Kael awoke to whispers.
Not from the blade. Not from the ruins.
From the people sitting nearby, watching him.
They were quiet at first relieved. But as he stirred, the silence that followed was heavier than stone.
"You're alive," Ryall said, seated beside a smoldering torch. His voice was too calm. "That's a relief."
Kael sat up slowly. His body ached in places he didn't know could ache. His fingers tightened instinctively around the scythe laid beside him.
Elira sat cross-legged across from him, arms folded, her gaze unreadable. Drev leaned against the far wall, hood lowered, while Tessan crouched nearby, sharpening a broken dagger out of habit.
Nobody spoke.
So Kael did.
"I think… something's wrong with me."
Tessan snorted. "You think?"
Kael ignored him. "The shadows. The flames. That thing I did… it wasn't training. It wasn't skill. It was like something broke open inside me."
He paused, fingers flexing.
"I don't understand any of it. When I grabbed that scythe, something started a thread unraveling. I can feel things... pulling at me. Old, deep things. Like there's more than just magic or aura."
Elira's expression didn't change, but her voice lowered. "Shadows. Black flames. Destruction. All during that moment."
Kael nodded.
She leaned in. "And what about your Whispered Event? That second one."
The cave fell silent.
Kael looked down at his hands. "It happened just before I blacked out. Everything froze. I was pulled into something that wasn't a dream. It felt… ancient. Like the world blinked and I fell through the crack."
Ryall furrowed his brow. "What did you see?"
"I… I don't know. A sky made of bones. Towers that breathed. Something with too many eyes. But mostly… myself. Only, it wasn't really me. It was something using my shape. Waiting for me."
Drev stirred. "Did it speak?"
"No," Kael said quietly. "It didn't need to. I understood it."
Elira tilted her head. "And?"
Kael finally looked up, and his eyes, for the first time, shimmered with a soft violet-black hue.
"It's not done with me. I think I've only touched the surface of whatever this power is. And whatever it is... it's not normal. Not aura. Not magic. Not anything from this world that I've ever known."
Tessan let out a long breath. "Great. We've got a half-awake mystery firecracker with a talking blade and a haunted soul."
Drev's voice was low. "And something in this ruin recognized him."
The torch flickered.
Kael looked toward the deeper tunnel, where the being had disappeared.
"I'm not strong," he admitted. "Not yet. But that thing turned away the moment I woke up."
Elira stood, pulling her cloak tight. "Then we better keep moving. Whatever's ahead, we face it together."
Ryall smiled faintly. "Just try not to black out again, yeah?"
Kael managed a weak grin. "No promises."
They moved deeper into the ruin Kael's shadow stretching long behind him, as if something within it had just started to wake.