” Prepare thee for the next phase of the Journey… prepare yourself well, as the journey prepares well; to mold you into the shape you were destined to become; through darkness, through fire; through metal… one step at a time.”
The Master Arrives
For the next several weeks, the entire village buzzed with only three topics: the message delivered by the mysterious bearer, the unseen Council of Elders of Harmonya, and the coming solar eclipse. Wherever Alaya went—school, the market, the bakery, or even casual gatherings—everyone whispered, worried, debated, and speculated about what the long darkness might bring to the Kidonya Valley.
The village elders hurried from meeting to meeting, planning how every household should prepare.
No one, however, spoke of the prophecy, the “sign of the sev
