Jack froze.
The voice hadn't come from behind him— it had come from within. Like something long buried had finally whispered awake.
He turned slowly.
An old man stood beneath a glowing tree with bark like glass and roots that shimmered with silver light. His robe, woven from threads of mist and shadow, stirred though no wind touched it. His eyes— one gold, one silver— seemed to look through time itself.
Jack's breath caught. He recognized the man. He had seen him before— in one of his visions. The same glowing tree. The same unsettling eyes.
"I've see you before," Jack said. His voice trembling. "But who are you?"
"You've come far." The man said his voice low , rich and measured, "Though not by choice, I imagine."
Jack stared at him, heart thudding.
"My name is Auren," the old man replied, stepping forward. "And I have waited many lifetimes to see you again."
Jack took a step back, the moss squishing softly under his feet. "Again? I've never met you."
"Not as you are now," Auren said, "but your soul… your soul remembers."
Jack clenched his fists. "Where am I? What is this place ? What happened to me?"
"You are In Vaelmir— the Moon Realm," Auren answered, his gaze sweeping across the luminous forest. "A world suspended between time and dream, where magic is real and memory is written into stone and sky. And here, time does not pass as it does in your realm. The sun rises only once every hundred years."
Jack's lips parted. He remembered the sky pulsing like a heart beat. The birds made of crystal. The air that felt alive.
"The sun…rose?" He asked.
"Yes", Auren said. "Just days ago. And with it the veil between worlds weakened. A gate opened. One that allowed her to find you."
Jack blinked. "Her?"
Auren's expression darkened. "A woman. Isolde. A sorceress of the old blood. She reached through the thinning veil and dragged you here."
Jack's breath hitched. "She's … she's the one I saw. The woman in black. But why? Why me ?"
"That is what we don't yet know," Auren said gravely. "But she walks with darkness now. She serves the lord of the hollow flame, a being of ash and ruin. Whatever she seeks from you, it is not salvation."
Jack shivered. "I don't even know who I am anymore."
Auren studied him closely . "Then let me remind you."
He extended his hand towards Jack's chest — not to touch but to feel.
"Your name is Jack, yes. But within you burns the soul of Thalon— a name once spoken in reverence and fear. Sixteen hundred years ago, you were the last warrior of flame, the protector of the crest of light. But in the final battle. You fell. And before your soul could be claimed by the dark , your mother— Isaldora— sealed it into the soul of the child she carried. A child hidden on earth."
Jack's knees nearly buckled— He dropped to the ground, the truth too heavy to stand beneath.
"No," he whispered. "That's not me. I'm just…I'm just a kid. I get bullied at school. I've never been strong. I've never even fit in."
"Because you were meant to," Auren said softly . "You have lived a life of forgetting . But your soul never forgot."
Jack shook his head, his voice breaking. " My mom— Vivian— she raised me. She loved me. And now you're telling me she's not even …"
Auren stared at Jack with an observing glare, before he said "she's your mother in every way that matters,"
"But the blood that courses through you comes from a world beyond hers. She sheltered you from the truth… but the truth has come anyway."
Auren let out a soft huff of air, before he said
"Let me tell you the story of your birth. Your mother loved you beyond the reach of realms. Her name was Isaldora.
She was a fae from the water realm, where the moon sings and the tides and the sky reflects beneath the sea. She was Beautiful. Fierce. Kind beyond mortal imagining."
The forest quieted as though listening.
"She and Thalon were soul bound across veil. But Thalon was already promised to Isolde. And the union between your mother and Thalon was forbidden— as marriage between realms was highly prohibited. But it was too late. Isaldora was already with child.
The man's eyes darkened.
"They knew Isolde would come. The one whose heart Thalon broke. A priestess of light turned shadow. She would feel the child's energy, seek him , use him. So isaldora did the unthinkable."
He stepped closer, his voice softer now.
"She crossed into the mortal realm — where no fae dared linger for long— and gave birth to you as a mortal. It was a spell of sacrifice. It masked your essence, hide you in the chaos of the human world. She had hoped the darkness would never find you there."
Jack's hand trembled. "Why didn't she stay?" " she couldn't." The old man said. " the spell drained her. Your birth broke her body and soul. But she died with hope. Whispering Thalon's name into your skin. She saved you."
Jack looked up. His eyes glassy. "What now?"
Auren stood. "Now the sixteenth sun has risen. The prophecy has began. And you must choose whether to reclaim who you were… or be lost to what's coming . But first you must get your strength up. Follow me—she might be watching."
As they walked, under to shimmering sky.
Jack felt the pull of something larger than himself… something ancient waking inside his bones.