Here is Chapter 10 of Kael Draven: Empire of the Forsaken.
Kael walks into his first real confrontation — not with monsters, but with men who think they can control or claim him.
They are about to learn why he and his dragon are beyond control, beyond threat... beyond mercy.
Chapter 10 — Leash the Storm
The fire had burned low.
The survivor camp was quiet, buried in the hum of distant wind and the breathing of men too tired to dream. Rhel slept beneath his patched blanket. His ribs still ached, but his sleep was deep — for the first time in days.
Kael didn't sleep.
He sat on a hill just outside the camp, helmet resting beside him, war axe embedded in the dirt like a gravestone.
His dragon coiled nearby, the beast's twelve heads resting against one another, glowing eyes open in the dark. Watching. Waiting.
Kael stared across the horizon.
Then he felt it.
Not wind. Not noise.
Presence.
Something sharp. Something deliberate.
Not animals. Not raiders.
Hunters.
They came just before dawn.
Seven figures, cloaked in black and grey, moved silently across the ridge like mist with blades. Their steps were careful. Precise. Too precise for survivors.
Kael rose slowly.
He didn't call out. He didn't draw his weapon.
He let them get close.
The lead figure finally emerged from behind a boulder, lowering his hood.
A man with sharp silver hair, angular eyes, and golden embroidery stitched into his collar. Guild markings. High rank.
Kael said nothing.
The man smirked.
"You're taller than they described. That's good. The buyer will be impressed."
Kael's grip didn't tighten. His posture didn't change.
He simply blinked — once — slowly.
"You're standing on a grave," Kael said flatly.
The man raised an eyebrow. "Whose?"
"Yours."
In a flash, four of the cloaked hunters darted forward — magic chains flaring from their wrists, glowing with cursed runes. They didn't speak spells. These were prepared traps, designed to suppress even monstrous creatures.
They had been used before to bind mages. Dragons. Beasts of legend.
But they had never been used on Kael.
The moment the first chain reached his armor, it snapped in mid-air, the energy recoiling violently and slamming the wielder into a nearby tree with a crunch.
The others hesitated. The leader stepped back slightly, frowning.
"That's impossible."
Kael moved.
One step. Then another.
The second hunter raised his staff — a freezing sigil exploded beneath Kael's feet, locking the ground in crystal frost.
Kael didn't stop walking.
The frost shattered under his boots.
"I warned you," Kael muttered.
Then he grabbed the third hunter by the throat before the man could react and slammed him into the rock wall so hard the skull split before the body dropped.
The axe never left Kael's back.
The leader growled. "Plan B."
From the edge of the ridge, two figures raised their hands and directed their magic—not at Kael, but at the shadow behind him.
At the dragon.
The moment the spell circle bloomed, a sound tore through the air — low at first, then rising like a scream buried beneath thunder.
Twelve glowing eyes snapped open.
The dragon uncoiled.
They had made a mistake.
The world bent around it.
One of the mages screamed as his spell exploded in his hand, burning his arm clean off. The other fell backward, his body frozen mid-cast, pupils dilated as his brain tried to process what had just looked back at him.
Twelve heads. Twelve roars.
The ground fractured.
Elemental chaos burst outward — fire, ice, lightning, rot, wind, shadow, and more — each head exhaling a different punishment.
The sky turned black.
Two hunters ran.
They didn't make it far.
One was crushed under a tidal wave of molten rock that hadn't existed seconds before. The other was shredded mid-air by claws the size of trees.
Kael turned to the leader — the only one left standing.
The man trembled, blood dripping from his nose.
"Wh-What are you?"
Kael reached over his shoulder and unsheathed the war axe.
The blade pulsed — not with light, but with souls.
"You came to claim me."
He stepped forward.
"You thought I could be chained."
The leader raised his hands. "Wait. Please. We were told—"
Kael's axe fell once.
The words never finished.
When the dust settled, the camp below was awake — terrified, eyes wide, staring up at the ridge. Rhel stood with a spear, heart racing, unsure whether the world was ending or just Kael beginning.
The dragon returned to its calm position behind Kael.
Its heads turned toward the people once.
Just once.
And every soul in the camp dropped to their knees.
Kael cleaned the edge of his axe on the cloak of the fallen.
Rhel climbed slowly to the top of the hill, cautious.
"Who sent them?"
Kael replied without looking.
"A guild. One that heard rumors of a war machine walking the woods."
Rhel exhaled. "They're going to come harder next time."
Kael sheathed his axe.
"Then I'll swing harder."
End of Chapter 10