Chapter 2 – Sparks in the Dark
At night, the forest seemed to come to life.The shadows were too long, and the trees leaned closer, their branches rustling in the wind, as though they were observing.
With his arms securely wrapped around his knees, Kael sat on a rock at the edge of a clearing. No chilly breeze touched him as his body shook and his chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. At the back of his eyes was the Havenbrook fire. He felt the weight of every accusing look, heard screams echoing, and saw houses burning every time he blinked.
Then the thing that drained him the most was Liora's hand leaving his.
She had been hesitant to leave. Her knuckles were white from holding on to him. However, she had been carried farther away than fire by the stranger's firm, steady hand on her shoulder for some reason.
The woman had turned around before she disappeared. She came up to him one last time, her pale robes glowing dimly in the moonlight.
"My name is Serenya," she whispered, her voice like a breeze on still water. "If you ever have the strength to follow, this map will be your guide."
She had pressed a folded piece of parchment with faint lines of silver ink into his hand. Then, with a faint light pulsing like a heartbeat, she placed a pendant in his hand—a dark stone with a glowing sigil engraved on it.
She whispered, "This will lead you to us." "If you dare."
Then, slowly, she had led Liora into the trees until they were both submerged in shadow.
Kael was now silent.
Silence and memories that prevented him from falling asleep.
---
He unfolded the map again, his fingers trembling as though he had held it wrong. The moonlight gave a faint shimmer to the markings on the thin, fragile parchment. He traced line after line, trying to make sense of the shapes. He kept thinking that Liora was walking somewhere on it, but he didn't recognize anything.
The pendant weighed heavily in his other hand. The sigil engraved on its surface pulsed softly, warm against his skin. Like Liora's hand in his, it was real, steady, and alive.
It was the last sign that Liora had not completely abandoned him. Maybe she hoped he would come find her.
He whispered to himself, "Someday," and the word escaped his lips. "But probably soon."
His mind drifted back to the man who once stood tall in the firelight, holding his rough-handled hoe-turned-spear.
His father's voice was still audible to him. "Whatever happens. Havenbrook will remain".
But Havenbrook was down. Besides, his dad hadn't returned. There is nothing left. No sign of his father.
Kael closed his eyes and felt the memory pierce his chest. Had his father been taken by the Wraithborn? Or was he still fighting when the town collapsed? More agonizing than any certainty was the ignorance.
Kael clutched the pendant and whispered, "I'll find you all." He spoke in a cracked voice while clenching his teeth.
---
The first few days blended together. Hunger bit him like a tooth. He rummaged for berries, but half of them were bitter, so he spat them out, his stomach twisted in protest. His throat was dry from the stringy, tough roots. Once, using a bent branch and twine he had taken off his clothing, he attempted to set a trap, but the loop broke before it could hold.
Once, a rabbit scurried across his path. For a moment, he considered summoning fire to capture it—just a tiny spark, enough to stun it. Warmth arose beneath his skin as his fingers curled.
Then he saw Havenbrook again. Horrified villagers pointing at him, flames leaping from house to house, and screams piercing the night.
The heat in his hands made him feel nauseous. He let the rabbit go. It's better to starve than risk the forest turning to ashes.
His hands shook so much that the stones slipped when he tried to light a fire at night with flint and damp sticks. They melted before the sparks could ignite. At last, he huddled in the cold, arms wrapped around himself, shivering as the forest murmured.
And every time he thought of Liora's face, he recalled how her tears had glistened and how her hand had reached back until the darkness took her.
---
The growl came on the fifth night.
It wasn't a dog's bark or a wolf's deep rumble. It was dry and low, like stones rubbing against one another.
Kael turned cold. He was not helped by the small stack of sticks at his feet. The hair stood up on his arms.
The twig made a rustling noise.
Breathless, he turned slowly.
It emerged into the open space.
It was a Wraithborn, though not as big as the thing that had destroyed Havenbrook. A half-formed twisted web of sinew and smoke made up its body. Its limbs were too long and crooked, and where flesh should have been, bones protruded. Except for the faint blue glow that burned where eyes might have been, its face was a hollow mask.
It moved jerkily and silently as it crept forward, its claws dragging the ground.
Kael's knees grew weaker. The memory smashed over him: Liora's scream, her blood splattering on the stone, the villagers shouting "Monster!" as flames leaped from his hands. His chest tightened. His body froze.
Never again. Please don't do it again.
The System sound rang again.
[Resonance found: Fear]
[Unlocking a New Emotional Path: Fear → Veil]
[Unlocked Abilities: Shadow Shroud]
The words burned in his mind, cold and sharp.
Before he could question them, everything changed.
Shadows crawled across his skin and coiled around his arms like water. The air thickened, and sound itself drained away. He gasped, but there was no sound coming from his throat. His body melted into the darkness, and he was no more.
The Wraithborn's head lifted. Its hollow glow filled the clearing. It sniffed the air, its claws scraping the bark. For a breathless eternity, its eyes lingered where Kael stood.
Then it turned.
Its limbs dragged it past him and into the trees. Its light dimmed and melted into shadow as the forest swallowed it up.
Only then did the shroud dissolve. Shadows slipped from Kael's skin and sank into the ground. Once more, the voice of the forest was heard in the chirping of crickets, the sighing of leaves, and the creaking of branches.
Kael dropped to his knees, drenched in sweat. His chest heaved. His stomach rumbled.
But he was still alive.
Hours passed before his body stopped trembling. He sat in the dark, his arms encircling himself, rocking a little as though to quiet the storm inside.
Fear had saved him.
Not Courage. Not fire. but Fear.
He looked down at his hands, still shaking. He had not been the monster that people had screamed about for the first time.
The voice of the System was still audible to him:
[Resonance: Active]
[Current Paths: Anger (Fire), Fear (Veil)]
[Warning: Emotional Core Unstable]
He gave a weak, hollow laugh. "unstable," he muttered. "Yes. That's one way of putting it.
The pendant was in his grasp. Its sigil pulsed like the beat of a heart, and it glowed faintly. He pressed it to his forehead, holding it tightly.
---
Kael got up shakily by dawn. Something new made his heart burn. Determination.
He wrapped the pendant around his neck, tucked the map securely against his chest, and tightened the rope around his waist. The faint pulse of the sigil against his skin was as warm as Liora's hand used to be.
He once glanced in the direction of Havenbrook's position on the horizon. He could almost see smoke rising and hear curses being hurled at him. Nevertheless, Havenbrook had vanished. So was Liora.
He was left with only himself and this damned System.
The forest in front of him is like a sea of darkness.
Kael moved forward, shadow gripping his heels, hope concealed in a pendant and map, and fire smoldering in his blood.
Every step deeper into the dark was a promise:
He would master this power.
He would find his sister again.