The silence after the battle pressed down like a thick blanket. The forest had returned to its unnatural stillness---too quiet, as if it were holding its breath. Somewhere in the distance, the soft rustle of leaves and the chirp of hidden creatures slowly resumed, but Elara stood still, her body thrumming with energy that refused to settle.
Power still pulsed through her veins, slow and steady like a second heartbeat. It hadn't faded---it had simply... quieted. But the weight of it lingered.
Kael stood a few paces away, his back turned, every muscle taut with tension. He scanned the treeline, eyes sharp and calculating. The flicker of the dying campfire lit half of his face, casting the other in shadow. There was something in the way he moved---deliberate, cautious, like a predator that knew the hunt wasn't over.
Elara's voice cracked the quiet. "Kael… what happens now?"
It came out louder than she expected, startling in the silence.
Kael didn't answer right away. He crouched near the remnants of the battle---the fading marks in the dirt where shadows had clashed, the singed grass still reeking of unnatural magic. Nothing of the creature remained. Not even a body. Just ash. Just silence.
Finally, he rose, his voice low and steady. "Now we move forward."
Elara frowned. "Forward into what?"
She didn't mean to sound bitter, but the uncertainty was crawling under her skin like ants. Every step they took pulled her deeper into something she didn't understand. She wasn't afraid of the dark---but she was afraid of the part of herself that seemed to be growing within it.
"You're not telling me everything," she said, stepping toward him. "You keep giving me pieces, hints, warnings. But never the whole truth. Why are we really out here, Kael? What exactly am I being dragged into?"
Kael turned to face her. For once, the walls in his eyes flickered. Just for a second. "You're not being dragged. You chose this the moment you used the sigil."
"No," she snapped. "I used it because I had to. Because something was going to kill us. That's not the same as choosing a destiny I don't even understand."
His jaw tightened, but he nodded. Fair.
"There's more at stake than you realize," he said. "The sigil… the Voidborn… they're just the beginning. Something older is waking up. Something that was never meant to rise again."
Elara felt her pulse stutter. "Older than the Voidborn?"
Kael nodded, his expression darkening. "Much older. A being called Drethar."
The name alone sent a shiver down her spine. Drethar. It felt wrong just to say it---like a whisper from a nightmare she hadn't yet had.
"It's not just some creature," Kael continued, "it's a force. Born from the heart of the Void itself. Centuries ago, the greatest mages of the realm sealed it away. But that seal is weakening. And the sigil you bear… it's more than a weapon. It's a key."
Elara's breath hitched. The sigil. She'd thought of it as something to be mastered, controlled. Something dormant she was meant to awaken. But a key?
"To what?" she asked quietly. "What does it unlock?"
Kael hesitated. "A gate. The one that holds Drethar back."
The silence that followed stretched long. Her thoughts raced, a storm of doubt and fear.
"But why me?" she finally said. "Why would the sigil choose me?"
"It didn't," he said softly. "It was passed to you."
He started walking again, as if the truth might be easier to say if he wasn't looking at her.
"Your blood," he added. "It's not like everyone else's. Your mother---she wasn't just a healer. She was part of the bloodline of Neroth. One of the original Voidborn."
Elara stopped cold. "What?"
Kael finally turned to her, the look in his eyes gentler now. "Your mother carried the sigil's legacy. She hid it well. But when she died, it passed to you. The last of her line. And now it's waking up."
Her heart pounded in her chest. She had always known her mother was different---knew how the villagers had whispered when they thought Elara couldn't hear. But to hear this? That her mother's blood wasn't just strange---it was cursed?
"No," she whispered. "That can't be true. She was kind. She never hurt anyonee---"
"I didn't say she was evil," Kael said softly. "But she was born with a power that frightened the world. She spent her life protecting you from it. Hiding you from those who would've used you."
Elara felt the world tilt. "So I'm not even human, is that it?"
"You are," he said firmly. "But you're more than that too."
She turned away from him, wrapping her arms around herself. The sigil burned faintly on her wrist, as if reminding her of its presence. Of its hunger.
"What happens if I unlock that gate?" she asked, not looking at him.
Kael didn't hesitate. "Drethar returns. And the world falls."
A sick weight settled in her stomach. This wasn't about mastering a gift anymore. This was about stopping the end of everything.
"So what do I do?" she asked. "How do I stop it?"
Kael stepped closer, his voice low. "There's still a way. A place. The Heart of Velkaria. It's said to be the only thing that can seal Drethar forever. But only someone with the sigil can reach it."
Elara turned back to him. "And what's the catch?"
Kael's face darkened. "No one who's gone searching for it has ever come back."
Silence settled between them again, heavier than before.
"I know what I'm asking of you," he said after a moment. "It's not fair. It's not easy. But this is the path we're on. And if we don't reach the Heart first… someone else will. And they won't use it to save the world."
Elara looked down at her hands---hands that had unleashed power she didn't understand. She wasn't a hero. She hadn't asked to be one. But if she didn't act… no one else could.
"Then I guess we better start walking," she said, voice steady despite the storm inside her.
Kael nodded once, solemn and sure. "The road ahead will break you if you're not ready."
"I'm not ready," Elara admitted. "But I'll walk it anyway."
And so, they stepped out of the clearing and into the darkness. Toward the place where legends went to die. Toward the heart of Velkaria.
Toward the end---or the beginning---of everything.