The fire burned low, embers glowing faintly against the pale morning light. Vaelen sat cross-legged beside the dead beast's carcass, its armored hide glistening under the dew. The smell of charred flesh still clung to his clothes, no matter how many times he brushed at them.
He stared into the fire, chewing slowly on a strip of meat. Each bite turned his stomach, but the hunger gnawing inside wouldn't allow him to stop.
Across from him, the woman sat silently. Her hood shadowed her face, though he could feel her eyes on him.
Finally, Vaelen broke the silence. "You watched me fight it. Didn't even try to help."
Her expression was unreadable. "If I had stepped in, you would have learned nothing."
"I nearly died," he snapped, throwing the last strip of meat into the flames.
"And yet you didn't." She leaned back, arms folding beneath her cloak. "You forced the Current to obey. That's worth more than my protection."
Vaelen clenched his fists, the fractured Current stirring uneasily in his chest. 'Obey? No… it wasn't obedience. It felt like it wanted to tear me apart.'
"I don't even understand what I did," he muttered. "It just… happened."
The woman tilted her head slightly. "Because you're still fighting it. You see your Current as a curse. A fractured thing. But the Current does not care for your fear. It demands flow, not denial."
Her words only stoked his frustration. "Easy for you to say. Your Current doesn't burn you from the inside out every time you try to use it."
For the first time, she allowed a faint smile to touch her lips. "You don't know that."
Vaelen opened his mouth to respond, then shut it again. He hated how easily she left him with nothing to say.
The silence stretched. The fire popped. Somewhere out in the grasslands, a bird cried out before falling silent again.
Finally, Vaelen asked the question that had been clawing at him since she returned. "Why me? Why waste your time on someone with no memory, no name, and no future? You could've left me to rot in these plains."
Her gaze held his for a long moment. "Because the Current brought you to me. And I do not waste what the Current delivers."
"That's not an answer," he said flatly.
"It's the only one you'll get."
Vaelen ground his teeth, staring down at the dirt.
'Every word she says just circles back to the Current. As if it's the only thing that matters. But what about me? What about the life I've lost?'
The fractured Current pulsed faintly in his chest, as though agreeing with his bitterness.
Later that day, Vaelen gathered water from a shallow stream that cut through the plains. The woman walked ahead, silent as always, leaving him to wrestle with his own thoughts.
He caught sight of his reflection in the water—eyes dark, hair matted, face thinner than it should be. There was no recognition in that reflection. No anchor to hold onto.
'Who am I? What was I before all this?'
The Current shivered inside him, and for a moment he thought he saw something flicker in the water's surface: a boy's face, smiling, before the image shattered into ripples.
Vaelen stumbled back, heart pounding.
The woman's voice drifted over her shoulder. "You saw it, didn't you?"
He looked at her sharply. "Saw what?"
"Memory. Fractured, like your Current. Pieces surfacing when the flow stirs too strongly." She stopped to face him. "You can bury them, or chase them. Either way, they will come."
Vaelen swallowed hard, saying nothing.
By evening, the mist had thickened, rolling across the plains like a slow tide. Vaelen and the woman made camp near a stand of withered trees. The air felt heavy, charged.
As they settled, the woman finally spoke again. "Do you know why the beast attacked you?"
"Because I was in its way," Vaelen muttered.
"Wrong." She shook her head. "It was drawn to you. To your fractured Current. Beasts, people, even the land itself—they all sense imbalance. You are a wound to the flow of Aetherion. That makes you prey… and bait."
Her words chilled him more than the wind.
"So what happens when people notice?" he asked quietly.
Her silence was answer enough.
That night, Vaelen couldn't sleep. He tossed beside the dying fire, every sound in the grass pulling his nerves taut. Finally, unable to bear it, he sat up and whispered into the darkness.
"Who are you really?"
The woman didn't answer immediately. When she did, her voice was calm, almost gentle. "Someone who remembers what most have forgotten. That the Current does not belong to kingdoms or crowns. It belongs to those who can listen."
Vaelen stared at her. "And you think I can?"
"I think you don't have a choice."
Her words cut deep. He lay back down, staring at the stars through the gaps in the mist.
'No choice…? Maybe she's right. But if I don't have a choice, then where does this path lead me? And why does it feel like she's not telling me everything?'
The fractured Current pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat out of rhythm.
Vaelen closed his eyes, but the whispers of the Current followed him into uneasy dreams.
The next morning, just as the sun broke the horizon, the woman woke him with a sharp whisper.
"Stay low."
Vaelen blinked the sleep from his eyes, following her gaze. Out in the distance, through the shifting grass, he saw them: four riders moving slowly across the plains. Their banners were faint, but the colors—blue and silver—marked them as Lysaran scouts.
His stomach tightened.
"They're searching," the woman murmured. "Not for food. For something… or someone."
Vaelen's chest constricted. 'If they find me—someone with no records, no past—they'll know something's wrong.'
The woman's eyes narrowed. "Do not draw their gaze. You're not ready to be seen."
They crouched in silence as the riders passed, the faint jingle of armor carrying across the wind. Vaelen held his breath until they vanished into the mist.
Only then did the woman speak again. "Now you begin to understand. You cannot wander these plains forever. Sooner or later, the world will demand you step into it. And when you do, every kingdom will want to know what you are."
Her words settled heavy in Vaelen's chest. He looked down at his trembling hands.
"I don't even know what I am," he whispered.
The woman's eyes softened, though only slightly. "Then we will find out. Together."