Kael had never run like this before.

His body felt like it was burning, his breath ragged, his muscles screaming for relief. The ruins of Vael’Thalos blurred around him as he followed the cloaked woman through the jagged remains of an ancient world.

Behind them, the Hounds of the Imperium pursued.

Their unnatural howls echoed through the crumbling stone, closing in fast.

Kael had already seen what they were—twisted things, wrong things. Not men, not beasts. Something in between. Something that shouldn’t exist.

And yet… he had killed one with just a thought.

His heart pounded. He had felt it—the Mark moving before he could think, reacting before he could react. It had crushed the Hound mid-air. Had that been him? Or had it been something else?

"Faster!" the woman snapped.

She wasn’t even out of breath.

Kael gritted his teeth and pushed forward, forcing his body to move.

The ruins opened up into a vast clearing, lit only by the broken moon above. A wide archway stood ahead, half-collapsed, leading into darkness.

The woman skidded to a stop.

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Kael nearly slammed into her. "Why are we stopping?"

She didn’t answer.

Then—a growl.

Kael turned.

At the edge of the ruins, silhouetted against the flickering torchlight, a massive shape emerged.

The Alpha had arrived.

This Hound was different.

The others had been twisted, broken things. But this one—this one was built for war.

It stood taller than a man, its ashen skin stretched over muscle and sinew, its face elongated into a skull-like maw. Its hollow sockets burned with a dim, unnatural glow.

It wasn’t hunting.

It was studying him.

Kael’s breath hitched.

It knows.

It knows what I did.

It knows I killed one of them.

The Alpha took a step forward. Its claws scraped against the stone. Its maw curled back, revealing rows of jagged, uneven teeth.

The woman exhaled slowly. "Do not fight it."

Kael’s fingers twitched. The Mark burned against his skin, pulsing, waiting.

"Run," she said.

Kael didn’t move.

Something inside him was tired of running.

The Hound lunged.

Kael’s vision blurred—he saw the movement before it happened, felt the shift in the air. Time stretched. Slowed.

The Mark reacted.

Kael raised his hand.

A pulse of force erupted from his palm, invisible and absolute. The air twisted, warping with the sheer pressure of it.

The Alpha was thrown back like a ragdoll, its massive form crashing through a stone pillar. Dust exploded outward as the ruins trembled from the impact.

Kael staggered, his breath shallow. His fingers tingled with lingering energy.

He had just done that.

The woman stared at him, unreadable beneath her hood. "You shouldn’t be able to do that."

Kael turned toward her, his body still shaking. "What… am I?"

She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she nodded toward the archway ahead. "If you want answers, we need to leave. Now."

Behind them, the rubble shifted.

The Alpha wasn’t dead.

But it wasn’t charging either.

It was watching him.

And for the first time, Kael saw something in its hollow sockets that sent a chill down his spine.

Fear.