The mountain air was thin, tasting of ancient pine and cooling stone, but it was the only home Kaelen had ever known. He stood at the edge of the precipice, watching the morning mist cling to the jagged rocks like a shroud. Behind him, the old man coughed—a dry, rattling sound that didn't belong to a man of his supposed power.
"My legs won't take me any further, boy," the master muttered, his voice gravelly and thick with a strange finality. "The world below is a cage of gold and glass, and it's time you stepped inside it."
Kaelen didn't turn around. He felt the weight of the silver needles tucked into his belt and the heavy iron ring on his finger. "You're sending me away because I've finally learned to outrun your cane?"
"I'm sending you away because you have a debt to settle," the old man countered, tossing a weathered scroll toward Kaelen's feet. "The Thorne family in Oakhaven City. Eighteen years ago, a life was saved, and a promise was carved in stone. You are to marry their eldest daughter. It is the price for their bloodline's survival."
Kaelen picked up the scroll, his brow furrowing as he scanned the faded ink. "An engagement? You're trading me like a prize horse."
"Think of it as a final lesson in patience," the master chuckled, though the sound quickly turned back into a cough. "And if you find your five senior sisters down there, try not to let them kill you. They've grown quite formidable in your absence".
Three days later, the mountain peaks were a distant memory, replaced by the humming vibration of a luxury sedan's engine. Kaelen sat in the plush leather backseat, feeling entirely out of place in his rugged traveling gear. To his left sat a woman who radiated a quiet, dangerous elegance. Her name was Elara, and she hadn't stopped staring at him with a mixture of gratitude and intense suspicion ever since he had pulled her and her aunt from the wreckage of their flipped vehicle an hour prior.
"You're remarkably quiet for someone who just fought off four armed men with nothing but a handful of sewing needles," Elara remarked, her voice smooth and carefully neutral.
Kaelen glanced at her, noting the way her chestnut hair caught the sunlight filtering through the tinted windows. "They were acupuncture needles. And they were in the way."
The older woman beside her, Aunt Myra, leaned forward with a pale, grateful smile. "Regardless of the tools, you saved our lives. If you are looking for a place to start in the city, the Valerius family does not forget its protectors. We can provide you with a position, a home, anything you require."
"I'm not looking for a job," Kaelen replied, looking back out at the approaching skyline. "I have a contract to fulfill with the Thorne family. I'm supposed to marry their daughter, Isabella."
The silence that followed was heavy. Elara and Myra exchanged a look that was part shock and part pity. The Thornes were known for their arrogance, a family that climbed the social ladder by stepping on the fingers of anyone below them.
"The Thornes?" Elara echoed, her tone dipping into skepticism. "They are currently celebrating a merger with the Lee conglomerate. If you walk in there looking like a mountain drifter claiming to be the heir's fiancé, they won't give you a seat—they'll call the police."
Kaelen shrugged, unfazed. "The contract doesn't care about my clothes".
As the car wove through the congested city streets, the air grew thick with the smell of exhaust and ambition. Suddenly, Myra's breath hitched. Her hand flew to her chest, her fingers clawing at her silk blouse as her face turned a terrifying shade of gray.
"Aunt Myra!" Elara shouted, her composure shattering instantly as she pulled the car to a screeching halt by the curb. "The medicine—where is the inhaler?"
"It's not asthma," Kaelen said, his voice cutting through the panic like a blade. He moved with a fluidity that shouldn't have been possible in the cramped backseat, his hand already reaching for Myra's wrist.
"Stay back!" Elara snapped, her eyes flashing with a protective fire.
"She has less than five minutes before her heart stops," Kaelen said, his silver eyes locking onto Elara's. The sheer weight of his gaze forced her to hesitate. "Her 'old illness' has moved from the lungs to the valves. If you wait for an ambulance, you'll be planning a funeral by sunset".
Elara's hands trembled on the steering wheel. "How... how could you possibly know that?".
"I see the flow, Elara. And right now, hers is a stagnant river," Kaelen muttered. Without waiting for permission, he pressed two fingers against a specific point on Myra's neck. "Hold her steady."
Kaelen's hands moved in a blur. He didn't use needles this time; instead, he used the Aether-Flow technique, sending sharp pulses of internal energy through his fingertips into the pressure points around her heart. Myra's body jerked, a soft gasp escaping her lips as the constriction in her chest began to dissolve.
By the time the color returned to Myra's cheeks, Kaelen was already opening the car door.
"Wait!" Elara called out, her voice breathless with a new kind of shock. "You can't just leave. Who are you really?"
Kaelen looked back over his shoulder, the city lights reflecting in his silver eyes. "I told you. I'm the man who's here to collect a debt."
He stepped out into the bustling crowd and vanished before she could say another word.
The Thorne Estate was a monument to excess, all white marble and gilded gates. Inside, the air was thick with the scent of expensive perfume and the drone of polite, fake laughter. Kaelen walked through the front doors, his dusty cloak a stain on the pristine environment.
"You must be lost," a young man in a tailored tuxedo sneered, blocking Kaelen's path. This was Marcus Lee, the man currently positioned to take Kaelen's place. "The delivery entrance is around the back, peasant."
Kaelen didn't blink. He pulled the yellowed scroll from his cloak and held it up for the entire room to see. "I'm here for Isabella Thorne. I believe we have an appointment."
The laughter died instantly. Arthur Thorne, the patriarch, stepped forward, his face twisting into a mask of pure disdain. "That old scrap of paper? My father was a senile fool when he signed that. You think a mountain brat can just walk in here and claim a seat at our table?".
"You called my master a 'senile fool'?" Kaelen's voice dropped an octave, a cold chill settling over the room. "The man who gave you ten years of life you didn't deserve?".
Arthur laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "I'll give you a million credits to burn that paper and never show your face in Oakhaven again. Take it and crawl back to your cave".
Kaelen looked at the check Arthur tossed onto the floor, then back at the sneering faces of the Thorne family. He felt no anger, only a profound sense of clarity.
"You think your life is worth a million credits?" Kaelen asked softly. He turned to leave, but stopped at the threshold. "Keep your money, Arthur. You'll need it to buy the finest mahogany for your casket. Your heart has three days of rhythm left. Not a second more".
As he walked out, the sounds of their mocking laughter followed him, but Kaelen didn't look back. He had a feeling his path would cross with theirs again, much sooner than they expected.