The storm outside the House of Blackthorn raged as if nature itself was reflecting the turmoil within. The rain hammered against the windows, a constant reminder of the chaos that had come to define Draven’s life. Inside, however, there was an eerie stillness. The mansion that once felt alive with the hustle of servants and the whispers of guests now seemed like a hollow shell.

Draven sat at his desk, his back to the room, staring out over the grounds, watching the lightning flash across the sky. He hadn’t moved in hours.

Victor, who had been silently watching him from the doorway for some time, finally spoke. His voice was low, cautious. “Draven... I need to understand. How did you do it?”

Draven’s gaze didn’t shift from the window. The silence between them stretched, thick with unasked questions. But Victor was persistent.

“How did you pull this off? How did you manage to get the attention of the Black Iron Abyss? And how did you become the one to run it?”

Draven sighed, a quiet, almost tired sound. For the first time in days, he turned his chair to face Victor. His expression was unreadable, but there was something in his eyes—an understanding that Victor was finally ready to hear the truth.

“You’ve been asking all the right questions for a while now,” Draven said, his voice steady but distant. “I suppose it’s time you finally got your answer.”

Victor stepped closer, his brow furrowing. “I’ve been with you through everything, Draven. But this... this is something else. You’re not the same person anymore. How did you get to this point?”

Draven leaned back in his chair, folding his hands together. “It all started the night my parents died. You remember what the police told us—the ‘accident’ they called it.”

Victor nodded, a tightness in his chest. He remembered it all too well. The shock. The confusion. The way Draven had shut himself off from the world after that.

Draven’s voice softened, but there was no mistaking the edge of bitterness that crept into it. “They lied, Victor. The accident wasn’t an accident. My parents were killed... because they refused to join the Black Iron Abyss.”

Victor’s breath hitched. “But how could you have known that? You were just a kid... You didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes.”

Draven’s eyes darkened, and for a moment, there was a weight in the air—a heaviness that made Victor feel the full gravity of what Draven was about to say.

“I knew,” Draven said quietly, the words almost a whisper. “I didn’t know the details, but I knew they would come for us. They had been watching us for years, waiting for the right time to bring my family into their fold. But my parents wouldn’t bend. They refused to be part of their world. And because of that, they had to be silenced.”

Victor’s hands clenched into fists at his sides. He could hardly believe it, yet he could hear the conviction in Draven’s voice.

“But how did you get to them?” Victor asked, his mind racing. “You didn’t just... suddenly take over. There had to be something more. Something we’re still missing.”

Draven’s lips curled into the faintest of smiles, but it was cold—detached. “You’re right. It wasn’t just about revenge. I didn’t want to be the kid who cried for justice. I knew that wouldn’t get me anywhere. If I wanted to take control, I had to become something they never saw coming.”

Victor blinked, his confusion growing. “You became... what?”

Draven leaned forward, his gaze never leaving Victor’s. “I played the part. The grieving son. The rich kid who lost everything. I made them believe I was weak, that I had no plan. I let them underestimate me. But the whole time, I was studying them—watching them from the shadows. I gathered information, made connections, and built the networks I needed to get close. I wasn’t just waiting for them to make a mistake—I was setting them up to fall into mine.”

Victor was speechless. His mind struggled to wrap around it all. “You... manipulated them?”

Draven’s eyes glinted with a cold determination. “Not just them. The entire organization. They thought I was nothing more than a grieving fool who couldn’t control my own emotions. While they laughed at me behind closed doors, I was learning everything I could about them. How they operated. Their weaknesses. Their lies. I knew how to make them come to me... how to make them need me.”

Victor took a slow, unsteady breath. “You... played them? You made them think you were weak, but you were already in control?”

Draven gave a short, humorless laugh. “It wasn’t just about being in control. It was about becoming something they feared. They thought they had all the power. They thought I’d fall apart. But the moment I showed them that I was smarter, colder, and more ruthless than any of them... that’s when I knew I could take over.”

Victor’s voice was low, filled with a mix of awe and disbelief. “But how did you become the one who controls it all?”

Draven leaned back in his chair again, the flickering candlelight casting shadows on his face. “Once I had their trust, once they thought I was part of their inner circle, I made my move. I started eliminating their key people, one by one. I made it look like chaos, like I was just another player trying to make my mark. But in reality? I was taking over everything.”

Victor stared at him, the enormity of it all sinking in. “You turned their own empire against them...”

Draven’s eyes were hard, but there was a flicker of something deep inside. “I didn’t just turn it against them. I became it. I took their power and made it mine. The Abyss never saw it coming. By the time they realized what I was doing, it was too late. I controlled the game. And now? Now the game is mine to win.”

Victor’s voice was barely a whisper. “But what about your parents? The legacy they left behind? What happens to that now?”

Draven’s gaze softened for a fleeting second before hardening again. “Their legacy is gone. What’s left of it is what I choose to make of it. I’m not just their son anymore, Victor. I’m the one who rewrote the rules.”

Victor’s heart tightened. He had watched Draven grow from a boy into a king, but he had never imagined it would come to this. The boy who once mourned his parents was now the ruler of the very organization that had destroyed them.

“You’re not the same person anymore, Draven,” Victor said, his voice tinged with sadness. “You’ve become something else.”

Draven didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he stood up, walking to the window once again. He looked out at the storm that had yet to abate, his expression unreadable.

“The world doesn’t care about the past,” he said quietly. “It only cares about who’s in control. And now, I am.”

Victor stood in silence, watching Draven as he took his place as the ruler of the shadows. He had always known Draven was destined for greatness, but never like this. Never with the cost of his soul.

As the rain poured down, Draven Kael Blackthorn—king of the Black Iron Abyss—turned to face the future. And with it, the weight of the legacy he had forged with his own hands.