The air in the clearing felt too still, too charged. Like the moment just before a lightning strike.
Kazi stood with her hand half-raised, her body tense but not aggressive. Her Mark pulsed faintly beneath her sleeve, the ember inside her responding to the presence before her, not with fear, but recognition.
Dakarai shifted beside her, his stance loose but ready. A thin crackle of energy arced along his forearm, silent but alive.
The figure across from them lowered his hand, not as a surrender, but in acknowledgment. He stepped forward into the open, the last of the shadows peeling away.
He was young. Maybe twenty-two, twenty-three.
Taller than Dakarai, with a solid, grounded frame and sharp, watchful features.
His skin was dark bronze, weathered by sun. His hair was shaved on the sides, twisted into short locs at the top, tied loosely back, with blond tips.
His eyes glowed faintly; they were steady, earthy and patient.
His left arm bore a Mark unlike Kazi's or Dakarai's; his pattern ran from shoulder to wrist, like a sleeved tattoo, glowing a muted, molten bronze color, as if the earth itself had cracked to let his power seep through.
He spoke first.
"You're late."
Kazi raised a brow. "Excuse me?"
He gestured toward the stone circle surrounding them. "Been waiting here for days. Thought the Mark would send someone sooner."
Dakarai stepped forward. "You're a bearer?"
The young man tilted his head. "That's what they tell me."
"And what Line?" Kazi asked, her voice steady.
"Terros Line," he said. "Old earth. Root and mountain."
Dakarai frowned slightly. "Terros Line. Thought they were supposed to be more... reserved."
The bearer smiled faintly, unbothered.
Instead of speaking, he raised his left hand.
The ground beneath their feet vibrated — slow, heavy. Cracks spiderwebbed outward from his boots across the clearing. Pebbles and small stones lifted gently into the air, orbiting him for a heartbeat before falling back into place, controlled and deliberate.
"I don't just move earth," he said. "I command it."
Rhazir stepped into the clearing behind them, silent until now.
His eyes lingered on Zuberi's arm, studying the sleeved Mark with muted intrigue.
"Interesting," he said. "Your control is unusually refined for someone so new."
"It also looks like you've progressed beyond awakening," he continued. "Stage Two resonance."
Kazi tilted her head. "Stage Two?"
"The Mark grows as its bearer strengthens," Rhazir explained. "Most only reach the first stage, a simple Mark. Yours has matured into a full sleeve. It's rare without formal guidance... or extreme circumstances."
He glanced at Zuberi meaningfully.
"And once it begins, it doesn't stop. The stronger you grow... the more of you it will claim."
The Terros bearer's eyes flicked toward him.
"Who are you?"
"A guide," Rhazir replied smoothly. "Of sorts."
The Terros bearer didn't look impressed.
"I've seen people like you. Always watching. Always saying they're here to help."
"And yet," Rhazir said, stepping closer, "you waited."
The bearer shrugged, unconcerned.
Kazi stepped forward, closing the distance slightly.
"We're not here to recruit you," she said. "Not like that."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because something's happening," Dakarai answered. "To us. People like us are being hunted... or worse."
For the first time, a flicker of something crossed the bearer's face, it was caution.
"I know," he said. "Something came through here. Days ago. I didn't see it... but I felt it."
"Luma," Kazi muttered to herself.
"Whoever it was, they left a message. Burned it into the rocks at the valley's edge. I didn't understand it."
"What did it say?" Rhazir asked.
The bearer hesitated.
Then said:
"Not all Marks are meant to save."
The silence hung heavy.
Kazi broke it first. "Do you have a name?"
The bearer studied her, then Dakarai, then Rhazir.
"Zuberi." He said finally.
Kazi nodded. "I'm Kazi. This is Dakarai."
Zuberi glanced at Dakarai and gave him a small nod of respect. "You carry Volt."
"Yeah," Dakarai said. "and you're built just like your line… solid."
Zuberi's mouth lifted into a small, humorless smile.
Kazi stepped forward again, voice steady.
"Look... we're not here to lead you astray or give you ridiculous commands. We're trying to figure out why people like us are being targeted, and why the Mark is showing itself to us now."
Zuberi's smile faded.
"I already know why."
They waited.
"I've had this Mark for months," he said. "Longer than I let on. I didn't awaken recently, I've been hiding. Watching. Because the first time I used it... I nearly destroyed a village."
Dakarai's brow furrowed. "On purpose?"
"No. There was a cave-in. Miners trapped inside. I used the Mark to move the earth to open the tunnels. But once the ground broke... it kept breaking. Walls collapsed. Streets cracked. I lost control."
Kazi's voice softened. "And then?"
"I ran," Zuberi said simply. "Been up here ever since. Training myself. Controlling it. I promised myself if anyone ever came looking for me... I'd be the one to decide how it ended."
"And what have you decided?" Rhazir asked.
Zuberi met his gaze without blinking.
"I'll go with you."
Kazi blinked. "Just like that?"
"You're the first who didn't flinch when you saw what I could do. And whatever's coming... I'm not stupid enough to face it alone."
He stepped past Rhazir and extended a hand toward Kazi.
"But know this, if any of you try to use me, or attempt to use my power for your own selfish reasons... I'll leave. And you'll never see me again."
Kazi gripped his hand firmly.
"Understood."
As the group packed up and began the walk back toward their ridge camp, Dakarai lingered beside Zuberi.
"You really command the earth?" he asked.
Zuberi smirked. "Want a demonstration?"
Dakarai grinned back. "Maybe later."
They walked in silence for a few steps.
Then Zuberi added quietly, "You're not the only one afraid of what you're becoming, you know."
Dakarai's grin faded.
But he nodded.
And somehow, the weight in the air felt a little lighter.