The knock came at midnight.
Three slow raps on the gate of Elarin's Edge.
Lyra opened it with her sword drawn. Torian stood behind her, hand on his hilt.
The man waiting outside didn't flinch.
He wore no armor, no visible weapons. Just a long coat the color of scorched thread, stitched with unfamiliar runes. His skin was pale; his eyes, a soft golden hue that shimmered like candlelight.
He smiled.
"Peace to you," he said, voice low and smooth. "I seek only conversation. For now."
---
✦ The Bounty
The elders gathered, tense and guarded. Aiden stood behind Torian, heart pounding.
The stranger introduced himself with a bow.
> "You may call me Veyr.
I carry a bounty, sanctioned by the Ash Circle.
A Thread-Soul has awakened.
By decree of the Broken Accord, such souls are to be… reclaimed."
He reached into his coat, pulled out a scroll, and let it float midair.
Aiden's name was on it.
In red thread.
The bounty pulsed with magic — a contract of death.
---
"You're not taking him," Torian growled.
"I haven't drawn a blade," Veyr replied. "But know this: the Ash Circle has sent six more like me, across the continent. I came not to kill the boy... but to offer him a choice."
Aiden stepped forward. "What kind of choice?"
Veyr's eyes gleamed.
> "Come with me.
They will train you. Feed your power.
Teach you to rule — as you were meant to.
Or stay here…
And become the reason this village burns."
---
✦ The Test
Torian, furious, challenged Veyr to a duel. "If he stays, he earns that right."
The fight was not fair.
Veyr fought with Thread Magic Aiden had never seen before — each move precise, lazy even, as if he saw seconds into the future. Torian struck hard, but Veyr dodged with grace unnatural.
Then he snapped his fingers.
The threads of sound itself were silenced.
Torian collapsed, stunned by the disruption.
Aiden screamed and ran toward them — not to fight, but to shield.
And something answered him.
> A Thread of Spirit.
It bloomed around him like a pulse of silver flame, pushing Veyr back just enough.
Not harm.
But resistance.
Enough for Torian to rise again.
---
Veyr laughed, stepping away. "Good. Very good."
He bowed to Aiden. "You've chosen. So have I."
He vanished in a blur of threads, but his voice echoed:
> "This was only the first knock, Thread-Soul.
Next time, they won't ask."
---
✧ Aftermath:
Veyr is now a marked enemy — elegant, powerful, and not entirely evil.
The Ash Circle knows Aiden's location.
Aiden instinctively used the Spirit Thread — his power is evolving.
Torian is shaken: "You're not just a Thread-Soul. You're something older."
---