Chapter 5: The Oath and the Hunter
Kael's POV
Silence has a weight to it. I never knew that before. When Mom was here, the sanctuary was filled with sounds, her voice teaching me, the soft hum of her power, the rustle of her robes as she moved. Now there's only the drip of water somewhere in the dark and the too-loud beat of my own heart.
It's been seven days. I know because I've been scratching lines on the wall of the small chamber Lorian calls the "safe room." Seven lines for seven days since the world ended.
Lorian tries to keep things normal. He brings me food,dry bread, hard cheese, water that tastes like stone. He tries to teach me lessons from the old texts, his voice wavering as he reads about throne-energy theory and architectural principles. But his hands shake when he holds the scrolls, and he keeps looking at the door like he expects it to burst open any second.
I don't care about lessons anymore. What good are sigils and runes against something that can take your mother away?
The Echo Core has been quiet since... since it happened. It's like it's sleeping, or maybe it's just as lost as I am. Sometimes I press my hand against my chest where it lives, trying to feel its familiar hum, but there's only silence.
"Your mother was the last Astral Sovereign," Lorian tells me during one of our silent meals. "You are all that remains of our line now."
I push the bread around my plate. "The Demon Sovereign line remains too."
Lorian's face does that pinched thing it does when I mention my father's bloodline. "That is a burden to be carried, not a legacy to embrace."
But I remember how the power felt hot and sweet and strong. I remember the Throne Beast stumbling back from my anger. If I had been stronger, if I had embraced more of that power, maybe Mom would still be here.
On the tenth day, the whispers start.
At first I think it's just the mountain settling, or maybe my imagination. But then I hear it clearly a faint, chittering sound that seems to come from the walls themselves. The Echo Core stirs for the first time in days, giving me a flash of memory: scout beasts, small and fast, searching.
"They're here," I tell Lorian.
He's been checking his crystal resonator every hour. Now it glows with an angry red light. "The main pack has found us. The scout is just the beginning."
We have to move. The safe room won't hold against a full pack of Throne Beasts.
Lorian gathers what little we can carry some food, water, a few important scrolls. He hands me Mom's signet ring on a leather cord. "Wear this. Keep it hidden."
The ring is heavy and cold against my chest. It feels like a promise I don't know how to keep.
We move through tunnels I've never seen before, so narrow we have to crawl in some places. Lorian's breathing grows ragged, and I realize he's older than I thought. The escape is harder on him than it is on me.
After hours of climbing and crawling, we reach a small cave with a crack that lets in fresh air and moonlight. The outside world. I haven't seen it in... I can't even remember how long.
"We'll rest here," Lorian wheezes, sinking against the cave wall. "Just for a moment."
But the moment stretches as his breathing doesn't improve. His face is pale and sweaty in the moonlight.
"Lorian?" I kneel beside him, my own fear forgotten in the face of his obvious pain.
"The heart... too much strain..." he gasps. "Listen to me, Kael. You must... find the Echo Guardians. Your mother's most loyal knights... scattered after the fall..."
He gives me names, places, descriptions,a flood of information I try desperately to memorize. Then his breathing changes, growing shallower.
"Take my crystal," he whispers, pressing the resonator into my hand. "It will warn you... of corruption... of beasts..."
"Don't you die too," I beg, my voice small in the vast darkness. "Please."
But his eyes close, and his breathing slows until I can't hear it anymore. Another line on the wall. Another person gone.
Now I'm truly alone.
Seraphine's POV
The forest at night is my cathedral. Moonlight filters through the canopy, painting everything in shades of silver and shadow. I move through it like a ghost, my footsteps silent on the damp earth.
My mission is simple: find the source of the energy surge that lit up our sensors three nights ago. The Lunaris order doesn't care about the cause, only the effect. If it's a threat, eliminate it. If it's a tool, acquire it.
But I remember my grandmother's stories about the old days, when our order served the Astral Throne instead of hunting its remnants. She spoke of Knights of Echoes who could hear the memories of stones, of Architects who built cities that touched the stars.
A sudden chittering sound pulls me from my thoughts. Throne Beasts a full pack, from the sound of it. Hunting.
I follow, curious. Throne Beasts don't hunt in these woods without reason.
The trail leads me to a small cave at the base of the mountain. And there, in the moonlight, I see the most unexpected thing: a boy, no more than ten years old, fighting a juvenile Shadow Wolf.
It's not much of a fight. The boy is clearly exhausted, malnourished, but there's a fierce determination in his eyes that makes me pause. He moves with unusual grace, as if his body remembers fighting techniques his mind has forgotten.
But what truly stops me is what I see on his chest a silvery glow visible through his torn tunic. The Echo Core. I'd know it from any of grandmother's stories.
The Echoborn. The last heir. Alive.
My orders are clear: retrieve the Core by any means necessary. The Lunaris leadership wants its power for themselves.
The wolf lunges. The boy dodges, but barely. He's reaching for something at his chest probably trying to tap into the Core's power again. I can feel the energy building, wild and uncontrolled.
I move without thinking.
Two quick strikes, one to disengage the wolf, another to stun it without causing permanent harm. The creature collapses, breathing but unconscious.
Then I turn to face the boy. Up close, he's even younger than I thought. His silver eyes watch me with a mixture of fear and defiance that twists something in my chest.
"My order may have forgotten its vows," I hear myself saying, "but I have not. The darkness comes. Will you let me stand with you, Echoborn?"
The words surprise me as much as they seem to surprise him. But they feel right. They feel like the truth.
Kael's POV
The girl appears out of nowhere. One moment I'm about to be eaten, the next she's there, moving like moonlight given form. She takes down the wolf with two precise movements, then turns to face me.
She can't be much older than me, but she moves like the warriors in the Echo Core's memories, all economy and purpose. Her eyes are the color of amethysts, and they see everything.
When she calls me "Echoborn," something in the Core stirs, recognizing the title. Memories surface, knights bowing, oaths being sworn, loyalty that transcended bloodlines.
But Mom warned me about the Lunaris. They serve the Demon God Cult now. This could be a trick.
Then I hear it, the chittering getting louder. The main pack is close. Lorian's crystal glows bright red in my hand.
The girl hears it too. Her eyes dart toward the sound, then back to me. "They're coming. You can't fight them alone."
She's right. I'm tired, I'm alone, and I just watched the last person who cared about me die. I have no reason to trust her.
But the Core shows me something, a flash of this same girl, years older, standing between me and certain death. A memory that hasn't happened yet.
"I'm Seraphine," she says, her voice softer now. "And I think our destinies are meant to intertwine."
The howls are closer now. I can feel the ground vibrating with the approach of many heavy bodies.
I look at her extended hand, then at the forest behind her where darkness gathers. The safe, known path leads to death. The unknown path leads... somewhere.
The Echo Core hums, not with memory this time, but with possibility.
I take her hand.
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What's Next:
Kael and Seraphine must flee the approaching Throne Beast pack while navigating their new and uncertain alliance. But the wilderness holds more than just beasts—there are other hunters searching for the Echoborn, and some of them are human.
Thanks for reading! The childhood arc concludes here, and Kael's journey into the wider world begins with his first companion at his side.