The wind cut sharp across the high cliffs of Eldrin Pass.
Aelric rode fast. The trail behind him was soaked in ash, and every step his horse took left black stains in the snow. The fire had spread farther than expected. Villages were gone. Forests were nothing but skeletons of trees.
He had seen war before. But this… this wasn't war.
This was a message.
Kaien wasn't hiding anymore.
At the edge of the pass, Aelric stopped. The ruins of the Sanctum could be seen below—smoke still rising, embers still glowing in the dark.
He closed his eyes and tried to feel it.
The connection.
Even after all these years, it was still there.
Like a string tied between their hearts—tugging, pulsing.
He's close.
Meanwhile, Kaien stood at the edge of a crumbled cliff not far from the same pass.
He could feel it too.
Aelric's presence burned like sunlight on the back of his neck.
Too warm. Too bright. Too familiar.
He pulled the twin-blades from his back and spun them once in his hand. The metal hummed faintly—alive, reacting to the tension in the air.
"He's not ready," Kaien muttered.
Behind him, a shadow flickered. A cloaked figure stepped forward, face hidden by a hood. "You could kill him before he even draws his sword."
Kaien didn't respond. His grip on the blades tightened.
"That's not what I want," he said.
"Then what do you want?"
Kaien looked toward the horizon.
"To see if he still believes in the world that broke me."
Back on the pass, Aelric knelt beside a burned tree. Something shimmered in the snow—a charm, half-melted, shaped like a crescent moon. The same one Kaien used to wear when they were boys.
It hurt to see it again.
He remembered when they first got them.
He remembered their mother's voice, soft and warm:
"One for each of you. No matter where you go, you'll always find your way back to each other."
He closed his hand around the charm.
Then stood.
Aelric reached the ruins by morning.
The air smelled like smoke and burnt stone. Ash clung to his cloak as he stepped over scorched ground, sword drawn but lowered. He moved slowly, carefully. He knew Kaien was near. He could feel it in his chest—like his own heartbeat had a shadow.
Then he saw him.
Standing in the middle of the rubble, calm as ever.
Black coat swaying in the wind. Twin blades crossed over his back.
Eyes dark. Older. Sharper. But still his brother.
Kaien.
They didn't speak at first.
Just stared.
Two silhouettes in the fog of a broken past.
Finally, Aelric broke the silence.
"You burned the Sanctum."
Kaien tilted his head. "That's what they're calling it?"
"That's what it is."
"No," Kaien said. "It's what they built it to be. But you never saw what was behind those walls. You just followed orders."
Aelric stepped closer. "You murdered priests."
"I set fire to liars."
"They were our people."
"They buried our mother with sealed lips and sacred lies. Don't pretend you've forgotten."
The wind picked up. Bits of ash spiraled between them.
Aelric's grip on his sword tightened. "Why now?"
Kaien looked past him, toward the fractured moon still lingering in the sky.
"Because fate waited long enough. And because I'm tired of pretending I don't exist."
"You left."
"You pushed me out."
"I protected you for years."
Kaien finally looked him dead in the eyes.
"You protected their idea of me. Not the real me."
Silence again.
Then Kaien reached up and slowly pulled his blades from his back.
Not in anger. Not in rage.
In ritual.
"I'm not here to kill you, Aelric," he said. "But I need you to see the truth. And I know you won't open your eyes unless I force them open."
Aelric raised his sword.
"I swore I'd stop you if this day ever came."
"Then here we are," Kaien said. "Let's see who fate really chose."
Their blades clashed in a flash of light and sparks.
Steel against steel.
Brother against brother.
Light against shadow.
But underneath the noise… neither one of them was smiling.