The first drop landed on Kael's palm — warm, thick, and red. It wasn't blood. Not yet. But it smelled of iron and memory, as though the sky itself remembered every battle ever fought.
Lira stared upward. "The rain…" she whispered.
Each drop shimmered faintly in the moonlight, glowing red as they hit the soil and vanished into steam.
Kael's heartbeat matched the rhythm of the falling rain. Every pulse seemed to echo louder in his ears. He could feel power stirring beneath his skin — not his own, but something older, darker, answering him.
From the shadows of the trees came a voice — deep, slow, and oddly calm.
"The sky weeps when the seal trembles."
Kael and Lira turned, blades drawn, wings tense.
A tall figure emerged — cloaked, his face hidden by an intricate mask etched with runes that pulsed faintly in the red light.
"Who are you?" Kael demanded.
The stranger tilted his head, voice steady, almost sorrowful.
"Names are promises, and promises are heavy things. But if you must call me something…"
He paused, stepping closer, the rain hissing off his shoulders like it refused to touch him.
"Call me Veyne — the Keeper of the Shattered Path."
Kael's grip tightened. "You've been following us."
"Following?" Veyne chuckled softly. "No, child. I've been waiting. Every story needs a turning point… and you, Kael of Silver Flame, are about to become one."
Lira moved closer to Kael, her voice low. "Kael… he feels—"
"Wrong," Kael finished for her.
Veyne smiled faintly beneath the mask.
"Wrong? Perhaps. Or perhaps I'm the only one who still remembers what right once felt like."
A bolt of lightning split the sky behind him, illuminating his mask — and for a heartbeat, Kael saw the truth. The cracks running down Veyne's skin weren't scars. They were seals. Chains of light, binding something inside him.
"The Crimson Rain," Veyne said softly, tilting his face toward the heavens, "marks the time when gods and monsters trade places. Tell me, Kael… are you certain which one you are becoming?"
The ground trembled again — faint but steady, like a drumbeat calling something vast from its sleep.
Kael opened his mouth to speak, but Veyne was already gone — vanished into the mist, leaving only his words echoing through the valley.
"The seal breaks… not with sound, but with silence."
The rain stopped.
The world fell deathly still.
And somewhere in the distance, something enormous exhaled.