Rain pattered on the village rooftops of Lurien Hollow, the droplets dancing off wooden shingles and into the muddy roads below. The scent of wet earth and smoke filled the evening air as villagers hurried to finish their work before the dark fully took the sky. But Kaien Voss remained.
"Kaien, get down from there before you break your neck!" Old Milla shouted from her porch, broom in hand.
"You sound just like a Wretch screeching in the woods, Milla!" Kaien grinned, leaping down from the roof where he'd been fixing the thatch. He landed with a roll, his hands calloused and caked in soot. His shirt clung to his chest, soaked and torn.
"You're gonna be the death of me, boy," Milla muttered, though her eyes softened.
Kaien waved her off, heading toward the small cabin he shared with no one. Orphaned at six, he'd grown on the edge of the village, raised by scraps and stubbornness. Dreams of becoming a Veylbound fueled every day he woke up bruised or beaten.
But he couldn't feel the Veyl. Not like the others. Not like the tales described.
He grabbed his worn wooden sword leaning against the cabin door and gave it a spin.
"If I can't use Veyl, then I'll fight harder. That's all."
The ground quaked.
A scream split the night.
Kaien dropped the sword.
Smoke curled above the trees. A grotesque roar echoed from the forest, sending flocks of birds skyward. Kaien sprinted past terrified villagers, toward the flames.
Near the well, a beast stood—a Wretch, flesh bloated and eyes milky with Blight. Its arms dragged like melted wax, its jaw unhinged in a soundless scream.
"Tallis!" Kaien shouted. His friend, barely twelve, was pinned beneath a fallen wagon, too close to the Wretch.
Kaien didn't think. He charged.
The Wretch turned.
Kaien dove, slashing with the wooden sword. It cracked on impact. The beast's claw tore across his side. He screamed, blood pouring.
"Tallis—run!"
But then, something snapped.
A light, searing and white, erupted from Kaien's hand. A beam surged forward, disintegrating the Wretch's shoulder. The creature howled and stumbled.
Kaien blinked, hand shaking, the glow pulsing between his fingers.
"What...what did I do?"
He stumbled again, vision doubling. More Wretches slithered from the trees.
He raised his hand again, light bursting—but this time, it fizzled midway. One Wretch caught his leg, claws digging in.
Kaien screamed—until a wall of flame cleaved the night.
Three figures emerged, clad in dark cloaks lined with silver runes.
The Sanctum Order.
The Wretches were obliterated within seconds.
The tallest of the three, a man with stone-gray eyes, stared at Kaien.
"He used Null Veyl," the man said.
"Impossible," another whispered.
Kaien passed out