Beneath Dark Skies

Moth to A Flame

"Dear Kay,
As I sit in this cell, my thoughts are constantly of you and our family. The accusations against me have brought great pain and suffering, not just to me, but to all of us. I want you to know that I am innocent of the charges...,,

-Karter Grimes,letter to his son,year 2881

Kay stepped forward, his boots echoing against the cold marble floor of the grand hall, each step precise, deliberate. His gaze swept over the crowd of students gathered for the ceremony, but I knew he wasn’t really seeing any of them. He was searching for one person. Me.

When his eyes finally found mine, the world snapped into focus, as if everything around us had dimmed into insignificance. His dark eyes were deep, unreadable pools, carrying the weight of years filled with silence, bitterness, and something far more dangerous. For a fleeting moment, I thought I saw recognition flicker across his face, quickly replaced by something sharper—disdain, perhaps.

The history between our families wasn’t just a feud. It was a scar—a deep, festering wound that had only grown more painful with time. My father, a respected prosecutor, had led the trial against Kay’s father, a man once revered as a genius in the arcane sciences. Kay’s father had pushed the boundaries of magic and science, venturing into realms no one else dared to explore. But then the whispers started. Rumors of experiments that defied nature, devices that could warp reality itself, leaving chaos in their wake.

The trial was infamous—brutal in its precision. My father had left no stone unturned, no shadow unexposed. He presented evidence so horrifying that even the council, known for its cold rationality, had been shaken. Diagrams of impossible machines, notes scrawled in a maddening language that hinted at forces no human should ever control, and the shattered minds of those who had come too close to Kay’s father’s work.

In the end, the council branded him a madman. His research was confiscated, locked away in vaults where it would never again see the light of day. Worse still, he was condemned to a prison designed not just to hold, but to break—to strip both the body and soul of any hope of escape. A prison that was more a death sentence than any gallows could provide.

That trial had destroyed Kay’s family, and now, all these years later, that destruction lingered between us like a guillotine hanging by a thread. I could feel the tension in the air—a live current humming just beneath the surface.He wasn’t the type to lash out recklessly. No, he was far too clever and patient for that. His hatred ran deeper, wrapping around every fiber of his being, biding its time for the inevitable strike.

Each time our paths crossed, the air thickened with unspoken animosity, with violence simmering just below the surface, waiting to explode. This wasn’t just a personal vendetta; it was something much larger.

It was war.

Kay’s father had been on the verge of something—something so powerful, so dangerous, that it could have changed everything. My father’s actions had cut that potential short, but the remnants of that ambition lived on in Kay.

And he wasn’t just dangerous—he was brilliant, and in my world, brilliance combined with rage was a volatile, terrifying thing.

A storm brewed, dark and inevitable, pulling us both toward a collision neither of us could avoid.It wasn’t a matter of if—only a question of when.Me, my family, our legacy—all would be gone.

As the ceremony continued, I felt an uneasy pull in the air—something dark and magnetic. My pulse quickened. Glancing around, I saw him cutting his way through the crowd, like a shark circling its prey. Magnificent, but terrifying. And I knew all too well that I was the prey, waiting for the strike.