They didn't stop running until the sun was high, and the Emberwild no longer whispered threats.
Kaelen led Aeren to a hidden glade—a circle of stone monoliths half-buried in moss, humming faintly with old magic. At the center was a pool of water so still it mirrored the sky perfectly, even when birds flew nowhere above.
"This is a memory well," Kaelen said. "Old magic. From before the Kingdoms. The forest hides a few of these… places where truth lingers."
Aeren stared into the pool. "Why bring me here?"
Kaelen crouched beside him. "Because you're not just some runaway noble brat anymore. That mark on your hand? That's a key. And your power—it doesn't follow the laws of elemental magic. You don't bend nature. You break it."
Aeren looked at his reflection—same messy hair, same anxious eyes—but now with a glowing symbol branded into his skin.
"I didn't ask for this," he muttered.
"Power doesn't care what you ask," Kaelen said. "But you better learn to wield it before someone else does."
She reached into her satchel and pulled out a blackened stone the size of a fist. It flickered with blue fire.
"This is a Heartshard. Taken from a dead spellbeast. It's a trial stone. Channel your power through it, and if you survive, it shows you the flame inside."
Aeren hesitated.
"Painful?" he asked.
Kaelen shrugged. "Extremely."
He took it anyway.
The moment he touched the stone, the world vanished.
Darkness wrapped around him—cold and endless. Then, a flicker. A flame, deep in his chest. Not fire. Not light. Something else.
It roared to life.
He screamed, falling to his knees as visions poured through his mind—armies kneeling before a burning throne, skies torn open by storm and shadow, a name spoken in a thousand tongues:
Kael'tharan…
But the voice didn't sound evil.
It sounded lonely.
He collapsed, chest heaving.
When he opened his eyes, Kaelen was watching him closely. "Well?"
Aeren looked down at his hands. The mark still glowed—but now, so did his veins. Just faintly. Like rivers of energy had awakened inside him.
"I saw him," Aeren whispered. "Kael'tharan."
Kaelen narrowed her eyes. "Then we need to find the others."
Aeren blinked. "Others?"
She stood, scanning the treeline.
"The other bearers. You're not the first to be marked. But you might be the last."