Chapter twelve:The unseen thread
711 Words
🌌 Chapter Twelve: The Unseen Thread
Elara tried to listen as Kael explained the need to strengthen their defenses, but her mind wandered. A strange restlessness stirred inside her chest, something that had nothing to do with training or fear.
It was like… a tug.
Faint, but insistent. A thread winding tight around her heart, pulling her toward something she couldn’t see.
She pressed a hand to her ribs, frowning.
“Are you listening?” Kael’s sharp voice cut in.
She blinked. “Sorry. I just—” She hesitated. How could she explain it? She didn’t even understand it herself.
Theron’s eyes softened, noticing her unease. “Elara?”
But how could she tell them that her very soul felt like it was reaching outward, toward someone — something — just beyond her grasp?
That night, sleep came fitfully.
She dreamed of starlight pouring through cracks in the earth, of chains rattling in endless darkness. A man’s silhouette stood at the center of it, tall and unyielding, his eyes like fragments of a broken sky.
“Elara.”
Her name echoed across the void, threaded with power.
She reached for him, her hand trembling, the bond between them thrumming with impossible strength. Stronger than fire, deeper than water, sharper than shadow, wilder than wind.
The moment their fingers nearly touched, a shattering pain tore through her chest. She gasped awake, clutching herself, the starfire inside her raging like a storm.
Across the cavern, the brothers stirred, sensing it. Kael half-rose, eyes blazing. Riven blinked groggily, frowning. Theron was already moving toward her. Darius lingered in the shadows, watching with narrowed eyes.
Elara forced a breath past her trembling lips. “I… I saw him.”
The words fell heavy, like stones into still water.
Kael froze. “Who?”
Her voice cracked. “The fifth.”
The silence after her words was deafening.
Kael was the first to speak, his voice sharp, almost panicked. “No. You couldn’t have. The fifth is—” He stopped, biting the words back.
Riven sat up fully, his grin nowhere to be found. “Well, that’s awkward. Looks like fate didn’t get the memo we’re supposed to keep him locked away.”
Theron crouched beside her, his calm strained, eyes searching hers. “Elara… what exactly did you see?”
She swallowed hard, the dream still vivid. “Chains. Darkness. But he was there. I heard his voice. He called my name.”
Darius stepped from the shadows, his presence heavy, his eyes unreadable. “Then it’s true.”
Kael whirled on him. “Don’t you dare.”
“She has the right to know,” Darius hissed back, his voice cutting.
Elara’s heart pounded. “Know what?”
For a long moment, none of them spoke. The Veilwater rippled as if stirred by unseen hands. Finally, Theron exhaled slowly, the decision weighing on him.
“The prophecy,” he said softly, “doesn’t speak of four. It speaks of five. Five who are bound to the Starborn. Five who will shape her fate.”
Her blood ran cold. “You mean… him?”
Riven gave a low whistle, running a hand through his hair. “The lost brother. The one none of us are supposed to mention.”
Kael’s eyes burned, torn between fury and fear. “Because he isn’t like us, Elara. He isn’t safe. The fifth was chained away for a reason.”
“Chained where?” she demanded.
Darius’s gaze met hers, dark and unwavering. “In Aetherion. The realm of stars. Broken when the Veil was woven. No mortal has walked there since.”
Her chest tightened, the unseen thread in her heart tugging harder, as though mocking their warnings. “But he called to me.”
“Of course he did,” Kael growled. “The bond doesn’t care if it destroys you.” He stepped closer, his firelight flickering against her skin. “Elara, listen to me. If you chase him, you’ll never come back.”
But Elara’s hands shook, her starfire pulsing in defiance. For the first time, she felt the truth of it deep in her bones — the prophecy wasn’t finished with her. Not by a long stretch.
And neither was the fifth.
- Writer
