The Feather and the Thorn
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The forest of Arcanhelm was unnaturally still that morning. Mist clung to the moss-covered trunks like faded memories, and Kael could feel the chill not just in his bones, but in his heart.
He stood alone at the border of the sacred grove the place where the Voice That Shouldn't Speak had first called to him.
Lireen was gone. No word. No letter. No promise.
Only silence.
And that silence screamed louder than any goodbye.
Kael's hands, still bandaged from his last encounter with the cursed mirror in the underground shrine, trembled as he clutched the pendant Lireen had left behind. A single white feather—pure, fragile, and now, a curse he couldn't lift.
> "You said you'd never leave me," he whispered. "And yet… you vanished like a ghost in daylight."
Behind him, Lireen's voice echoed in memory:
> "If I ever disappear, don't chase me blindly. Find the truth first. Then come save me."
Kael inhaled sharply.
> She knew. She knew this would happen.
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Suddenly, footsteps broke through the fog.
He turned quickly, hand on the dagger beneath his cloak.
But it was Mira the apprentice historian from Arcanhelm.
"Mira?"
Her breath was ragged, her cloak soaked. "Kael… someone left this for you."
She handed him a sealed letter. The wax bore no house crest, only a single thorn pressed into blood-red wax.
Kael opened it.
Inside, in jagged ink, were the words:
> She is not where you think. She is not who you think. They wear her name, but not her will. If you wish to find Lireen... go to the Ruins of Velcrest.
His blood ran cold.
"Who gave you this?" he asked.
But Mira shook her head. "I found it tied to the hilt of a black dagger stabbed into the archive wall. There was no one there."
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Kael stared at the letter, the thorn emblem now burned into his thoughts.
He looked to the forest once more, then to the northeast where the forgotten ruins of Velcrest whispered their own nightmares.
"Then I'll find the truth," he muttered. "Even if it kills me."
He tightened his cloak, turned away from the grove, and stepped onto the hidden path.
The wind howled. The world darkened.
And the feather in his hand began to blacken at the edges.
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🔹Chapter Highlight Teaser : Kael receives a cryptic letter hinting that Lireen may be trapped under another's control. With only a thorn emblem and a haunting message, Kael begins a journey to the Ruins of Velcrest, where shadows whisper her name… but not her soul.
Next: Chapter 19 - "Ruins Beneath the Veil"
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📌 Highlight Recap:
> Kael receives a cryptic letter hinting that Lireen may be trapped under another's control. With only a thorn emblem and a haunting message, Kael begins a journey to the Ruins of Velcrest, where shadows whisper her name… but not her soul.
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