After spending weeks journeying from tidecross. They finally arrived at the capital Keystone.
The village was quiet when Jayden and Askelad reached the outskirts of the coast. The air smelled of salt and burnt cedar, the kind that clings to old tragedy. The sun had started to slip behind the horizon, painting the rooftops in a dim orange hue.
Jayden stopped at the broken fence of a small, two-room house sitting alone on the hill.
His breath caught.
He'd imagined this moment a hundred times since the Trial — Mira smiling from the doorway, her hands dusted with flour; Daren fixing the nets by the porch, humming one of his sailor tunes.
But the door was half open. The wind was the only thing that answered.
Jayden's voice was barely a whisper.
"This… is home."
Askelad hung back a few steps, studying the silence with that calm, cautious stare of his. "Doesn't look like anyone's been here in weeks."
Jayden pushed the door open.
The air inside was stale. Dust floated in the dim light spilling through the cracks. The table was overturned, one leg broken. The walls still bore faint burn marks from the attack — long, thin streaks that crawled upward like lightning scars.
Jayden froze where he stood. Every detail hit harder than a blade.
The shattered glass by the window.
The old fishing nets in a pile.
And the framed photograph on the floor — cracked through the middle, separating Mira's gentle face from Daren's broad smile.
Askelad's tone softened. "This was the lightning attack you mentioned?"
Jayden nodded mutely.
He walked to the far corner, where the old cot stood. It was empty now, neatly folded sheets and nothing else. Someone had been here after. Someone had cleaned.
"There should've been a guard," Jayden muttered. "Or— or someone waiting."
He stepped outside again, scanning the nearby houses. Nothing but silence and shuttered windows. He spotted a lone woman hanging laundry a few doors down and approached.
"Excuse me," he said quietly. "The woman who lived here — Mira Vale. Do you know where she—?"
The woman hesitated, eyes darting toward Askelad before settling on Jayden. Recognition flickered — pity, too.
"You're her boy," she whispered. "The one who vanished."
Jayden's throat tightened. "Please. Tell me."
She looked around, then lowered her voice.
"They took her to a recovery ward in Auren District. Government people. Said she survived, barely. The man—" she swallowed "—didn't."
Jayden closed his eyes. The words hit like stone.
"Is she awake?"
The woman shook her head slowly. "Coma, they said. Something about internal shocks. They wouldn't let anyone visit without clearance."
Jayden nodded numbly, muttered a thank you, and turned away. Askelad followed, saying nothing this time.
They stood at the cliff's edge again. The sea below had gone dark, swallowing the sunset.
"She's alive," Askelad said finally. "That's something."
Jayden's jaw clenched. "Barely."
A long silence passed before Askelad spoke again, softer. "You can't fix what's done, Jayden. But maybe you can learn how to stop it from happening again."
Jayden turned to him, eyes shadowed. "Learn?"
Askelad nodded. "There's a place. The Unlocked Academy in Keystone. If you want answers — or power — that's where you'll find both."
Jayden looked down at his hands. The faint blue veins beneath his skin pulsed once, like an echo of the Water Realm.
Power had cost him everything once.
But if it could save her…
He nodded slowly. "Then that's where I'm going."
Askelad smiled faintly, the kind of smile that carried more knowing than comfort. "Good. Then we're heading the same way — for now."
The two figures turned east, the wind rising behind them.
The house stood alone as night fell, the door still swaying gently — as if someone inside was still waiting.