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Chapter 2: The Girl with One Eye
Kaelen awoke to the sound of crackling fire and the scent of pine smoke. His head throbbed. He was no longer in the ruins. No ring. No pedestal. Just trees, shadows, and silence.
Then he heard movement.
He sat up fast—too fast—and pain lanced through his skull. A figure crouched by the fire. The one-eyed girl from before. Her bow lay beside her, unstrung, but still within reach. She looked up as if she'd felt his gaze.
"Good," she said. "You're alive."
Kaelen tried to speak, but his throat was dry. She tossed him a water skin. He drank, coughing.
"You touched the ring," she said flatly.
"I had to."
"No," she said, "you didn't. You just wanted to. That's how it starts."
Kaelen frowned. "You knew what it was."
"I know enough to stay away from cursed things," she said, eye narrowing. "That was one of the Ten. They don't just whisper. They change you."
He looked down at his hand. The ring was still there—cold now, like stone. Its glow gone, but not its weight.
"What's your name?" he asked.
The girl hesitated. "Aeris."
Kaelen nodded slowly. "I'm Kaelen."
"I know," she replied. "The ring told me."
That chilled him more than the mountain air.
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Hours Later
They walked beneath a canopy of whispering trees. Aeris moved like a ghost, Kaelen stumbling to keep pace. She didn't speak much, but when she did, her words struck like arrows.
"The rings were forged by the old gods," she explained. "They weren't meant for mortals. But kings took them anyway. Now each ring has a master... and a price."
"What about this one?" Kaelen asked. "The Ring of Fate?"
"That one," she said, "was never supposed to be found."
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That Night
Kaelen sat alone while Aeris slept nearby. He stared at the ring, its surface dark. Then, just for a moment, he heard it again—a whisper, softer than wind.
"They will come for you."
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