The Eternal Hunter’s Trace

Chapter 2: The Vanishing Shadows

A crimson glow bathed the ruined cityscape as Kael slowly regained consciousness. The scent of damp earth and dried blood clung to the air, mingling with the thin mist that coiled through the shattered remains of once-grand structures. The silence was deafening, broken only by the distant whisper of the wind.

His body felt like lead—each movement sluggish, as if he had just fought a thousand battles and lost every single one. His muscles ached, his limbs unresponsive. Even breathing felt like an effort, as though his very existence was resisting him.

"Where… am I?"

His thoughts were a jumbled mess. He searched for something—anything—that could explain why he was here. But all he found were fragments, blurred and fleeting, slipping through his grasp like shadows vanishing before dawn. His name, his purpose, his past—it was all there, yet just out of reach.

A dull, persistent throbbing pulsed through his skull. He pressed his fingers against his temple, trying to steady himself. Something was missing. Something vital.

Then, a voice echoed behind him.

"So, you've finally awakened."

The words were calm, yet carried an undercurrent of something unreadable—perhaps suspicion, perhaps amusement.

Kael turned sharply, instincts kicking in as his hand reached for a weapon—only to grasp at empty air. A sudden pang of unease settled in his chest. He should have been armed. He should have been prepared.

A man stood a few paces away. His silver-white hair caught the dim light, his piercing gaze scrutinizing Kael with quiet intensity. The black cloak draped over his shoulders rippled slightly in the wind, amplifying his imposing presence.

"Who are you?" Kael asked, his voice steadier than he expected.

The man remained silent for a moment, studying him. Then, finally, he spoke.

"I should be the one asking you that question."

Kael frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You appeared out of nowhere, wandering these ruins without a name or purpose. Yet, strangely enough… you look like someone who has been here before."

A cold shiver ran down Kael's spine.

The man's words struck something deep within him.

Faint recollections—of this place, of this man—flickered at the edges of his mind. Familiar, yet elusive. Like whispers in a dream he had long forgotten.

"Have I… been here before?"

The stranger gave a faint smirk.

"That's for you to answer."

Kael followed the silver-haired man through the ruins, his boots crunching against scattered debris. Every step felt like treading over the remnants of a forgotten history.

"This city was once the heart of a great kingdom," the man said, his voice carrying a note of nostalgia. "But war and curses have reduced it to this."

Kael's gaze swept over the collapsed structures. Towers that once touched the sky now lay in ruins, their skeletal remains standing as silent witnesses to an ancient tragedy.

A curse…

The word stirred something inside him. A feeling of unease. A recognition he couldn't explain.

"What's your name?" Kael asked.

The man paused briefly before answering.

"Orion."

Kael studied him. "And do you know me?"

Orion met his gaze with an unreadable expression.

"Perhaps."

Vague. Evasive. Yet Kael could sense that Orion knew more than he was letting on.

Before he could press for answers, a new sound reached his ears—footsteps.

But they weren't human.

From the swirling mist, figures emerged—tall, gaunt creatures with elongated limbs and hollow eyes that burned like dying embers. Their blackened skin pulsed, as if something writhing beneath it sought release.

Kael's breath hitched.

He knew what they were.

"Wraiths."

Orion gave him a sharp glance. "So you do remember."

Kael didn't answer. His pulse quickened—not out of fear, but from an instinctual urge to fight.

One of the Wraiths lunged at him, moving faster than human eyes could track.

Without thinking, Kael's body reacted on its own.

He ducked low, grabbing a jagged piece of metal from the rubble and swinging it upward. The makeshift weapon struck the Wraith's head, but the blow was too weak to deal any real damage.

His movements were slow.

A realization struck him like a hammer to the chest.

He was weaker than he should be.

Something was missing.

Before he could recover, another Wraith launched itself from behind—claws glinting in the dim light.

A streak of black steel flashed through the air.

Orion's sword.

With a single, precise strike, Orion impaled the creature. It convulsed before disintegrating into wisps of black smoke. He withdrew his blade with practiced ease and turned toward Kael.

"You've lost something, haven't you?"

Kael's breath was ragged. His hands trembled—not from fear, but from the weight of Orion's words.

He had lost something.

Not just his memories.

His strength. His skills. His very essence.

After the brief skirmish, Kael sat atop a broken pillar, his fists clenched.

"I didn't just lose my memories. I lost myself."

Orion stood nearby, his gaze unreadable. "If you don't reclaim what was taken from you, this world will consume you."

Kael looked up. "What do you mean?"

Before Orion could answer, a presence stirred in the mist.

Soft, deliberate footsteps.

Kael turned his head—and his breath caught.

A girl stood there, her silver hair shimmering under the dim light, her violet eyes filled with an unfathomable sadness.

Kael's heart pounded violently in his chest.

He knew her.

He should know her.

But as he desperately searched his mind for a name, for a single fragment of recognition—

Everything slipped away.

Like a shadow vanishing before dawn.

The girl's gaze lingered on him, quiet yet piercing.

Kael took a hesitant step forward, his breath uneven. "You… Who are you?"

She didn't answer immediately. Instead, something flickered in her violet eyes—hesitation, pain.

"You don't remember me," she murmured.

It wasn't a question.

Kael clenched his fists. He hated this. This feeling of knowing yet not knowing.

"I… don't know," he admitted. "But I feel like I should."

She sighed softly. Then, she reached into her cloak and retrieved something, holding it out to him.

