Night had plunged the plains into shadow. The moon, pale and veiled by clouds, barely illuminated the dirt road. The sound of crickets was broken only by the rustling of branches.
Kai ran.
His heart pounded like a drum, and every breath felt like a blade in his lungs. The forest seemed endless, but he did not stop. The alleys of Etharyon pulled at his mind with an almost instinctive force: the rune-marked stone, the only link to his origins, was still in his house.
In the clearing, Eldric fed the fire. The flames crackled, sending sparks upward until they vanished into the darkness. The traveler stared into the fire as if he could see beyond it.
"You run back… they always run back," he murmured to himself.
He closed his eyes, and for a moment another scene rose in his mind: a boy, years ago, surrounded by armed men. Eyes shining with the same gray light as Kai's. The smell of blood in the air. The sound of screams and prayers.
Eldric took a slow breath, returning to the present.
"How many like you I've seen taken away, boy… how many I couldn't save." His voice came out rough, as if speaking to his own past. "Maybe this time, I won't make the same mistake."
The flames danced, reflecting in his tired eyes.
Meanwhile, Kai slipped through the dark alleys of Etharyon. The streets were nearly deserted, except for a few drunken men stumbling along and dogs rummaging through garbage. The closed windows made him feel watched, even though no eyes were visible.
He reached his old house. The door creaked as if protesting when he pushed it open. Inside, the room felt even smaller than he remembered. Dust on the table. A suffocating silence.
Kai knelt before the improvised altar. His fingers trembled as they touched the rune-marked stone, cold and faintly pulsing, as if it had been waiting for him. Beside it lay the old short-bladed dagger. He fastened it to his belt, feeling a strange sense of comfort.
"I won't let them take this from me… I won't."
But as he stepped out through the back door, hope shattered.
Men and women from the neighborhood were waiting, holding torches and clubs. Their eyes reflected as much fear as hatred.
"I told you he'd come back!" one of them shouted. "A freak never abandons its den!"
Kai stepped back, quickly assessing his exits. He thought of running through the alleys, but before he could act, the group parted.
Two men dragged someone forward, bound and forced to his knees.
Ronan.
His friend's face was swollen and bruised, but still recognizable.
"We found this one at the warehouse," a woman said coldly. "He was defending you. Now he pays too."
Kai froze. The torchlight illuminated the alley, shadows stretching across the walls like monsters. His heart pounded faster than his legs had ever run.
They knew. They were waiting for me. And now they're using him to trap me.
The crowd tightened the circle. Ronan, kneeling, tried to lift his head.
"Kai… don't—"
The cry was cut short when someone yanked his hair back.
Kai looked around desperately, searching for a way out. Every alley seemed darker now, every shadow narrower.
If he ran, Ronan would die.
If he fought, everyone would see what he truly was.
And so, trapped between two impossible choices, Kai could think of only one thing:
how to escape the darkness closing in around him.
A torch crackled, and the night seemed to hold its breath