The fire crackled low in the clearing. Night had fallen, but neither Ion nor Luma moved to sleep.
"I've told you pieces," Ion said, his voice softer than usual. "But it's time you knew the truth. About me. About you. And about him—the Seeker."
Luma leaned forward, arms wrapped around her knees.
"My name is Elder Ion Amin. I was once a top apprentice in the Tower, chosen to inherit the Scrolls of Force. Back then, it wasn't corrupted. It was a sanctuary of learning, where students from across the realm came to understand the world—not to control it, but to live in harmony with its laws."
He paused, staring into the fire.
"That changed when the Masters of Entropy began rising. They were students once, too. But they saw knowledge as power to be wielded—not shared. They wanted to rewrite the laws of physics. To make energy flow where it shouldn't, to steal motion from one place and force it into another. I tried to stop them. I failed."
Luma's brow furrowed. "And the boy?"
Ion's jaw tightened. "His name is Kaelen. Kaelen Vire. He was my brightest pupil—clever, intuitive… too curious for his own good. He found a hidden vault in the Tower and uncovered blueprints forbidden to us all. That device he used… it was meant only for study, not practice. He became obsessed with 'freezing the world'—with stopping entropy. He believed he could undo decay, control time itself."
Luma shivered. "But that's impossible, isn't it?"
"According to nature, yes," Ion said. "But Kaelen no longer sees the world through natural laws. He sees it as a puzzle to dominate."
He sighed, then looked at her with a softness she hadn't seen before.
"And you, Luma… You don't remember much from before, do you?"
She hesitated. "Only pieces. My mother died when I was small. My father vanished in the Great Storm. The village said I was 'odd'—always asking why things fell, why water curved when poured."
Ion nodded. "You were born in the region of Solari Vale, where gravity pulses unnaturally due to deep magnetic fault lines. Children born there sometimes develop what we call intuitive physics—a sensitivity to how forces interact. Your mind absorbs the laws of motion like language."
He paused. "The Masters learned of you. If they had found you first, they would've twisted that gift."
Luma was silent. "So you came for me."
"I watched your village from afar. When I saw you dismantle and rebuild that broken waterwheel at age seven, I knew. You didn't just understand motion—you felt it. You belonged in the Tower… but the Tower was no longer safe."
Luma blinked quickly, her breath catching. "So you took me to protect me."
"And to teach you. Because one day, Kaelen will return. And he will not come alone. The Masters are rebuilding their numbers. If they bend enough laws... they'll tear reality apart."
The fire crackled louder now, as if reacting to his words.
Luma looked up. "Then teach me everything. Before it's too late."
Ion met her gaze. "We start at dawn."