Vail listened to their cheers, yet he did not understand what he truly felt. At times he felt a strange happiness, and at other times a deep sadness for what was about to happen.
It was a strange feeling… as if a part of him truly wanted the kingdom to fall. As if a devil were whispering inside him.
As if touches of darkness had crept into his mind.
Vail the Shadow stood before them, witnessing a rebellion about to unfold. He saw the kingdom he had lived in about to fall into bloody wars. Before him stood King Theron, his wife Elara, and their daughter Mira—on the verge of losing everything.
A long shadow stretched across the royal hall. It was so dark that Vail could see nothing but a faint, ominous glow within it.
Suddenly, everyone stopped moving.
Even Sidra froze in place.
It was as if time itself had stopped.
"Vail… it has begun."
The voice was familiar to him. He knew that voice well—it belonged to that ominous figure.
Ink.
"Vail, no one can move under my power. This is the power of the Shadow Mark… or as you now call it, the Forgotten Mark."
Vail's body trembled. Deep inside, he knew he carried the same power—but he never knew it was the Shadow Mark.
Everything that had happened to him suddenly began to connect.
The soldiers.
His future self.
The darkness.
Everything… was tied to the shadows.
"Let me explain," Ink said calmly. "I will not tell you who I am. In time, you will learn everything, Vail. You will learn why you were chosen… and why it had to be you."
"The Shadow Mark was erased from history and renamed the Forgotten Mark because its power surpasses all other marks. It is close to absolute power. But the one who bears it must pay a terrible price… the first sacrifice being himself."
"The first bearer of the mark was hunted and sacrificed by everyone to stop him. Do you know why, Vail? Because he crossed the ultimate red line… he tried to rewrite history itself. He tried to erase humanity completely."
Ink's expression was deadly serious—terrifying even. His eyes slowly turned red.
Vail stood beneath Ink's enormous shadow. Everyone else remained frozen, while he alone could move. Shock overwhelmed him. He had no idea what fate he had just stepped into.
"Vail… I allowed you to move only to tell you one thing."
"There is no going back."
Ink's words pierced Vail's heart like a blade.
"Then kill me… just kill me. I'm tired."
Vail shouted through tears. He never wanted to be part of something this massive.
Suddenly, Ink released a beam of black energy directly into Vail's chest.
Vail froze in place.
His entire body began to pulse violently. Blood burst from every part of him. He cried out in agony.
"You know… hardships strengthen the heart. Today you survive death. Tomorrow… you will rise above everyone."
Ink said those words while looking at Vail with a cursed gaze.
Vail struggled with unbearable pain.
Pain within himself… and the pain Ink forced upon him.
"This is the pain of people, Vail," Ink shouted.
"The pain of the oppressed.
The pain of the poor.
The pain of those who are alone."
"This is the power of the Shadow Mark. You feel their pain… their moments… their emotions."
Vail screamed as endless thoughts flooded his mind.
He saw a man murdered unjustly.
He saw a woman assaulted and thrown away like garbage.
He saw a child abandoned in the streets because he was born illegitimate.
He saw countless horrors.
His mind filled with visions.
Sometimes he cried.
Sometimes he screamed from the agony of what he witnessed.
"Vail, the Shadow Mark has stages," Ink continued.
"The first stage is Shadow.
The second is Darkness.
The third… is Void."
"To reach the Void, you must sacrifice—or destroy—countless souls. The souls I destroyed to reach that stage… cannot be counted."
Vail screamed through the pain.
"Then you do it! Why don't you do it yourself?!"
Ink looked at him with sorrow.
"I wish I could. If I could, I would never have dragged an innocent boy like you into this, Vail."
"I have been sealed for hundreds of years. I can only appear before someone who bears the Shadow Mark. And the stopped time you see now… is only an illusion inside your mind. In the real world, only a few seconds have passed."
The pain finally stopped.
Vail collapsed beneath the towering shadow. His body felt shattered from the inside.
Ink leaned close and whispered into his ear.
"Choose, Vail."
"Continue the remaining stages and learn the entire truth…"
"Or save the king, his wife, and his daughter."
"The choice is yours."
Ink extended his hand.
Vail stared at him—the man people called a miracle.
He was torn apart by doubt.
He wanted answers.
Why had he gone through all of this?
Why was he chosen?
Why him?
Who was he?
Where did he come from?
And what was that strange image he saw in the illusory fracture?
He wanted to know everything.
But then he thought about the kingdom he had lived in… the school… the days he spent among the people of that village.
And he felt pity for the king and his family.
The choice was painful.
But Vail made it.
His body trembled. His spirit felt broken.
His eyes… had already lost their light.
"I… choose the king."
He hesitated as he spoke.
Ink smiled faintly.
"From this moment, Vail… your journey of pain and trials begins. Be patient."
"I will grant you the first stage of the Shadow Mark. Go—kill them and take the king and his family out of here."
The towering shadow disappeared.
Ink vanished.
The illusion collapsed.
Suddenly Vail returned to reality.
He was no longer a shadow—he was human again.
He wore a polished silver armor that gleamed as if it were crafted for a king. A long dark-red cloak hung from his shoulders, trimmed with thick black fur that gave him the aura of a ruler or a great commander. Golden chains crossed his chest, adding a royal elegance that made it clear he was no ordinary warrior.
The knight held a long sword planted in the ground with both hands, resting on its hilt as if leaning on it.
The stance felt heavy.
As if the sword were not just a weapon… but a symbol of an oath he could never escape.
His face looked calm—but burdened by something invisible.
Perhaps a loss.
Perhaps a war that had ended.
Perhaps a throne that had been lost.
Around him the grass moved gently in the wind, while he stood still like a statue.
Like a knight whose battle had ended…
but whose story had not.
Vail clenched his hands, creating a massive shadow that grabbed the advisor and swallowed him.
Vail then appeared before the king and his family.
Everyone in the hall was shocked. They could not believe what had just happened. They had been moments away from taking the throne from the royal family—when suddenly the advisor vanished.
Suddenly nearly fifty warriors and knights surrounded Vail.
Most of them were Mark users.
The captain of the knights, Donvan, shouted:
"Who are you? Where did you come from? And how dare you kill the advisor?"
Vail replied with cold calmness.
"I am the shadow that kills."
"I am the shadow that fights."
The soldiers trembled.
It was the first time they had ever seen power like this.
Sidra stood in the corner, staring at Vail with a mix of regret and fear.
She wanted to reach out to him…
but she could not.
Vail glanced toward the corner and saw her standing there.
The brokenness on his face was obvious.
He had seen horrors within Ink's beam—he had witnessed the suffering of the entire world.
And now he understood.
This miserable reality was the truth of the world.
He no longer cared about what Sidra had done to him.
He no longer cared about Ink.
All he wanted… was to free himself from the curse that had fallen upon him.
Vail had changed.