Marked by the unknown

Before she came. The stars told no stories. Only silence. Only duty. He stood at the edge of the Field of Arrival, where nothing had landed in two full orbits. His brothers believed the project had failed that the Maker had moved on. But Rha’ven had heard something. Not with ears. With something older. Deeper. A tremor in the soil, in the shadows of his mind. And then she appeared. Small. Fragile. Breathing fast like a wounded animal. Her body curled in the ashgrass, skin too soft, hair like firelight. Human. He had been told what to do if she ever came. Observe. Contain. Breed. The child she carried would be the weapon that broke the Earth in two. But no one warned him about this. This… pull. She opened her eyes, and something shifted. In him. Not command. Not instinct. Something wild. Something wrong. She saw him and ran and it hurt. Her fear was sharp, but her voice… her voice struck the hollow place in his chest that had never known warmth. When she threw the stone at him, he didn’t flinch. But inside, something shattered. She looked at him like he was a monster. And still, he wanted her to look again. To see him. He should have taken her then like the Maker ordered. But instead, he pointed to his chest. “Rha’ven,” he said. Her voice trembled when she answered, “Avelyn.” And for the first time since his creation, Rha’ven forgot what he was made for. Forgot his purpose. Forgot the Maker. All he remembered… was her.