Long before Jack was born— before the veil between worlds began to thin— Isolde stood before the oracle flame and watched a vision unfold that changed everything.
A boy of two worlds. A name lost to time. A war that ended in silence but not in peace.
And a prophecy:
"When the sixteenth sun crowns the blood of the forsaken, the heir shall awaken in the skin of a stranger. The world between shall break it's slumber. Light and fire will kneel… or Burn."
Isolde had heard many prophecies in her time— empty promises of fate and power whispered by the ancients. But this one gripped her soul with icy certainty. The boy— Thalon would return. But not as a prince he had once been. He would be reborn.
Isolde had tried to tell the council of elders, but they laughed at her. Called her a dreamer. A relic of a war they had sealed away.
But Isolde remembered.
She remembered the way the sky screamed when Thalon fell. The way the fire burned blue. The way magic recoiled, folding into the seams of time, waiting— aching to be awakened.
And so, Isolde vanished from the court. She gave up her name, her titles, her place among the magistra. She took the old ways, waked the forgotten paths and listened to the wind for signs.
Years passed, Centuries even. She crossed realms in secret searching for the spark of Thalon in dreams, in visions, in cries of newborns, Always hoping. Until she found the mirror.
It was in the hall of lost echoes buried in ash and salt. The last tether to the mortal world. She whispered his name to it— night after night. And one day. The mirror rippled. Just for a moment. Just enough to show her a boy's face.
He had her prince's eyes.
But his soul was.. tangled. Sleeping. Human.
She screamed into the mirror. Cast spells to awaken him. Called out through dreams, through fire and reflections. For months. The. Years.
And then, as the sixteenth sun drew near, he saw her.
The barrier cracked. The thread pulled tight. She had one chance to fulfil the prophecy. One moment to bring him back before the dark court discovered the truth. Before they realized that the forsaken heir was alive, and the balance they had so carefully crafted was about to unravel.
The mirror pulsed with ancient energy. Her hands reached through. Her voice trembled as she whispered
"Wake up, Thalon."
She felt his wrist. Warm. Alive. Powerful.
And then, the mirror shattered around her like rain.
The prince had returned.
But time was running out.