The wind was cruel that morning.
Kael's cloak snapped behind him like a torn banner as he trudged across the barren frost lands. The white sun hung low, casting long, sharp shadows over the cracked ice. Each breath stung his lungs; each step reminded him he was alone. Or so the world believed.
But not entirely alone.
"You're sulking again," came a voice—not from beside him, but from within.
Kael sighed and glanced up at the empty expanse.
"I'm not sulking. I'm thinking."
"You sulk when you think. You pout when you strategize. It's adorable."
Kael rolled his eyes. "Remind me why I bound myself to the sassiest bear in the North?"
From the shifting snow a form emerged, massive and translucent—like fog sculpted into fur. Nyru, Spirit of the Ice Bears, paced beside him, her paws silent against the frost. Her glowing blue eyes fixed on him with both fondness and ancient patience.
"Because without me, you'd still be crying over broken ritual stones and pretending you weren't scared of girls."
"I was ten."
"And precious."
Kael chuckled despite the cold.
Their bond had always been strange. Spirit beasts rarely spoke aloud to their hosts, let alone teased them. But Nyru had been with him since he was born—bound in a way even the elders didn't understand. She was warmth in his blood during the endless winters, whisper in the dark when guilt clawed at him.
"We should head west," Nyru said, gaze fixed on the horizon. "There's shelter near the glacier bones."
"I know. I just… I keep thinking about the council. Sari. The way they looked at me. Like I was poison."
Nyru walked in silence for a time.
"You're not poison, Kael. You're medicine. The kind that burns before it heals. They weren't ready for you."
Kael let that settle. The wind howled. In the distance, an ice eagle screeched above jagged cliffs.
He stopped walking.
"There's something coming, Nyru. I feel it. Not just from the South. From beneath us. Through the ley. Like something ancient is waking."
Nyru's form flickered, ears alert. "You're not wrong. The leyline pulse is off. I've felt it too. Something is stirring. Not just beasts—something older than even me."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "Then we need to move. If we're going to survive exile, we'll need allies."
"You're thinking of her again?"
Kael smirked. "Sari never really left my thoughts."
"She's going to punch you."
"I hope so."
---
Meanwhile, Back at the Sanctuary of the Sun-Sprinter...
Sari stormed out of the council chamber, her fists clenched so tightly that sparks of golden ley-energy shimmered along her knuckles. Her cheetah spirit, Zyra, loped beside her, silent but watchful.
"They branded him a traitor without trial," Sari hissed. "He saved us! He saved them. And they turned their backs."
"You know how your elders are," Zyra said softly. "Tradition blinds the swiftest minds."
She paused by a sandstone column, breathing hard. Behind her, two others caught up—Toma, the stoic flame-handler from the southern jungle, and Linae, the quiet storm-tamer from the sea-tribes. Friends forged from childhood, all of them had once trained alongside Kael during the Grand Convergence.
"He wouldn't do it," Toma said, voice firm. "Kael loved the Frost King, he was a father to him. Whatever happened in that chamber—it wasn't what they thought."
Linae nodded. "The ley still sings with his name. That means he's still chosen. And if he's alive... he'll fight."
Sari looked to the horizon.
"Then we better be ready to meet him when he does. Because Kael doesn't forget. And he doesn't forgive."
---
Back in the frost lands, Kael walked on. Toward old friends. Toward old flames. Toward war.
And as Nyru vanished back into Kael's shadow, the last echo of her voice drifted like mist:
"Let them come, cub. Let the world see what exile makes of kings."
Beyond the Border
Meanwhile, Kael pressed deeper into the ice. Nyru walked beside him, silent but warm in Kael's mind. Their link pulsed with quiet thought.
> "They're watching you now," Nyru said. "Not just the Council. The other beasts. The old ones."
> "Let them watch," Kael muttered, pulling his cloak tighter. "I didn't kill my father."
> "No. But you're his heir, and that makes you dangerous. And if they sense the Fire Spirit in you again…"
> "They'll hunt me."
Nyru snorted. > "They already are."
As they crossed a bridge of crystal ice, Kael stopped and looked out toward the moonlit horizon. He could feel the lay lines humming beneath his feet—energy-like veins in the earth.
> "Do you think I could unite them?" Kael asked quietly. "The Tribes? The Beasts?"
Nyru was quiet for a long moment. > "Only if you stop running from who you are."
Kael turned to his spirit bear, a sad smile on his face. "And what if I don't know what that is yet?"
> "Then we keep walking until you find out."
---
The fire cracked softly in the middle of the stone ring, casting flickers of gold and orange across the faces gathered around it. Sari sat cross-legged, her sun-braided hair catching firelight as she sharpened her obsidian-edged staff. Beside her, Moku—son of the Rhinos—leaned on his heavy elbow, munching on dried roots. Across from them, Linah of the Panther Tribe stirred a steaming brew, her golden eyes fixed on the map between them.
The mood was heavy. The winds had changed.
"They exiled him," Sari said, barely above a whisper.
"They what?" Linah growled, nearly spilling the brew. "You can't exile the son of the Ice King. That's against—"
"—against the Law of Blood," Moku finished, his deep voice like gravel. "Only a spirit beast can sever a bond of legacy. Not a council."
Sari looked up, her jaw set. "Well, the Council of Spirits found a loophole. Said Kael's bond to Nyru is too unstable. Said they couldn't be sure who killed Arokk."
"Unstable?" Linah scoffed. "You've seen Kael's spiritfire. He talks to that bear like it's his brother."
"And maybe that's what scares them."
A long silence fell. Only the wind moved beyond their circle, whispering through the tall whispergrass of the plain.
Finally, Moku spoke. "My father told me stories. Of when the continents were first split. When the Spirit Beasts chose mortal kings to guard their realms. It was balance, not power, that kept the Dominion alive."
"I've read the same," Linah nodded. "But every few generations, someone is born with more than just one spirit path. A hybrid. A threat."
"Kael," Sari said.
Linah narrowed her eyes. "Or a weapon."
---
Back at the Fire
Sari slammed the staff into the dirt. "We need to find him."
Linah raised an eyebrow. "And do what? Start a war?"
"No," Sari said. "Start the truth."
Moku let out a long breath. "Then we'll need to cross into neutral lands. Through the ruins of the First War."
Linah stiffened. "The ruins are cursed. Haunted by beasts that didn't bond. Spirits who were never chosen."
Sari rose to her feet. "So are lies. And we've lived in one for too long."
The fire hissed as the wind picked up. Beyond the hills, far in the distance, something old howled.
And Kael walked unknowingly toward it.
---
[Find out what it was in ne the next chapter]