Here is the fully corrected chapter:
"WAKE UP, Kaelen!" the kid shouted.
"Ughh… just let me sleep…" Kaelen mumbled.
A second later, a knee slammed into his stomach.
"AGH!"
Kaelen clenched his stomach.
"Finally," the kid said. "Get up. It's time."
Kaelen shook off the sleep almost immediately.
He sat there for a moment, rubbing his stomach while the kid waited near the door.
"For what?" Kaelen asked.
"You'll see."
Kaelen followed the kid.
"It's so weird we know each other well, and still I don't know your name."
"Zeph, I don't keep a second name," he said.
The basement felt colder than before.
Maybe Kaelen had just started noticing things he had ignored yesterday.
The lights hummed softly above. Metal surfaces reflected pale streaks of white across the room. Somewhere deeper inside, machinery clicked in uneven rhythms.
Aurelion and Silas were already waiting.
Neither greeted him.
That silence bothered Kaelen more than words would have.
"Sit," Aurelion said.
A metal chair stood at the center of the room.
Kaelen hesitated before sitting down.
The kid walked to one of the nearby tables and returned with something thin and metallic in both hands.
A chain.
No—multiple chains.
One thicker piece lay at the center, darker than the others, while several thinner chains extended from it like branching wires.
Kaelen's chest tightened.
The hole.
His hand moved instinctively toward it.
"So this is the part you conveniently skipped yesterday," he muttered.
Silas ignored the comment and crouched beside the chair.
"Hold still."
He carefully lifted the thicker chain toward the hollow in Kaelen's chest.
Even before it touched him, a cold sensation spread beneath his skin.
Kaelen's fingers twitched against the armrest.
The metal slid into place.
He expected pain.
There wasn't any.
That somehow felt worse.
The thinner chains were wrapped around his arms, hidden under his sleeves.
They didn't feel heavy.
If anything, they felt too natural.
Like they belonged there.
Kaelen stared at his arm in silence.
The kid stepped back first. "Looks fine to me."
Silas adjusted one of the chains near Kaelen's wrist before standing up.
Aurelion's eyes stayed fixed on Kaelen.
"That's enough," he said quietly.
Silas glanced toward him.
"Leave us alone for a moment."
The kid frowned immediately. "Again?"
"Yes."
Silas shrugged a bit and started toward the stairs.
The kid followed him, though far less willingly.
The basement door shut behind them.
Silence returned.
Aurelion pulled a chair forward and sat across from Kaelen.
"You're trying very hard not to panic," he said.
"What is it this time?" Kaelen said hesitantly.
"You have to kill your boss today; they are doing the same ritual again."
"Today?" Kaelen leaned forward as far as the chair allowed. "I just started yesterday and got a chain fixed inside me."
"I already told you it wasn't going to be great. I gave you a choice; either you follow me or die piece by piece."
"Do you seriously expect me to pull it off?" Kaelen complained.
"I don't," Aurelion said calmly. "I'm telling you to try."
He wasn't ready, but he wanted them dead.
He was living a normal life a few days ago, and now he was being sent to kill his boss.
His fear was still there, but beneath it something much darker had grown.
Hatred.
Aurelion stood up and started explaining the plan.
Kaelen accepted without questioning, not because he believed he could do it, but because nothing could outweigh his hatred that was now easier to feel with the chains.
He left before the feeling inside him cooled down.
With every step, the chains around his arms seemed to pull deeper into him.
Kaelen contacted Aurelion as he had been told to. There was no one waiting for him at the entrance this time.
"Go to the 3rd floor..." Aurelion guided Kaelen inside the place.
The corridor ahead felt endless, lined with dim ceiling lights that buzzed faintly above him.
"Open the red door."
Kaelen pushed it open.
His boss stood in the middle of a circle made by people wearing dark cloaks, barking orders at them.
Kaelen didn't waste time; after preparing the chains, he went straight for the kill.
The workers barely got any moment to react; the boss had fled before anything began.
Kaelen swept the chains. Getting every worker pulled in, the pins attached to the chain prevented them from escaping.
When they got tired of struggling and used their powers, they exploded one by one. Walls were colored red; flesh stuck to everything that was slowly falling.
He chased his boss. "How long did you know about this?" He screamed as best he could, following the boss through rooms.
"Rowan, they got you, didn't they?" he said, slowly losing his pace and posture. "I knew something was off."
The boss opened another door, a big one.
Kaelen stepped back suspecting an ambush.
He got it right the moment his boss reached the center of that hall; people dropped from the ceiling.
"Nice," Aurelion muttered, almost to himself.
He used the same trick again; most of them died before exploding this time.
Survivors formed a circle and ambushed him while one of them ran away to call backup.
He ditched the chain and stepped forward for an overhead hook; it landed clean. The guy didn't even stagger. He swung back with the same strike. "This is how it's done," he said. Kaelen caught the blow on his offhand chain — the impact ran up his arm badly. He grabbed a longer chain, stepped back to create distance, and swung from above. It took their heads off.
He had a choice — chase the practitioner and make sure he lived, or get his revenge. He chose his revenge.
Aurelion stayed silent, letting Kaelen make his own call.
His head kept moving, eyes on the floor, following the sound of footsteps above.
Multiple footsteps came from a turn above.
He grabbed chains in both of his hands.
The moment the boss turned, he jumped between walls, climbing to the roof.
They didn't expect him.
In that group there was a familiar face — Zephyr. He looked thinner and paler than before; the human touch he had in his movements wasn't there anymore. It didn't feel like Aurelion's movement either; he had forced those on himself.
He got behind them, striking from above with full power; he thinned out their numbers to about one-third. Many survived even after getting caught in the chain, and the others avoided the chain by pushing others into it.
Those who were caught in the chain died one by one. Zephyr didn't let the same happen to him before he got caught; he deceived the chain into thinking they held Kaelen instead of him.
If any one of them used powers, Kaelen would die.
Aurelion intervened by reducing the area of effect to only Kaelen's left hand. That was the best he could do from a great distance and in a short time.
The chain broke. Fair enough — Zephyr's legs gave out beneath him.
Kaelen didn't stop until only Zephyr was left standing.
They both couldn't fight for much longer; it was a showdown. A single hit was all they needed to finish each other off.
Kaelen felt an even stronger presence behind him; Zephyr smiled.
He went in the opposite direction towards Zephyr, blocking his attack with his chain. Zephyr didn't gamble. He had backup now.
Kaelen turned after he got away from him and swung his chain; it got nothing.
Seraphina and Zephyr stood side by side in front of him.