I was met with darkness once more, but rather than the scent of rotten despair hitting my nose, I was welcomed by the sun's warm embrace and the wind's breath of life. Yet everything comes with a price—and mine was the uncertainty of whether I had truly made it home.
My vision wasn't glass-clear, nor was it swallowed in night. My eyelids hung heavier than the towering walls I could barely make out in the distance.
As I slipped further from consciousness, I heard the familiar rhythm of hooves drumming against the earth.
"Woah there, boy," a voice called out, followed by the sharp snap of a whip. The horse came to a halt.
"Are we really gonna take him?" a crusty voice asked.
"We ain't got a choice. He could be from Solkara," another replied.
That was the last thing I heard before falling into the abyss named sleep.
"Hyah!"
The shout came as the horses resumed their pace.
Ferric leaned forward, scanning the unconscious boy. "Mhm?" he muttered.
"What's wrong? Did you find his birthmark?" Eldan asked, glancing back with subtle concern.
"Yeah... but we've got a problem. A big one."
The wagon creaked to a halt once more.
Eldan climbed into the back, eyes narrowing on the boy's chest.
"What am I looking at?" he asked.
"Is that a phoenix? It looks... deformed," Ferric said.
"It's missing parts. That ain't normal, is it?"
Eldan didn't answer. His face froze in place, like a statue struck by time, but his eyes slowly widened with realization.
"What is it? What do you see?" Ferric asked, leaning in.
Eldan stepped back, then turned sharply, leaping out the wagon. He climbed onto the front, his hands gripping the reins like iron, veins bulging. With a harsh pull, he spun the horses around.
"Whoa—what's going on? I thought we were heading to Solkara!" Ferric shouted, struggling to hold on.
"We're going home," Eldan said—his voice calm, but shaken.
"Why?" Ferric asked, frowning.
The canvas shifted. Light spilled over the boy's chest, revealing the mark in full.
"Because that mark ain't deformed," Eldan muttered, whipping the reins hard. "It's incomplete."
Ferric stared, breath caught in his throat. His eyes locked on the phoenix shape—not broken, but unfinished.
A silence fell over the road.
"No way…" Ferric whispered.