Chapter 2 Fire Beneath Skin
902 Words
The village could speak of nothing else.
By midday, every conversation in Elder Hollow revolved around the strangers. Old farmers whispered outside the tavern. Merchants abandoned their stalls to exchange rumors. Even the children followed the soldiers at a distance, daring one another to get closer.
Aria tried to focus on her work.
She really did.
But her hands shook every time she remembered the stranger's face.
And the word he had spoken.
"Heir."
The village healer's cottage smelled of dried herbs and medicinal roots. Master Elric stood at a wooden table grinding leaves into powder.
Without looking up, he said, "Your mind is elsewhere."
Aria nearly dropped the jar she was carrying.
"Is it that obvious?"
"It always is."
Master Elric was old enough to remember the final years before the Empire. Most people assumed his silence came from age. Aria suspected it came from experience.
"What do you know about the visitors?" she asked.
The healer paused.
For the first time, concern crossed his face.
"Nothing good."
Aria waited.
After several moments, he sighed.
"The Empire does not send soldiers to forgotten villages unless they're searching for something."
A chill ran through her.
Searching.
For what?
Or who?
The rest of the afternoon passed slowly.
As sunset approached, Aria left the cottage and followed a narrow path toward the edge of the forest. Whenever she felt overwhelmed, she came here. The woods had always calmed her.
Today was different.
Today the trees felt watchful. The air felt heavier.
Almost alive.
She reached a small clearing beside a stream. The water reflected the fading light of evening.
Aria knelt beside it.
Her reflection stared back.
Tired.
Uneasy.
Afraid.
"What do you want from me?" she whispered.
No answer came.
Only silence.
Then pain exploded inside her head.
Aria gasped.
Images flooded her mind.
A castle of white stone.
A battlefield covered in ash.
Seven glowing crystals suspended in darkness.
A crown breaking apart.
And a voice.
Ancient.
Powerful.
Terrified.
"Find them."
The vision vanished.
Aria stumbled backward.
Her heart hammered against her ribs.
She had experienced visions before.
Never like this.
Never so vivid.
Never so real.
The stream beside her suddenly began to boil.
Silver light erupted from her fingertips.
"No..."
She tried to suppress it.
The power only grew stronger.
Fire danced across her hands.
Beautiful.
Deadly.
Forbidden.
The trees around the clearing illuminated with ghostly silver light.
For a moment, Aria simply stared. Part of her was afraid. Another part was fascinated.
This power had lived inside her for years.
Yet she understood almost nothing about it.
A branch snapped behind her.
Aria spun around.
Someone stood at the edge of the clearing.
The stranger.
The man from the village.
Kael.
Though she still didn't know his name.
He had witnessed everything.
The silver fire.
The vision.
The magic.
All of it.
Panic surged through her.
She extinguished the flames immediately.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then the stranger stepped forward. Unlike the imperial soldiers, he moved with calm confidence. His dark cloak shifted in the evening wind. Around his neck hung a silver pendant.
A symbol Aria had never seen before.
A broken crown.
"You shouldn't be here," she said.
"Neither should you."
His voice was deeper than she expected.
"Who are you?"
The stranger studied her carefully, as if confirming something, as if comparing her to a memory.
Finally, he answered.
"My name is Kael."
"Did the Empire send you?"
"No."
"Then why are you here?"
Kael's expression hardened.
"To find you."
The answer struck her harder than she expected.
"Why?"
"You already know why."
"I don't."
"You have magic."
Aria's stomach dropped.
Hearing someone say the word aloud felt dangerous.
Even here.
Even alone.
"You should lower your voice."
"You've spent your entire life hiding."
His eyes narrowed.
"Has it ever occurred to you that hiding may no longer be enough?"
Aria took a step backward.
Every instinct told her to run.
Yet curiosity held her in place.
"Who are you really?"
Kael hesitated.
Then he pulled the pendant from beneath his cloak.
The broken crown symbol gleamed in the fading light.
Aria immediately recognized it.
Not from history books.
Not from stories.
From her visions.
She had seen it countless times.
"What is that?" she whispered.
Kael's gaze never left hers.
"The mark of the last king."
The world seemed to stop.
The last king.
The ruler who had supposedly died decades ago.
The man whose fall had allowed the Empire to rise.
"That's impossible."
"Many impossible things are true."
The wind howled through the trees.
Far away, a wolf cried into the darkness.
Kael looked toward the village.
His expression suddenly changed.
Alert.
Dangerously alert.
"What is it?" Aria asked.
"We've been followed."
Before she could respond, arrows flew from the shadows.
One buried itself in a tree inches from her head.
Another struck the ground beside Kael.
Soldiers emerged from the forest.
At least ten of them.
Imperial soldiers.
And leading them was a tall officer wearing black armor.
The officer smiled.
"Well," he said.
"There you are."
Kael immediately drew his sword.
Aria's pulse thundered.
The officer's gaze shifted to her hands.
To the faint silver glow she had failed to completely suppress.
His smile widened.
"Interesting."
The realization hit her like a hammer
They weren't hunting Kael.
They were hunting her.
And somehow...
They already knew exactly what she was.
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