Episode 1: Ashes in the Rain
The rain didn't stop for three days.
The skies wept like something precious had been lost, and the village of Eldenbrook—tucked between misty hills and whispering woods—waited in silence.
Old Rurik, the blacksmith, stood under his shop's overhang, staring at the edge of the forest. His wife, Mira, clutched her shawl tighter around her frail shoulders. They hadn't spoken much these days. Years had passed since the doctors confirmed they couldn't have children, and the silence that followed had grown roots.
But today, something was different.
A sharp crack of thunder split the sky, and with it came the echo of something else—a cry.
Rurik narrowed his eyes. "Did you hear that?"
Mira stepped closer. "A child…"
They rushed through the downpour, Rurik's lantern flickering with each gust of wind. Mud clung to their boots as they followed the sound into the edge of the forest.
There, nestled against the roots of an ancient tree, lay a boy. No more than three or four. Soaked, shivering, wrapped in tattered cloth and leaves. His hair stuck to his forehead, and his lips trembled—but his eyes…
His eyes were wide open, watching them.
Blue, but with flickers of gold that shimmered briefly before vanishing.
Mira dropped to her knees. "Gods… he's freezing."
Rurik lifted the child gently, surprised at how light he was. As he turned, Mira gasped.
"What is that on his hand…?"
Etched on the boy's left palm, glowing faintly, was a strange symbol. Not a scar. Not a birthmark. Something else. It pulsed once… and then faded.
Rurik looked down at the boy, who had now closed his eyes.
"…We'll ask questions later. Let's get him warm."
—
That night, as thunder echoed and the wind howled, a child with no name slept under the roof of a forgotten couple.
He didn't speak.
He didn't cry.
But when the storm passed and the morning sun broke through the clouds, the boy opened his eyes and whispered a single word—
"…Kael."
That was the name he chose.
And so, they gave him their home, their hearts, and their name.
Kael Rurikson.
The boy found in the rain.
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