The stars blinked overhead like secrets Elara couldn't yet understand. She sat beside the dying campfire, rubbing her hands together, staring at the spot where her shield had flickered into existence. Her thoughts tangled, her body exhausted, but sleep wouldn't come.
Kael sat a short distance away, sharpening his blade in practiced silence. The rhythmic scrape of metal on stone was oddly comforting.
Finally, Elara broke the quiet.
"Were you scared the first time you had to fight?"
Kael didn't look up. "Terrified."
That surprised her. "But you're so… calm."
He glanced her way then. "You learn to be. Fear doesn't go away. You just stop letting it control you."
She nodded slowly, absorbing the words. A part of her still wished she could return to her quiet little life — gathering herbs, treating fever, feeding orphaned sparrows. But that part was shrinking with every heartbeat that echoed with this strange power.
"Why did you come for me, Kael?" she asked. "You could've left me. I didn't even know I was important."
He paused, setting down his blade. For a moment, he was quiet — weighing his answer.
"Because your mother saved me," he said finally. "I owed her everything. When I learned you were alive… I couldn't ignore that debt."
Elara's breath caught. "You knew her?"
"She was fierce. Kind. She protected the weak even when it cost her dearly. You have her eyes."
That stirred something warm and painful in Elara's chest.
"I don't remember her."
"You will," Kael said. "She left more than blood in you. You'll see it when you stop doubting yourself."
Elara looked down at her hands. Were these really the hands of someone who could hold the fate of a kingdom?
---
The next day, they reached the edge of an old ruin hidden deep in the wildwood. Massive stone pillars jutted from the earth like broken teeth, carved with ancient runes glowing faintly in the morning mist.
Kael dismounted first. "This is it. The Temple of Aeryn."
Elara followed, brushing her fingers across the stone. It hummed faintly at her touch.
"What is this place?"
"A shrine to the old ones," Kael said. "Long before kings ruled, the Aetherians worshipped here. Some say the first Seer awoke her powers beneath this very tree."
He pointed to a twisted tree growing up through the cracked floor, its silver leaves rustling with no wind.
Something inside Elara pulsed. Her feet moved of their own accord, drawn to the center of the ruin.
Kael called after her, "Be careful —"
But she was already there.
As her palm pressed against the central stone, light burst outward. The runes ignited around her, swirling like fireflies. Her eyes widened as voices echoed softly in her mind — not speaking in any language she knew, but understanding bloomed in her chest nonetheless.
Daughter of the lost flame… bearer of forgotten stars… awaken.
Elara stumbled back, gasping, eyes wide with wonder and fear.
Kael caught her before she fell.
"I heard them," she whispered. "They knew me."
Kael's face was unreadable. "The temple recognized your bloodline. It gave you a gift."
Elara looked at her wrist. The mark was no longer just a shimmer. It had taken shape — a delicate, silver sigil resembling wings and flame.
Kael helped her stand. "You've been awakened, Elara."
She felt it too. The power no longer slept. It stirred like fire in her chest, steady and waiting.
"But now," Kael said grimly, scanning the trees, "they'll know where we are."
"The shadowspawn?" she asked.
He nodded. "And worse."