Chapter 4 - The Marked One

One Death, One Power: The Cycle of the Chosen

Chapter 4 – The Marked One

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The sun in Velmora barely warmed the earth. It hung overhead like a tired eye, dull and distant. Riku walked the cracked dirt road toward the town in the distance—Greyhollow.

His Death Sword had vanished into shadow, called back into his soul. But the burning phoenix mark on his chest still faintly glowed beneath his shirt—warm, alive, a silent reminder:

One death. One power.

And it was only beginning.

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Greyhollow was less a town and more a barricade built around fear. Wooden palisades, scorched watchtowers, and people who stared too long or not at all. Everyone was armed. Everyone looked tired.

At the gate, two guards in dull armor blocked his path.

“Name,” one said.

“Riku,” he replied, trying to sound casual.

They looked him over. He didn’t look like a threat—just a teen in Earth clothes, blood-stained hoodie, no visible weapon.

But one of them flinched.

Riku saw his eyes lock on something.

“…The mark,” the second guard whispered.

The phoenix was visible through the tear in his shirt.

The first guard’s face twisted. “You’re marked.”

Riku stepped back. “What does that mean to you?”

“You’re one of them. The Reborn. Freaks brought back by the Goddess of Twilight. Walking curses.”

The second guard raised his spear. “You’re not welcome here.”

Riku’s hand instinctively reached for his sword—

But a voice called out from behind the wall. Soft. Calm. Dangerous.

“Let him through.”

The gates creaked open. A woman in a long black cloak stood there, flanked by two armored warriors.

Eyes like ash. Lips like stone.

“I’ve been waiting for you, phoenix boy,” she said. “My name is Valen, leader of the Nightbinders.”

Riku narrowed his eyes. “How do you know about me?”

She didn’t smile.

“Because you shine like a dying star. You stink of resurrection. And power. Every marked soul is tracked. You don’t walk through this world unnoticed.”

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He was led into the town. People backed away. Some bowed their heads. Others whispered prayers.

The marked weren’t heroes.

They were warnings.

Inside a stone building near the center of Greyhollow, Valen closed the door behind them and lit a black crystal flame.

“You chose Death Sword,” she said, as if reading his mind. “A cursed choice. But fitting.”

He tensed. “How do you know so much?”

Valen leaned forward.

“Because I’ve died too.”

The silence cracked.

Her cloak shifted, revealing a dark phoenix mark on her collarbone—dull and grey.

“I was like you once. Reborn by Lirith. I took the power of Mirror Magic… and died again. And again. Until I realized the truth.”

Riku leaned in. “What truth?”

She stared into the flame.

“You’re not her champion. You’re her experiment.”

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End of Chapter 4

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Chapter 5 next, where Valen explains the secret war between the Marked and the Cleansers, and Riku has to choose between joining her rebellion or escaping before others hunt him down?

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