A pendant.

Simple, unadorned. But the moment his fingers brushed against it—

Pain. Sharp. Blinding.

—Flash.

Silver hair under the moonlight.

A hand reaching for him.

A name on the tip of his tongue.

—Gone.

The memory shattered before he could grasp it.

Kael staggered back, his breathing heavy.

"What… What is this?"

The girl watched him quietly.

"A piece of what you lost."

As Kael clenched the pendant in his palm, a new resolve burned in his chest.

He would reclaim what was lost.

No matter what it took.

A cold wind swept through the ruins, carrying with it a whisper of something long forgotten. Kael's grip tightened around the pendant, his pulse hammering against his ribs. This object—this tiny, insignificant thing—felt heavier than any blade he had ever wielded.

Orion observed him with quiet intensity. The girl, still standing a few steps away, said nothing. Her violet eyes held a sorrow so deep that it threatened to consume him.

Kael forced himself to steady his breath. His mind raced. What did I just see? A fleeting vision, a sensation of warmth, a name he couldn't grasp. Why does it hurt so much to remember?

He lifted his gaze toward the girl.

"Who are you to me?" His voice came out hoarse, uncertain.

The girl's lips parted, as if she wanted to answer—but something held her back. The silence between them stretched, thick with unsaid words.

Orion exhaled, his patience seemingly thinning. "If you stand here questioning everything, you will find no answers." He turned, his cloak billowing in the wind. "The past is like a shattered mirror. You can try to piece it together, but the reflection will never be the same."

Kael's jaw clenched. I don't need riddles—I need the truth.

But before he could press further, the ground trembled beneath them. A low, guttural growl rumbled through the air. The mist that had been swirling lazily around the ruins suddenly thickened, twisting unnaturally. The temperature dropped, biting into Kael's skin.

Then—

Shkkk—

A monstrous, inhuman shriek split the silence.

From the darkness, something emerged.

It wasn't like the wraiths before. This was different. Bigger. More grotesque.

A towering entity, its body a mass of shifting black tendrils, loomed above them. Its hollow eyes burned with violet fire, and from within its formless body, distorted whispers echoed—a chorus of agonized voices trapped in endless torment.

Kael's breath hitched.

This thing… I know it.

A flash of memory—a battlefield drowned in darkness. A creature just like this, looming over him. Pain. Despair. And death.

The realization sent a jolt through his veins.

He had faced this before.

And he had died.

The creature lunged.

Move!

Kael's instincts screamed at him, but his body was still too slow. The black tendrils lashed toward him like spears—

CLANG!

Orion intercepted the strike with his blade, sparks flying as steel met unnatural darkness. His expression remained calm, but his stance spoke volumes—he was taking this seriously.

"Get up," Orion barked at Kael, his voice like ice. "If you hesitate, you'll die again."

Again.

The word hit Kael harder than it should have.

The girl suddenly moved, stepping in front of him. A faint glow pulsed around her, like an unseen force shielding her from the creature's presence. She turned toward him, urgency in her gaze.

"Kael," she whispered. "You still have something left. Even if you don't remember… your body does."

Kael's eyes widened.

My body… does?

His fingers twitched. A distant memory surfaced—the weight of a sword, the fluid motion of a strike, the thrill of battle.

He had lost his memories. His strength. His very essence.

But his body remembered.

Kael forced himself up, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His legs felt unsteady, but he pushed forward, dragging himself into a stance that felt… right. Familiar.

The creature screeched again, its tendrils shifting, preparing for another attack.

Kael exhaled.

Remember.

His fingers curled into a fist. Then, as if guided by something beyond his fractured mind—his hand moved.

A cold sensation wrapped around his palm.

A sword.

It appeared—not forged of metal, but of something more primal. Translucent, flickering between existence and nothingness, as if it wasn't fully in this world. Its weight settled in his grasp, an extension of himself.

Orion's eyes flickered with something close to approval.

Kael didn't waste time questioning it.

The creature lunged—Kael moved.

Faster. Stronger.

His blade met the tendrils mid-air, severing them in a single, fluid motion. The beast reeled back, its anguished howls rattling the ruins.

Kael landed lightly on his feet, his stance solid.

This feeling—this was how it was supposed to be.

He didn't know why. He didn't know how. But his body remembered the battle even if his mind didn't.

The creature roared, its wounds already beginning to stitch themselves back together. But Kael wasn't afraid anymore.

He had been weak. Hesitant. Lost.

But for the first time since waking up in this cursed place—

He felt like himself.

He tightened his grip on the blade, his voice steady.

"This time…" He narrowed his eyes. "I won't die so easily."

The girl watched him, something unreadable flashing through her gaze. Then, she whispered under her breath—so softly, it was almost lost in the wind.

"That's right. You've said those words before."

Orion raised his sword, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"Then prove it."

The battlefield fell silent for a breath.

Then—

The war resumed.

Kael's pulse pounded like war drums. The echoes of lost battles whispered in his bones, yet his body moved with a certainty his mind couldn't recall. The creature loomed before him, a writhing mass of shadows, its violet eyes burning with unnatural hunger.

You've fought this before.

A forgotten memory clawed at the edge of his consciousness—a battlefield drenched in blood, his blade cutting through darkness, a promise made in dying breath.

This time, he wouldn't fall.

With a steady exhale, Kael tightened his grip.

And then, he charged.

[End of Chapter 2]