The cell was quiet.
Stone walls.
Iron door.
A single lantern.
Kael sat on the narrow bunk and stared at his hands.
They looked normal.
But they weren't.
He could feel it now.
Every heartbeat in the corridor outside.
Every footstep on the floor above.
Every drop of water moving through the pipes behind the wall.
The world had become louder.
Sharper.
Hungrier.
Eventually exhaustion won.
He closed his eyes.
And dreamed.
He stood beneath a black sky.
The ground beneath him was cracked glass and red dust.
Ahead of him stretched a vast crater glowing faintly with crimson light.
At its center something pulsed.
Like a heart.
Figures stood around the rim.
Tall.
Pale.
Watching.
The Pale Watchers.
They did not move.
They simply waited.
Then Kael realized he was not alone.
Someone stood beside him.
A man in armor made of white metal that burned with reflected starlight.
The man looked down into the crater.
"You should not exist yet," he said.
Kael turned.
"Who are you?"
The man didn't answer.
Instead he placed a hand over Kael's chest.
The touch burned.
A symbol flared into existence beneath his skin.
The same crescent mark.
But deeper.
More complete.
"Open your eyes," the man said.
Kael woke with a gasp.
The lantern was still burning.
The room was still stone.
But his chest hurt.
He looked down.
The Eclipse sigil glowed faintly through his skin.
And someone was standing in the doorway.
Archivist Sen.
Watching him.
With pure horror on his face.