The fire had died by the time Kael woke up.
Ash choked the air. Smoke drifted like ghosts through what remained of Isenwald. Homes were flattened. Trees burned without flame. And silence… heavy, unnatural silence — the kind that follows death — hung over everything.
Kael sat up slowly, his head pounding like a war drum.
Was it a dream?
He looked down.
The marks were still there — faint but visible. Three symbols, etched into his skin like brands: one on his forearm, one at the base of his neck, and one just above his heart.
His breath caught.
Not a dream.
Someone was watching him.
He turned sharply, instinct kicking in. The Seeker from before — the one with the moonlit blade — stood at the edge of the ruined square, arms folded, expression unreadable.
"You're awake," the man said.
Kael's throat was dry. "What happened to the village?"
The Seeker's jaw tightened. "Wraithspawn don't leave survivors."
Kael's stomach turned. "Liora?"
The man didn't answer.
Kael surged to his feet, ignoring the dizziness. "Did you see her? She—she was with me this morning. She ran back early. I need to know—"
"She's alive."
Kael froze.
The Seeker looked away. "She made it out. I got her to a safehouse in the cliffs. She asked about you… before she passed out."
Relief slammed into Kael's chest so hard it nearly dropped him to his knees.
"I need to see her."
"You will. But not now."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"
The man's expression didn't change. "My name is Theron Valen. I'm an Echo Blade."
Kael blinked. "Never heard of that."
"You're not supposed to." Theron stepped closer, cloak flaring slightly in the wind. "We deal in things that shouldn't exist. Like you."
Kael bristled. "What do you mean things?"
"I mean someone who manifests three Veilmarks at once. That breaks every law of magic we know." He paused. "Or… rewrites them."
Kael said nothing.
Theron crouched, drew a symbol in the ash — three interlocking circles. "There are three Veils. Each soul is tethered to one. That's how the world maintains balance. But you…" He looked up. "You carry all three. You should have been torn apart."
Kael looked at his hands. "So why wasn't I?"
"That's the question, isn't it?"
---
They walked in silence for hours, moving through the shattered outskirts of the valley. Kael didn't speak — his thoughts were too loud. The marks on his body still tingled, faintly pulsing with each heartbeat.
He should be dead. The villagers were dead. The Rift had opened.
And now this man — this "Echo Blade" — was talking like Kael wasn't even human anymore.
He clenched his fists.
No. Don't lose control again.
Theron stopped suddenly, hand raised. His eyes scanned the treeline.
Kael followed his gaze. "What is it?"
Theron's voice was low. "Shadowkin. Scouting wraiths."
Dark shapes flickered in the mist — six of them, crawling over the snow on clawed limbs, silent and gliding like smoke. They didn't look fully real. Their bodies twisted as they moved, limbs flickering in and out of focus.
Kael instinctively stepped back. "I don't know how to fight."
"Then stay behind me."
Theron's blade hissed as he drew it, and the light along its edge brightened.
The wraiths struck fast — unnaturally fast — like arrows loosed from a bow. Theron moved quicker. A blur of steel and smoke, his movements precise, practiced. One by one, the creatures fell — until one slipped past.
Straight toward Kael.
Kael turned to run—
—but his body didn't move.
The marks on his skin burned again.
The air shifted around him — warping, pulling, listening.
Defend, something whispered.
Kael raised his arm, not knowing why — and a wave of violet force erupted from his palm. The wraith screamed, twisted in mid-air, and dissolved into nothing.
Theron turned slowly.
"Well," he muttered, wiping blood from his blade. "That answers that."
Kael stared at his hand, shaking. "I didn't mean to—"
"Intent doesn't matter. Reaction does. You pulled power from the Veil without a chant. Without training." His tone turned grim. "You're awakening faster than we thought."
Kael swallowed hard. "What does that mean?"
"It means we don't have time."
---
That night, Kael sat alone by the cave fire, staring into the flames while Theron slept on watch.
His hands still trembled.
Not from fear — from something else. The power inside him… it felt alive. Ancient. Watching him.
He remembered the feeling when it woke. The agony. The silence that came after.
And the way the wraiths had screamed when they saw him.
What am I becoming?
From the shadows behind him, a voice whispered:
"You were never meant to be one of them, Kael."
He spun — but no one was there.
Only the wind.