Kael traveled beyond the enclave's walls at dawn, drawn by a flicker of light that did not belong to the dead or the living. It pulsed faintly, a warm orange glow in the distance, a sign of fire or perhaps of life. The Sight sharpened, revealing threads of magic interwoven with the souls around it.
The source led him to a small clearing in the wasteland. There, a figure waited: a woman draped in tattered robes, hair as black as ash, eyes gleaming with a strange, knowing light. She did not move as he approached, yet her presence was undeniable. The aura of power around her hummed with recognition of the Sight, acknowledging Kael in a way no one had.
"I've been waiting for you," she said, her voice soft but firm. "The dead speak, and the living fear. You are neither fully. Yet, you are what is needed."
Kael frowned. "Who are you?"
"The Witch of Tallow," she replied. "Names matter less now. You have the Sight, the hunger, and the fractures. I can teach you control, but it comes at a cost. Every lesson will ask something of you."
Kael's pulse quickened. Hunger stirred within him at her presence, but this time it was tempered by curiosity, by the possibility of mastery rather than mere survival. He watched the threads of magic she wove, strands of orange light intertwining with the pale glows of souls, and felt a strange kinship.
"I have no choice," Kael said finally, voice tight.
"You always have a choice," she countered. "Even the void has rules. Learn them, or it will learn you."
The witch beckoned him closer. Her firelight reflected in the pale lines beneath his skin, and for the first time, Kael felt that the Sight could be a tool, not just a curse. But the hunger pulsed, patient and insistent, reminding him that control was fragile, fleeting.
Kael took a deep breath, stepping toward her. The wasteland around them whispered, the dead shifting just beyond the trees, and Kael realized that this meeting was not chance. It was fate or the next step on a path that could make him either a savior for humanity or demon who lay waste to the world.