The air smelled like storm.
Marrowick was a quiet place, always had been. But now, even the birds seemed to hold their breath. The villagers kept their eyes low and their doors locked, pretending nothing was wrong.
But the scent of rot lingered.
Kael stood at the village gate with a simple pack slung over his shoulder. His human body felt fragile—but each day, it ached a little less. As if it were remembering how to be strong.
Liora joined him minutes later, dressed in a traveler's cloak and holding a small wooden staff wound with ivy and silver thread. Her expression was steady, but Kael could see the tension behind her calm.
"Ready?" she asked.
"No," he admitted. "But I'll come anyway."
A brief smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "That's good enough for me."
They walked in silence at first, boots crunching softly against the pine needles. The forest stretched wide and watchful around them. Liora kept glancing at the shadows, staff held close.
Kael noticed her hand tremble once. He didn't mention it.
After a while, he spoke. "That creature from last night… you said they're called shades."
She nodded. "They come from beyond the veil. Not alive. Not dead either. Just… wrong."
"I've never heard of them," Kael lied again.
Liora didn't call him out on it. "They weren't around until a few years ago. The first time one appeared, it came during a lunar eclipse. It took three people before I burned it with a warding flame."
"You burned it," Kael echoed. "You've had no training?"
"No. But the magic's always been there. Like something sleeping just beneath my skin."
Kael looked at her thoughtfully. "You could be more than a healer."
She shrugged. "Maybe. But this village never needed more."
They walked on The North pass.
midday, the woods began to thin. The trees turned black at the edges, like they'd been kissed by frost and flame. The air grew colder. A low fog slithered between roots and rocks.
Kael stopped walking.
The land here… remembered him.
He knelt, pressing a hand to the cracked earth. "There was a battle here. Long ago."
Liora frowned. "No one in the village remembers one."
"They wouldn't. This was before your kind built homes of wood and stone."
She blinked. "What do you mean 'your kind'?"
Kael looked up slowly, meeting her gaze. "I meant… people. Humans."
She tilted her head. "That's not what you were going to say."
Before he could respond, the fog shifted.
A low growl rumbled through the air.
Kael stood sharply. "Something's here."
A shape moved between the trees—tall, wrong, wrapped in coils of shadow that writhed like worms. Its limbs were too long, its mouth too wide. And in its chest, a faint glow pulsed like a dying heart.
Liora raised her staff. "Another shade."
Kael stepped in front of her.
"No," he said quietly. "This one is different."
The creature snarled—and charged.
Kael barely had time to shove Liora aside before it slammed into him. Pain exploded through his ribs as he hit the ground. Human. Too human.
The shade raised a clawed hand—and stopped.
It stared at Kael, head tilting.
Then it spoke.
"Kaelrith... Fallen. Forgotten. Reborn."
Kael's blood turned to ice.
"You are the doorway. The gate unseals."
Liora screamed—her staff blazing with green fire—and hurled it into the creature's chest.
The shade shrieked as the fire surged. It twisted, flailing wildly, and burst apart into tendrils of smoke that evaporated into the cold air.
Kael sat up slowly, clutching his ribs.
Liora stood over him, chest heaving. Her hair was damp with sweat, her hands shaking.
"That thing knew your name," she said. "Not Kael. Kaelrith."
He said nothing.
She dropped to her knees beside him. "You're not just a traveler. You're not just anyone."
Kael looked into her eyes, and for the first time, the mask slipped.
"I was a dragon," he said quietly. "A long time ago. A king. An emperor."
She stared at him.
"I destroyed your kind," he continued. "I razed cities. Burned armies. And when I grew old, the gods cursed me… forced me to return as one of the very things I hated."
Liora didn't flinch. She didn't scream.
She simply said, "Then why are you here? With me?"
Kael's voice was hoarse.
"Because I want to stop it from happening again."