The next morning, Kael woke to a strange stillness. The usual sounds of birds, of wind rustling through the trees, of the stream flowing nearby—they were gone.
He sat up in bed. The pendant from the chest now hung around his neck, left there by Thomelin in the night. It was cold to the touch, but he could feel something inside it—like it was alive.
"Elenor?" he called out, stepping into the hallway.
No answer.
He walked into the kitchen. The fireplace was unlit. The house was empty.
Then, the whisper came again.
Kael…
He spun around. No one.
The whisper was not from the outside. It was inside his mind. Soft, distant… and powerful.
He rushed to the backdoor and opened it. The entire sky above the forest had turned a faint shade of blue-gray. Mist curled around the trees like fingers. It wasn't normal mist—it was thick, and moved with purpose.
That's when he saw it.
A mark had formed on his right hand. Glowing faintly, shaped like a crescent with a dot in the center.
He touched it, and his breath caught.
Memories not his own flashed in his mind: towers of stone, skies filled with dragons, warriors dressed in silver and fire, and a woman cloaked in black whispering:
"He must not awaken."
Kael stumbled backward.
Then, from the edge of the mist, a figure appeared.
Not a person—something else. It looked like a man, but his body was made of shifting wind and branches. Its eyes glowed green.
"You've awakened, child of the Stormline," it spoke.
Kael's heart raced.
"Who are you? What's happening?" he asked, his voice shaking.
The creature took a step forward. The ground behind it frosted over.
"Your time here is ending. The storm that brought you is returning. You must come with me… before others find you."
Kael stepped back, clutching the pendant.
"I'm not going anywhere until I find my sister and father!"
The creature paused. Its voice softened.
"They're safe. But they won't be, if you stay. There are forces watching now. You're not a normal child, Kael. You were born with a gift… and a curse."
Kael's mark burned faintly, reacting to the presence.
Before Kael could speak, Elenor's voice rang out behind him.
"Kael! Get away from that thing!"
She stood with a staff in her hands—Thomelin's old staff—something she had never touched before.
The creature looked at her, and for a second, its form flickered—like it feared her.
"The blood of Wardsmen," it murmured, stepping back.
Kael looked between the creature and Elenor, confused and afraid.
"What's happening to me?" he asked again.
The answer came not from the creature, nor Elenor—but from the wind itself.
The storm has returned. The world has forgotten. But you… you will remember.
Lightning flashed in the sky, splitting a tree in the distance.
Kael's journey was beginning.