Chapter 5: Flames of a Promise
Cael was born beneath the shimmering canopy of the Velaryn trees, where the leaves glowed faintly under moonlight and sang when the wind passed through them. His people, the Velari, were attuned to soullight—a magic born not of the body, but the spirit. Every emotion, every bond, had weight. A Velari's soul could manifest light, warmth, even healing or force, depending on the strength of their spirit. In Velari culture, feelings were sacred, and power was measured not in brute strength but in emotional depth.
Cael was a quiet child, the kind who lingered at the edges of laughter, always watching, always thinking. He preferred the stillness of the sacred glades to the noise of festivals. When others learned to channel their soullight into playful bursts of flame or floating lights, he meditated beneath the Soulmother Tree, listening to the world breathe.
But there was one person who always pulled him out of his shell.
Ilyra.
Bold. Fearless. The fire to his silence. She climbed the tallest trees, outran the elders, and laughed like the stars were hers alone. She always dragged Cael with her, whether he wanted to go or not.
"You think too much," she'd say, tapping his forehead with a grin. "One day your thoughts are going to fly away without you."
On the day before everything ended, there was a celebration. A Binding Day, when young Velari exchanged tokens with the ones they hoped to bond with in the future. Ilyra approached Cael with flushed cheeks and that unmistakable mischief in her eyes.
"Close your eyes," she said.
He obeyed.
A second later, something cool touched his chest. A necklace—silver, delicate, shaped like a crescent flame. The pendant of her house.
"Now you have to marry me," she grinned. "It's a promise."
Cael opened his mouth. Closed it again. His soullight, unnoticed by him, shimmered faintly across his skin.
She only laughed, leaned in, and whispered, "Don't lose it. It's my favorite. And… maybe you're my favorite too."
That night, as Cael lay beneath the Soulmother Tree watching the drifting lights from the festival, he held the pendant and let his thoughts wander.
> "Can a moment last forever if the soul clings to it hard enough?"
He never imagined it would end so soon.
He never imagined that tomorrow, there would be no future at all.
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To Be Continued