The old man’s name was Kael, and he believed loyalty was the only currency that mattered. For thirty years, he tested his followers in the most extreme ways imaginable—not for cruelty, but for certainty.His final test was for Mira, his most trusted protégé.“You will find the lockbox at the bottom of the Serpent’s Drop,” Kael said, gesturing to a chasm so deep that sunlight died halfway down. “Inside is a serum that will grant immortality. Bring it to me.”Mira nodded, though her hands trembled. The descent required abseiling three hundred feet into freezing darkness, past jagged rocks and nesting venomous