The ruins of Vael’Thalos were a maze of crumbling stone and moonlit shadows.

  Kael followed the cloaked woman through the wreckage, his breath steady but his mind racing. He didn’t trust her. Not yet. But if the Imperium had sent the Hounds after him, he had no choice.

  Something stirred behind them.

  A sound—low, guttural, unnatural.

  Kael glanced back. The ruins behind them were empty, but his instincts screamed.

  They were being watched.

  The woman must have sensed it too. Her pace quickened.

  "They’re close."

  "How close?"

  She didn’t answer.

  The silence stretched—until it shattered.

  A howl.

  Not a wolf’s call.

  Not a beast’s cry.

  Something worse.

  Kael felt it before he saw it—the air grew heavy, thick, as if the night itself had turned against them.

  His chest tightened. His muscles tensed.

  Then—movement.

  From the farthest edge of the ruins, something crawled into view.

  A silhouette, low to the ground, moving wrong.

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  The first Hound had found them.

  Kael had seen monsters before. This was worse.

  The creature was twisted and wrong, its form hunched and shifting, its limbs too long for its body. Its skin was ashen, stretched too tightly over bone, its fingers ending in jagged claws that scraped against the stone.

  Its eyes—there were no eyes.

  Only hollow sockets, black as the void.

  Kael’s pulse spiked. He had never seen these things before—not in all his years as an Inquisitor.

  If the Imperium had monsters like these, why had they never used them before?

  Or… had they simply never needed to?

  The woman exhaled, low and steady.

  "Don’t stop. Keep moving."

  Kael’s body disagreed. His instincts screamed fight.

  But he forced himself to follow her deeper into the ruins.

  Another growl.

  Then another.

  From the rooftops.

  From the broken archways.

  From the darkness itself—

  More Hounds appeared.

  Kael’s fingers clenched. How many were there?

  "Run," the woman ordered.

  Kael didn’t argue.

  They moved fast, darting through the ruins, stone and debris blurring past.

  The Hounds followed, their movements unnatural, twitching, skittering like puppets on invisible strings.

  One leaped from a rooftop—too fast.

  Kael pivoted, his arm snapping up on instinct.

  The Hound lunged, its fangs inches from his throat—

  Then it stopped.

  Mid-air.

  Suspended, as if held by an unseen force.

  Kael's breath caught. He hadn’t moved.

  The Mark had.

  A pulse of invisible energy rippled outward, crushing the Hound like a vice.

  The creature convulsed—then burst apart, its body unraveling into dust.

  Kael staggered back, his vision swimming.

  What… was that?

  The woman grabbed his arm.

  "Now you understand," she said. "You’re not normal anymore."

  Another howl.

  The rest of the Hounds had seen what happened.

  And now—

  They weren’t hunting him.

  They were afraid of him.

  But fear made them reckless.

  The largest Hound charged.

  Kael turned, this time embracing the Mark’s power.

  And the night erupted into chaos.