The darkness was warm. Dense.
It wrapped around Kael like a blanket of shadows, yet brought no fear — only a strange sense of comfort.Even without opening his eyes, he could feel the cold ground beneath his bare feet. He was standing… somewhere.
Above him, where stars should have been, the sky was torn by bluish cracks — like fractures in reality. Floating mountains loomed on the horizon, and a forest of crystalline trees stretched as far as the eye could see. Before him, a path of black stones led to a solitary structure — a temple, standing amidst the ruins.
Kael walked in silence. His footsteps echoed, but there was no wind, no life.
Passing the shattered pillars of the entrance, he looked up and saw the temple's roof open to the impossible sky. At the center, a stone platform rose — and atop it... the inscription.
It was massive, carved into a material that resembled liquid obsidian, pulsing faintly with a crimson glow. The letters etched into it seemed to shift, sliding directly into Kael's mind before he could even try to speak them aloud.
"Those who sleep beneath the runes shall be reborn in ruin."
The ground trembled. Kael took a step back — but something gripped his chest: a burning pain that spread like liquid fire.
Runes. Runes began to glow across his skin, snaking out from his solar plexus, circling his core like draconic serpents made of blue and golden light.He screamed. Tried to run. But the vision twisted.
Reality shattered into fragments.The temple crumbled to dust. The crystal forest collapsed in on itself.
And then — sunlight.
It blinded him as he opened his eyes.
His body was stiff, his muscles numb, lips dry as parchment.He could smell old straw, mold… and something cooking in the distance.
"Kael...?" The voice was hesitant, soft, and familiar.
He turned his head slowly.The girl in front of him was trembling, eyes wide, hands pressed tightly over her mouth. A thin line of tears was already falling.
"C-Kael... brother...?" she repeated, her voice breaking.
His name sounded distant. Strange. But it was his.
He blinked. His blue eyes still foggy. As his vision adjusted… there she was.
Lyara. His sister. Older. Her face looked too weary for her age.Her hair was tied in a simple bun, her clothes humble and stained — but in her eyes, that familiar glint of cold fire still burned.
Before he could say anything, another figure threw herself against his chest in a tight embrace.
"Big brother!" The voice was small, childlike, but choked with tears.
Elene. His younger sister. So small, so light… he barely recognized her.But he felt it. The warmth, the affection, the desperate relief in her embrace.
Kael tried to speak… but only a breath escaped.
Lyara knelt beside him and gripped his hand tightly.
"You've been asleep for three years, Kael…" she said, her voice trembling. "And while you slept… everything changed."
He lay there in silence, staring at the wooden ceiling of the small cabin — a far cry from the marble arches and stained glass he once knew.
Outside, the clucking of hens and the whisper of wind had replaced the clash of blades and the songs of bards.
But deep in his chest, something had awakened.
And the world had no idea