The forest seemed alive that night, though not in the way one hoped for. The mist clung thick and heavy to the air, swallowing the trail ahead, while the gnarled branches of ancient trees groaned like restless spirits. Every step Kael took echoed unnaturally, as if the ground itself hesitated beneath his weight.
He walked slightly ahead of the group, shoulders tense, fists flexing at his sides. The others followed in uneasy silence. It had been two days since the battle at the ruins—two days since Kael had touched something no mortal should have survived.
And he hadn't been the same since.
His aura, once a controlled flame, now burned erratic, spilling into the world in sparks that bent reality's edges. The grass where he stepped wilted and regrew in seconds, animals scurried from his path, and the wind circled him like a predator uncertain whether to strike or kneel.
Liora finally broke the silence. Her voice was quiet, but it carried. "Kael, you haven't said a word since we left the ruins. You're scaring me."
He stopped. Slowly, he turned toward her. His eyes—once deep, steady brown—were fractured with starlight, shards of light refracting like a broken prism. He looked both human and something far beyond.
"The power," he said, his voice hoarse. "It won't settle. It's like drinking the sea and still being thirsty. It keeps growing, spreading. I can feel it clawing at the edges of me, Liora. I don't control it. It controls me."
A ripple of energy pulsed from his chest, scattering the mist in violent waves. Liora instinctively raised her hand, bracing herself against the unseen force. Behind her, Mira and Daren exchanged uneasy looks.
"Limitless power, huh?" Daren muttered, trying for levity though his grip tightened on his staff. "Most people would kill for a problem like that."
Kael's lips twisted, not in amusement but warning. "If I lose control, Daren, there won't be a world left to protect. This power—it doesn't feel like it belongs to me. It feels borrowed. Stolen. And it wants to consume everything."
The silence that followed pressed against their ears, heavier than the mist.
Liora stepped closer, ignoring the static that prickled along her skin. Her hand reached for his arm—hesitant, trembling—but when her fingers brushed him, the world shifted.
A hum reverberated in the air, low and melodic. Light spilled from her fingertips, not Kael's. Silvery threads shimmered across her skin, curling upward like smoke woven from moonlight.
Liora gasped. "What—what is this?"
Kael's eyes widened. The resonance of his own power calmed, tempered by hers, as though the wild sea inside him recognized a tide of equal pull. "Liora… it's you. Something in you has awakened."
She stared at her hands, awestruck. The silver light wrapped around her wrists like bracelets of living light. "I feel it—like something that's been sleeping inside me all along. And you…" She glanced up at him, eyes wide. "You stirred it."
Mira's sharp intake of breath broke the fragile moment. The normally playful glint in her gaze was gone, replaced by something steadier, darker.
"Then it's not just you two," she said softly.
Kael turned, his fractured eyes narrowing. "What do you mean?"
Mira hesitated, then exhaled sharply, as if releasing a burden she'd carried too long. "I wasn't honest with you. I've had… abilities for years. I kept them hidden because people fear what they don't understand. But if the echoes are calling to you… they're calling to all of us."
Her words hung in the mist. Daren shifted uncomfortably, as though her confession tugged at his own secrets.
Kael opened his mouth to press her, but the forest interrupted. The mist, once merely oppressive, grew thicker—so thick their torches dimmed to faint halos. The trees seemed to stretch taller, shadows bleeding longer.
The hairs on Kael's arms rose. This wasn't natural.
Liora instinctively stepped closer to him. "Something's wrong."
Kael's voice dropped, low and certain. "We're being watched."
The group tightened instinctively, forming a half-circle. Kael flexed his fingers, feeling the surge of infinite power clawing at him, demanding to be released. He forced it down, trembling with restraint. Not yet.
From the darkness, the first whisper came. A voice, low and cold, threading through the mist like a blade sliding across glass.
You carry the echoes. But do you hear them, or do they hear you?
Kael's heart hammered once, hard. The others froze.
The voice chuckled, deep and mocking, echoing from everywhere and nowhere. You stumble through power you do not understand. Little sparks chasing eternity.
Kael's pulse roared in his ears. His fists clenched as sparks of starlight bled from his skin. "Show yourself."
The forest held its breath.
And the mist thickened still.
The mist pressed in until the world felt smothered, as though the forest itself had been swallowed. Every sound—every breath—was muffled, except for the voice that slithered between the trees.
Kael's power clawed at his insides, desperate to erupt, but he forced himself to remain still. If he lost control now, he could level the forest and everyone in it.
"Kael," Liora whispered, silver light still curling across her arms. "That voice—it feels ancient."
Mira stepped forward, her usual smirk gone. Her eyes glowed faintly violet, the color almost hidden in the fog. "Ancient or not, I won't let it touch us."
Before anyone could ask what she meant, Mira raised her hand. A symbol—intricate, jagged, alive—flared into existence across her palm. The ground at her feet rippled like liquid shadow, and from it rose figures shaped from darkness itself. They crouched low, blade-limbs poised, eyes burning with the same violet fire.
Liora staggered back in shock. "Mira… you—"
"I command shadows," Mira said flatly, though her voice wavered. "I've hidden it my whole life, because people whisper cursed when they see it. But no more. If Kael can bear the infinite, and Liora the moonlight… then I'll bear the night."
The shadow-creatures hissed, circling their maker protectively.
Daren let out a slow breath, his usual humor dimmed. "Guess it's time I stopped hiding too."
He slammed his staff into the ground. At first, nothing happened—then the forest itself shuddered. Roots tore from the earth, thick as serpents, writhing upward to coil around his staff. The soil pulsed like a heartbeat, and the air filled with the sharp scent of stone and moss.
"I can call the veins of the earth," Daren said simply. "It answers when I demand it. I didn't tell you because… I didn't want to be feared." His eyes, glowing green-gold, lifted to Kael's. "But it looks like fear is the least of our problems."
Kael stood frozen. For the first time in weeks, the infinite power inside him quieted—not because it had weakened, but because it recognized them. Liora's silver light. Mira's shadow fire. Daren's earthblood. They weren't just companions. They were a chorus.
The echoes had never chosen him alone.
"They've been waiting for us," Kael murmured, awe breaking through the tension. "Not one, not two. Four."
The mocking voice in the mist laughed, the sound hollow and cruel. How touching. You think destiny binds you. You think power shared is power safe. Foolish children.
The fog split.
From the rift stepped a figure clad in armor blacker than the shadows Mira commanded. His helm was carved with screaming mouths, each twisted in eternal agony. His spear dripped with obsidian venom, and every step cracked the ground beneath him.
"I am the Harbinger," the figure intoned, his voice like metal dragged across stone. "The first chosen of the echoes. The only true heir to their song. You are impostors."
His gaze fixed on Kael, and even the infinite fire inside Kael recoiled. "You dare steal the voice of eternity? Then let me silence you… forever."
The ground split in violent tremors, shadows screamed, and the air turned poisonous.
Kael's body burned, the infinite energy demanding release, but for the first time he didn't feel alone. On either side of him stood Liora, silver light blazing; Mira, shadow warriors rising in numbers; and Daren, earth coiling and striking like a living beast.
They raised their powers together.
The forest shook. The mist shattered.
And destiny itself prepared for war.