Rain drifted through the night like falling glass, silver under the streetlights of Veloria City. Neon colours pulsed along the wet pavements, red, violet, blue, spilling over the reflections of rushing cars and late-night cafés. The city breathed in endless rhythm, half asleep, half dreaming.
Evan Lysander walked alone beneath the shimmer, his hood drawn close against the drizzle. At sixteen, he looked like any other student finishing a long shift at the convenience store, backpack slung lazily over one shoulder. Yet the small pendant hanging around his neck betrayed him, a crystal faintly golden, bound in silver wire, pulsing once every few seconds like a heart too slow to die.
He stopped beneath a streetlamp and touched it. The hum beneath his fingertips was stronger tonight.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The rhythm deepened until it felt like it came from inside him. A flicker of warmth spread through his palm, and the drizzle hissed where it touched his skin.
"Not again," he muttered. He had told himself the strange glow was only a trick of the light, stress, exhaustion, maybe the city's neon glare. But lately the pendant woke at odd times: near midnight, during thunderstorms, whenever he dreamt of places he'd never been.
A low vibration filled the air. Streetlights flickered. Somewhere, a cat yowled and fled into an alley. Evan took a step back.
Then the voice came.
"Cael of the First Light… awaken."
The words were not spoken; they arrived inside his chest, his bones, his mind. The pendant flared, spilling gold across the empty street. The world tilted.
He fell to his knees, gasping as light poured through his body. The rain froze mid-air, each droplet suspended around him like tiny stars.
Images ripped through his thoughts: A throne carved from dawnstone. A battlefield drowned in crimson fire. A woman with silver hair and tear-streaked cheeks reaching for him as everything collapsed into ash.
"Cael…"
The name echoed through him, shattering something deep within. His hoodie tore at the collar as patterns of light spread across his skin, lines forming a sigil that pulsed in rhythm with the pendant.
Evan clutched at it, choking on his breath. Then, as suddenly as it came, the light died. The rain fell again, spattering against the concrete.
He staggered upright, trembling. "What the hell was that…?"
A chill crawled up his spine. At the far end of the street, a figure stood in the fog, tall, cloaked, eyes glowing faintly violet beneath the hood.
"So it begins again," the stranger murmured. "The bloodline of Dawn… has awakened."
Evan's heart lurched. "Who are you?"
But the figure's smile was calm, almost sorrowful. "You will remember, Cael Lysandriel. In time."
The air warped, and the stranger dissolved into mist.
Evan blinked. The street was empty.
For a long moment he stood there, breathing hard, trying to steady the pounding in his chest. His mind spun through fragments of what he'd seen—the throne, the woman, that burning field.
"Cael…" he whispered, tasting the name like something half-forgotten. It felt familiar, frighteningly so.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, breaking the silence.
Liam 📱:Bro, you alive? Power flickered downtown. Looked crazy from the dorm window.
Evan stared at the message. The world looked the same again: cars sliding past, rain whispering against asphalt. But the sigil beneath his shirt still glowed faintly, warm against his skin.
Did I imagine it?
He typed back quickly: Yeah, I'm fine. Just lightning.
But his fingers wouldn't stop trembling.
By the time he reached his flat, the storm had moved on. The city had that strange quiet that comes after chaos, when even the traffic lights seemed to breathe more slowly. He peeled off his damp hoodie, tossed it over a chair, and stared at the mirror above the sink.
The glow was still there; thin golden threads crawling across his collarbone, forming a crest that almost looked like wings unfurling. When he touched it, the lines pulsed brighter.
"I'm losing it," he muttered. "Completely losing it."
He turned the pendant in his hand. The crystal inside now showed shapes he hadn't noticed before, tiny runes turning slowly, like constellations.
A whisper brushed his ear again.
"Elarion awaits."
He spun around, heart hammering. Empty room. No one there.
He pressed his back against the wall, chest rising and falling. "Elarion…" The word echoed with a strange ache, like a memory scraping at the edges of his mind. "Why does that sound so… familiar?"
Outside, thunder rolled again, yet no lightning followed. From his window, he could see the skyline, half-lit by the returning power grid. Somewhere above those towers, the clouds twisted in an odd spiral, faintly glowing gold before fading away.
He didn't sleep much that night. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the same vision: that woman in silver, reaching for him through collapsing light.
"Cael… remember."
Morning came cold and grey. The pendant had gone dormant, the marks on his skin faint as afterimages. Evan almost convinced himself it had been a dream until he saw the scorch marks outside his building, perfect circles of gold etched into the pavement.
He crouched beside them, running his fingers along the patterns. They pulsed once beneath his touch.
A car horn blared behind him. His friend Liam leaned out the window, sunglasses on despite the clouds. "Oi, Evan! You coming or what? You look like you haven't slept in a week!"
Evan forced a laugh and climbed in. "Just a weird night."
Liam eyed him. "You sure you're not hiding some kind of alien tech? Whole block flickered like a disco ball."
Evan managed a grin, though his fingers tightened around the pendant beneath his shirt. "If I am, I want royalties."
The drive to campus passed in uneasy silence. Students filled the streets, phones out, talking about last night's "light storm." Some claimed it was a new energy experiment gone wrong. Others swore they saw shapes in the sky.
Evan said nothing. Every time someone mentioned the lights, the mark on his chest throbbed once, as if warning him to stay quiet.
By midday, he sat through class unable to focus. Words on the holographic board blurred together. He caught glimpses of glowing runes between the lines of text, symbols identical to those in his dreams.
He blinked, and they vanished.
When the final bell rang, he hurried out into the hallway and stopped dead.
At the far end, near the exit, stood the same cloaked figure from last night. No one else seemed to notice him; students walked straight past without a glance.
The man raised a hand slowly, pointing directly at Evan.
"The seal has cracked. The Heir must choose."
Evan's breath caught. "Who are you?" he whispered again.
The stranger tilted his head. "You already know my name, Cael of Elarion."
The air rippled and then the man was gone.
Only the faint echo of his words lingered, and the burning warmth of the sigil across Evan's chest.
He stumbled outside, rain beginning once more, washing the city in grey. His phone buzzed with another message, but he didn't look at it. His thoughts were a storm of questions that refused to quiet.
The pendant pulsed once, a single heartbeat of light.