The Shattered Sky: Only I Do What the Gods Can't

An hour and a half before the chaos of the battle, Kael had slipped deeper into the bandit hideout.

Moving silently through the tents and into the twisting corridors of a cave carved into the rock, he pressed his back to the cold walls, his blade at the ready.

The air was heavy with the faint flickering of the torches embedded in the walls, casting an eerie glow in the otherwise dim passageways. Neo's voice cut through the silence in his mind.

"Something's off here," she said, her tone sharp.

Kael didn't need her to elaborate. He felt it too—the oppressive atmosphere, the faint stench of burnt flesh mingling with the metallic hum of fragment energy. This wasn't just a hideout; it was something darker.

He paused at the entrance to a room illuminated by a flickering fragment-powered lamp.

Peering inside, he saw a table covered in scattered maps and papers. Strange symbols were scrawled across some of them, alongside a crude sketch of Raven Town, the town he had just come from.

'Looks like their planning room,' Kael thought to himself... and to Neo .

"Search it," Neo urged, her voice unusually commanding.

Kael slipped inside, his steps cautious. The room was cluttered but organized enough to reveal its purpose. Shelves lined the walls, filled with fragment shards, vials of strange liquids, and stacks of parchment.

He scanned the table, his eyes darting over the documents. Most of the maps were focused on Raven Town and its surrounding areas.

Notes scrawled in rough handwriting detailed patrol schedules, supply routes, and weak points in the town's defenses.

"They've been watching this place for months," Kael muttered, his jaw tightening.

But as he flipped through the papers, something caught his eye—a set of documents bound with a thick leather strap. Unlike the rest, these were neat, precise, and marked with a strange insignia: a black circle with jagged lines radiating outward.

"Void Bandits #4," Neo said, her voice tinged with unease.

"Void Bandits?" Kael repeated, frowning.

"They're not just bandits," Neo replied. "This is part of something much bigger."

Kael's grip tightened on the papers as he read through them. His stomach churned with each sentence, his anger building with every word.

The Void Bandits weren't just raiding towns for supplies, raping the woman of villages and towns or selling captives as slaves. They had a far more sinister purpose.

The papers detailed horrifying experiments conducted on their prisoners—tests involving corrupted fragments. The goal was clear: to learn how the corruption spread, how to control it, and how to weaponize it.

Kael's hands trembled as he flipped through sketches and diagrams of human figures twisted into grotesque forms. Some had extra limbs, others were covered in miasma-like flesh, and all bore the unmistakable signs of corruption.

"They're creating controllable hordes of corrupted," Neo said grimly. "This isn't just greed. It's a evil attempt to harness the darkest parts of fragment power."

Kael felt his chest tighten, his breath coming in short bursts. He imagined the screams of those who had been subjected to these experiments, the pain they must have endured.

Then he saw it—an entry that froze him in place: Test Site #12 – Village of Riverstone.

His village.

Kael's vision blurred with rage as he read the details. The attack on Riverstone hadn't been random. The Void Bandits had targeted his home as part of their twisted experiments, using the villagers as fodder for their corrupted creations.

"This… this is because of them," Kael growled, his voice shaking. "My father… everyone…"

Neo's voice was quiet but firm. "Focus, Kael. You can't change the past, but you can stop them now."

Kael forced himself to breathe, his anger simmering just below the surface. He continued searching the room, determined to find anything that could help him bring these monsters down.

In the corner of the room, he found a set of locked chests. Using a nearby crowbar, Kael pried one open. Inside were small vials filled with a viscous black liquid that seemed to pulse faintly, as though alive.

"What is this?" Kael asked, holding one up to the light.

"Corruption in liquid form. It's the blood of the corrupted," Neo said, her tone filled with disgust. "They're trying to distill it, to make it something they can control."

Kael's grip on the vial tightened. He wanted to smash it then and there, to destroy every trace of their work. But he knew he couldn't. He needed proof—evidence of what the Void Bandits were doing.

He placed the vial back and moved to the next chest. Inside, he found a pile of torn clothing, trinkets, and other personal items—likely taken from the bandits' victims.

His stomach turned as he spotted a small wooden carving, the kind a child might make.

Kael swallowed hard, forcing himself to move on.

The final chest held a ledger, its pages filled with records of the bandits' operations. Kael scanned the entries, his heart sinking with each name and number.

"They're planning to take over Raven Town," Neo said as Kael reached the most recent pages. "They're going to demand a ransom from the noble, and when they get it, they'll betray him. The whole town will be turned into a corrupted breeding ground."

Kael's knuckles turned white as he gripped the ledger. "Not if I stop them first."

Kael's gaze shifted to a map pinned to the wall. It showed a detailed layout of Raven Town, with marks indicating key locations—the marketplace, the guard barracks, the noble's manor. But what caught his attention was the large red circle drawn around the outskirts.

"They're hitting the outskirts first," Kael said, his voice low. "They'll weaken the town from the outside in."

Neo's voice was steely. "Then you know what you have to do."

Kael nodded, his resolve hardening. He gathered the most important documents and evidence, tucking them into his pack. He couldn't let the Void Bandits' plans come to fruition.

As he turned to leave, a faint sound reached his ears—the creak of a door opening down the hall.

"They're coming," Neo warned.

Kael extinguished the lamp and slipped out of the room, his movements swift and silent. He had what he needed, but now he had to get out without being caught.

The corridors seemed narrower now, the walls pressing in as Kael moved through the shadows. Voices echoed from deeper within the hideout, the bandits' tone agitated.

"They know you're here," Neo said.

Kael ducked into an alcove as a group of bandits passed by, their weapons drawn. He held his breath, his pulse pounding in his ears.

"Spread out!" one of them barked. "He's close!"

Kael waited until their footsteps faded before slipping out of the alcove. His mind raced as he retraced his steps toward the exit. He had to warn the town, to stop the bandits before they could carry out their plans.

But as he neared the entrance, a low growl stopped him in his tracks. He turned slowly, his eyes widening as a hulking figure stepped into the dim light.

It was one of the corrupted—a human twisted beyond recognition. Its limbs were elongated and uneven, its skin mottled with jagged black veins. Its eyes glowed faintly, empty of anything resembling humanity.

Kael's grip on his blade tightened.

"Neo," he muttered, his voice tense.

"Don't let it touch you," she warned. "It's strong—but it's mindless. Use that against it."

The corrupted lunged, its movements unnaturally fast. Kael dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding its claws as they raked through the air where he'd just been standing.

He countered with a slash of his blade, the edge biting into the creature's side. Black ichor sprayed from the wound, but the corrupted barely seemed to notice.

Kael's fragment flared, its energy surging as he struck again, this time aiming for the creature's legs. The corrupted staggered, its balance faltering just long enough for Kael to deliver a finishing blow to its neck, where the fragment was.

The creature collapsed with a gurgling hiss, its body twitching before going still.

Kael wiped the ichor from his blade, his breathing ragged. "If they've already started using these things…"

"They have more," Neo said grimly. "And they'll use them on Raven Town if you don't stop them."

Kael nodded, his determination burning brighter than ever. He had the information he needed—and now, he had to act.

Without another word, he slipped out of the cave, headed for Raven town.

But exiting the hideout would not be so easy.

Kael crouched low, his eyes scanning the dense forest ahead. Neo's voice cut through the silence.

"There's movement up ahead. About five bodies—patrolling."

...