chapter 4
1135 Words
The Man Inside the Storm
The sky above Aderin had never looked so heavy.
Dark clouds stretched across the horizon like a giant curtain slowly closing over the world. The wind that once whispered gently through the village now moved restlessly, as if it were trying to warn everyone at once.
But only two people could understand it.
Iyara and Tade stood in the open field, staring at the approaching storm.
The distant thunder rolled again, deeper this time.
Tade swallowed.
“It’s coming faster now.”
Iyara nodded slowly.
The wind tugged at her hair, swirling around her shoulders as if it were anxious.
“I can feel it,” she said.
“Feel what?” Tade asked.
“The storm isn’t just weather,” she replied quietly. “It’s listening.”
Tade looked up at the sky again.
“How can a storm listen?”
Before Iyara could answer, the wind rushed past them suddenly, racing toward the mango trees at the edge of the field. The branches shook violently.
Then everything became still.
Too still.
The kind of silence that comes just before something terrible happens.
Iyara’s chest tightened.
“He’s here.”
Tade looked around quickly.
“Where?”
The answer came with a single drop of rain.
It landed softly on Iyara’s hand.
Then another.
And another.
Within seconds, the wind exploded across the field. Dust and leaves spiralled through the air as thunder cracked loudly above them.
The clouds twisted unnaturally.
And from the centre of the storm, a figure slowly appeared.
At first, it looked like nothing more than a shadow moving within the rain.
But as lightning flashed, the shape became clearer.
A tall man walked calmly through the storm as if the rain itself obeyed him.
His long dark coat moved in the wind like smoke, and his eyes glowed faintly silver under the flashing sky.
Tade stepped back.
“Who… is that?”
Iyara already knew.
Her voice was barely a whisper.
“The traveller.”
The man stopped several meters away from them.
The storm quieted around him instantly.
Rain continued to fall everywhere else, but not where he stood.
It was as if the storm refused to touch him.
The man studied Iyara carefully.
Then he smiled.
“I wondered how long it would take before you remembered.”
Iyara felt her heart pound against her ribs.
“You remember me too,” she said.
“Oh, very well,” he replied calmly.
“After all… you’re the one who ruined everything.”
The wind stirred angrily around them.
Tade frowned.
“What does he mean?”
The traveller tilted his head slightly, finally noticing the boy standing beside Iyara.
“And who might this be?”
“Someone who hears the wind,” Tade answered firmly.
The man chuckled softly.
“Ah.”
He looked back at Iyara.
“So the wind has chosen another listener.”
His eyes darkened slightly.
“How interesting.”
Lightning flashed again, illuminating his face clearly.
He didn’t look old.
In fact, he barely looked older than thirty.
But something about his eyes felt ancient.
Something cold.
Iyara clenched her fists.
“You should be dead.”
The traveller laughed.
“That storm you stopped centuries ago?”
He gestured toward the swirling clouds above.
“That storm kept me alive.”
Tade blinked.
“How is that possible?”
The traveller began walking slowly around them.
“You see,” he said, “the wind is not just air.”
“It is memory. Energy. Power.”
His voice grew darker.
“And I learned how to take that power.”
The wind roared suddenly, swirling violently around the field as if protesting his words.
But the traveller raised one hand.
Instantly, the wind froze.
Completely still.
Iyara’s eyes widened.
“You can’t control it like that,” she said.
“Oh, but I can,” he replied.
“And once I finish what I started long ago… the wind will belong to me entirely.”
Tade shook his head.
“That’s impossible.”
The traveller stopped walking and faced him directly.
“Nothing is impossible when you understand how the world truly works.”
The storm above them thundered again.
Iyara took a step forward.
“Why come back now?”
The traveller smiled slowly.
“Because this time… you’re alive again.”
The wind surged around Iyara, reacting to his words.
“You failed to stop me before,” he continued.
“And now that the wind has returned you to the world… I can finally take the power you hid from me.”
Tade looked confused.
“What power?”
The traveller’s eyes never left Iyara.
“The heart of the wind.”
Iyara felt a strange warmth rise in her chest.
A memory stirred faintly in her mind.
Something she had forgotten.
Something buried deep within her past life.
“You don’t even remember it yet, do you?” the traveller said softly.Lightning flashed again.
For a brief moment, the wind whispered urgently into Iyara’s ears.
Fragments of memory began to return.
A sacred place.
A hidden power.
A promise made to the wind itself.
Her breathing quickened.
“No…” she whispered.
The traveller’s smile widened.
“Yes.”
The storm suddenly roared louder than before.
“Somewhere within you,” he continued, “is the power that commands the wind itself.”
Tade stared at her.
“Iyara… is that true?”
She didn’t answer.
Because the wind was speaking again.
Louder now.
Clearer.
It wasn’t just whispering anymore.
It was calling.
Calling her toward something hidden beyond the hills.
A place she had seen once before.
A place from another lifetime.
Iyara lifted her head slowly.
“You’re too late,” she said quietly.
The traveller frowned slightly.
“What do you mean?”
She looked toward the distant hills.
“The wind isn’t yours to control.”
The storm trembled violently.
“It never was.”
The traveller’s calm expression finally cracked.
A flash of anger appeared in his eyes.
“We’ll see about that.”
He raised his hand.
The clouds twisted violently above them.
Thunder exploded across the sky.
The storm began to descend toward the village.
Tade grabbed Iyara’s arm.
“What do we do?”
Iyara looked toward the hills again.
The wind was guiding her.
Showing her the path.
“We find the heart of the wind first,” she said.
“Before he does.”
Behind them, the traveller laughed coldly.
“You can run if you like.”
Lightning illuminated the storm one more time.
“But the wind will eventually bring you back to me.”
Because deep within the storm…
The traveller had already begun hunting them. 🌪️📖
- Writer
