The scent of jasmine faded, but the echo of Isolde's words did not. Kaelen stood in the dark long after she had left, his mind a storm of conflicting thoughts. Weapon. Key. Loyalty. Investment. The words spun in his head, each a different path leading into a different kind of darkness.
Sleep was impossible. Every faint hum of the Citadel, every distant footstep in the hall, felt like a potential threat. He was caught between two powerful forces, and he understood with a cold clarity that he was the weakest piece on the board. His only value was his rarity.
Driven by a restless energy, he left his room. The hallway was empty, illuminated by the soft, eternal glow of the light orbs. He walked without a destination, his bare feet silent on the cool floor. Valeria had told him not to wander, but the command felt distant, muffled by Isolde's tantalizing whispers.
The Citadel was a silent, sleeping giant. He found a wide balcony overlooking the city. Havenfall was quieter now, but never truly dark. Lights still glittered like fallen stars, and the great wall was a constant, humming ring of defiance against the mist. He leaned on the railing, the metal cold under his palms, and tried to make sense of it all.
"Can't sleep either, huh?"
The voice, soft and melodic, came from behind him. He spun around, Umbral energy instinctively flaring to life in a defensive spark around his fist.
A woman stood there, her hands raised in a peaceful gesture. She looked to be in her early fifties, with a kind, weary face framed by strands of silver-streaked brown hair that had escaped a loose bun. She wore simple, practical robes dusted with what looked like clay and stone powder. Her eyes, a warm brown, held a deep sadness, but her smile was genuine.
"It's alright," she said, her voice calm. "I'm not here to fight. I just often come here for quiet. The city is… a lot to take in."
Kaelen slowly let the energy dissipate, his heart still thumping. She didn't carry herself like a soldier or a politician. She seemed… normal. "Who are you?" he asked, his voice less guarded than it had been with Isolde.
"My name is Elara," she said, lowering her hands and joining him at the railing. She didn't look at him, instead gazing out at the city lights. "I work in the artisan quarters. I mend things. Sometimes I make new things." She glanced at his hands, then at his face, her eyes lingering on the lingering tension there. "You're the new one Valeria brought in. Kaelen, right?"
He nodded, wary but curious. "How did you know?"
A faint, sad smile touched her lips. "News travels fast here, especially about something new. And you have the look."
"The look?"
"Of someone who has seen too much too quickly. The Citadel can feel like a cage, even when the doors are open." She sighed, a sound full of the weight of years. "They're already trying to carve you up, aren't they? The Commander and her… opponents."
Kaelen stiffened. "What do you mean?"
Elara shook her head. "I stay out of politics. But I have eyes. I see the players move their pieces. You are a new piece, a powerful one. They will all want to own you." She finally turned to look at him directly, her expression earnest. "I am not here to offer you a deal or demand your loyalty. I am here to offer you a warning that no one else will."
She paused, choosing her words carefully. "This power inside you, this Umbral aspect… it is tied to the Veil. To the darkness and the pain of this world. The stronger you become, the more it will try to change you. It will whisper to you in your dreams, feed on your anger, your fear. The path of an Awakened is not just about gaining years. It is a constant fight to hold on to who you are."
Her words struck a deeper chord than Isolde's clever manipulations or Valeria's rigid commands. She spoke to the fear he hadn't even been able to name—the fear of the cold energy inside him.
"Why are you telling me this?" he asked.
"Because someone should," she said simply. "Valeria will teach you to control it as a weapon. Others will teach you to use it as a tool for their gain. But no one will teach you how to stop it from consuming you." She reached into a pocket of her robe and pulled out a small, smooth stone. It was dark, almost black, but with a faint, swirling silver vein running through it. "I found this years ago. It helps… quiet the noise sometimes. For me, at least."
She held it out to him. After a moment's hesitation, he took it. The stone was warm from her pocket, and holding it, he felt a faint, soothing sensation, a slight dampening of the constant low-level hum of his Umbral energy.
"It's just a rock," she said with a soft laugh. "But sometimes, a little anchor to the real world is all we need. Don't let them make you forget that you were a person before you were a weapon, or a key, or an asset."
She gave him one last, kind look before turning to leave. "Be careful, Kaelen. The walls here don't just have ears. They have hearts. And most of them are heavy."
She disappeared back into the Citadel's depths, leaving him alone on the balcony with the cold stone in his hand and a new, more profound confusion in his heart.
He looked from the stone to the glittering, scheming city below. He had three offers now: Valeria's straight road of power, Isolde's shadowy path of secrets, and Elara's quiet warning to remember himself. The weight of the choice felt heavier than any shard of darkness he could ever hope to form. The game had just become infinitely more complex.