Chapter Six: Whispers in the Veil
The world returned slowly.
Elena's body ached as though she had been torn apart and stitched back together. Her eyelids fluttered open, revealing the fractured sky of the Veil above. The rivers of light had dimmed, their once-brilliant streams reduced to faint glows, as though even the realm itself was catching its breath after the battle.
She stirred, the ground beneath her cool and glass-like. A shadow fell across her vision.
"Elena."
Kael's voice, low and steady, pulled her fully awake. He sat close, one knee bent, his cloak of shadow drawn back. His face looked pale, strained, but his eyes locked on hers with relentless focus.
"You're awake," he said, a quiet relief threading his words.
Elena pushed herself up slowly, every muscle protesting. "How long…?"
"Hours," Kael replied. "You collapsed after the Shade born fell. I had to move us deeper into the Veil."
She blinked, realizing they were no longer on the battlefield. Around them stood ruins—pillars carved from shimmering stone, broken and half-buried in the shifting terrain. Vines of glowing silver curled across the wreckage, casting faint illumination. It felt… ancient. A place left behind, swallowed by the Veil.
Her hand went instinctively to her arm. The mark still pulsed faintly beneath her skin, warm but no longer burning. She flexed her fingers, then looked up at Kael.
"We fought it together," she whispered, memory flooding back. The Shadeborn's roar. The surge of light and shadow, twined like one. "That power—it wasn't just me."
Kael's jaw tightened. "It shouldn't have been possible."
Elena frowned. "But it was. Why? What does it mean?"
Silence stretched. Kael's eyes shifted away, shadows stirring faintly at his shoulders.
"You said I wasn't alone," she pressed. "That time, you meant it. Didn't you?"
For once, Kael didn't hide behind silence. He met her gaze again, and the intensity in his eyes nearly stole her breath. "Yes. But that bond—it's dangerous. The more it deepens, the harder it will be to break."
"Why would I want to break it?" The words slipped out before she could stop them.
His expression flickered, pain and longing warring behind the steel. He looked away again, voice rough. "Because bonds in the Veil demand a price. And the Veil never lets go without blood."
Elena swallowed, unease curling through her chest. But she also felt something else—a thread of defiance. She had already lost too much in her life. She wasn't about to surrender the one connection that felt real, even here.
Before she could reply, a sound brushed her ear.
Elena.
Her breath caught. The whisper was faint, like a voice carried on wind, but it came from within—threaded through the mark on her arm. She shivered, clutching at it.
"Elena?" Kael's voice sharpened.
"I…" She shook her head, trying to clear it. "I heard something. A voice."
Kael was on his feet instantly, his shadows bristling like blades. "Where?"
"Not outside. Inside. Through the mark."
Kael's face darkened, his hand clenching tight around his blade. "It's begun sooner than I thought."
Fear prickled along her spine. "What's begun?"
"The mark isn't just a tether," Kael said grimly. "It's a door. And doors open both ways."
The ruins seemed to grow colder around them, the glowing vines dimming faintly. Elena's skin prickled with unease.
She drew her knees closer, hugging them against herself. "So someone… something… is trying to reach me?"
Kael didn't answer immediately, but his silence was answer enough.
Finally, he spoke. "We'll move at dawn. For now, rest. This place is old—older than me. If the Veil has any sanctuaries left, this is one of them."
Despite his words, Elena doubted he believed in the safety he promised. His hand never left his weapon. His shadows never stilled.
Exhaustion dragged at her again, but when her eyes closed, the whisper returned.
Elena.
She flinched, heart racing. The voice was clearer now, curling around her like smoke. Feminine, ancient, coaxing.
You are mine. At last.
Her mark flared hot. She gasped, clutching her arm.
"Elena?" Kael's hand was on her shoulder in an instant, shaking her gently. "What is it?"
"I—it's speaking to me again," she whispered, breath ragged.
Kael's eyes burned, his voice a low growl. "What does it say?"
Her lips trembled. "That I'm… hers."
His grip tightened on her shoulder, shadows lashing around them protectively. "Don't listen. Whatever it is, it feeds on doubt. On fear. If you answer, you give it power."
Her heart pounded. The voice lingered, pressing like cold fingers at the edges of her mind. She wanted to scream at it, deny it, but Kael's gaze anchored her—steady, unyielding.
She nodded shakily. "I'll try."
Kael eased his grip, though his hand lingered longer than necessary before pulling away. His expression softened, almost imperceptibly. "You're stronger than you think, Elena."
Heat rose to her cheeks. She turned her gaze away, unsettled not just by the voice but by how much his words mattered to her.
The night stretched on in the ruins. Elena drifted in and out of restless sleep, haunted by flickers of silver eyes and whispers threading through her veins. Yet every time she stirred, Kael was there—silent, watchful, his shadow coiled like armor around them both.
By the time the rivers of light brightened again, signaling dawn in the Veil, Elena had made a decision. She wasn't going to let this voice own her. Whatever the mark was, whatever it demanded, she would not surrender herself to it.
She rose slowly, brushing glass-like dust from her clothes. Kael glanced at her, shadows flickering faintly at his side.
"Ready?" he asked.
Elena met his gaze, steady despite the fear curling inside her. "As ready as I'll ever be."
Kael studied her for a moment, something unreadable passing through his eyes. Then he nodded once. "Stay close."
As they moved deeper into the ruins, the whisper stirred faintly again, curling like smoke at the back of her mind.
Closer, it breathed. Closer still.
Elena's pulse quickened. She clenched her fists and kept walking, Kael's presence steady at her side.
But in the silence between their footsteps, a chilling truth settled over her.
The voice was not going away. It was waiting. Watching.
And it knew her name.