else stirred inside him—an emptiness, a hunger.
He looked down at the remains of his enemies, his mind still trying to catch up with what had just happened. He had killed them all in seconds. It wasn't just the speed—it was the ease. The natural way his body had moved. The power that had exploded from within him.
What was this power?
His mind shifted, trying to piece together the fragments of his memories. Something... something was missing. His family? A wife? Children? He couldn't remember.
But the ache was there. The need to return to them, to find them, to protect them.
Kade's gaze hardened as he surveyed the destruction around him. He had no idea where he was or how he had arrived in this world, but one thing was certain—there was no turning back now. The desire to survive had awakened something darker inside him, something unstoppable. He would not rest until he had the answers he needed.
Until he returned to his family.
The road ahead would be filled with blood. And he would walk it, leaving nothing but death in his wake.
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