Page 15

Kaia

Consciousness returns in fragments, like trying to piece together a shattered mirror.

Each shard reflects something different—echoes of feelings, scattered sensations, fractured memories I can't quite grasp.

The wrongness running through my body has subsided, thank the void. I thought it was going to kill me.

The first thing I notice, before I even open my eyes, is Mouse pressed against my side, his familiar warmth grounding me.

Something washes over me in gentle waves—healing magic maybe, though it feels different than anything I've experienced before.

With my eyes still closed, I sense my shadows nearby, their presence stronger than I remember, more tangible somehow.

And there are… others? New shadows I don't recognize, their energy hovering at the edges of my awareness, cool and curious against my consciousness.

When I finally force my heavy lids open, I freeze. A man stands nearby—but no, not a stranger. Something about him tugs at me, an invisible thread pulling so hard it steals my breath. Something in his face holds me there, breathless. The pain in my chest builds until it's almost unbearable .

"You're safe," he says softly, and his voice sends fresh waves of agony through me. It's deep and resonant, like the low hum of a distant storm, with an accent I can't place—something that doesn't belong to any realm I know.

My throat locks up when I try to speak. My gaze darts around the unfamiliar room—Malrik stands close, his silver eyes intense with barely contained emotion.

Finn hovers near him, his usual grin replaced by genuine concern.

The twins maintain a protective stance nearby.

But my eyes keep being pulled back to the stranger, like a compass finding true north.

"Why…" I manage finally, my voice cracking. "Why does it feel like I know you?"

Something flickers across his face—an emotion too complex to name. It lands in my chest like recognition that hasn't caught up to memory. The ache in my chest pulses harder.

"Your heart remembers," he says carefully, "even if your mind doesn't yet."

I try to sit up, but my body feels heavy, wrong. Malrik moves instantly to help, his hand steady on my back. Finn appears on my other side, and something about having them both near makes breathing easier.

"Where are we?" I ask, finally taking in the strange room around us. Magic hums in the air, ancient and powerful.

"Somewhere safe," the stranger says. "A sanctuary, hidden from the corruption."

"Hidden isn't the same as protected," Malrik adds quietly, his hand still warm against my back. "The barriers won't hold forever."

"Nothing holds forever," the stranger agrees, and something about the way he says it makes my chest ache sharper. "But they'll hold long enough. "

"Long enough for what?" Finn asks, his usual lightness gone.

The stranger's ancient eyes meet mine again, and the pain nearly doubles me over. "Long enough for you to understand what's happening."

"And if I don't want to understand?" The words slip out before I can stop them.

"Some choices," he says gently, "aren't really choices at all."

Not a fan of that.

The pain in my chest spikes again, but this time it's different—not just from looking at him, but from something darker trying to take hold. The wrongness that was in my body earlier pulses once, sharp and cold.

"It's fighting back," the stranger says grimly. "The corruption doesn't want to let go."

"Well," Finn says, his hand finding mine, "that's not ominous at all."

Malrik's grip tightens on my other side, and for a moment, I let myself lean into their strength. Whatever's coming, whatever this all means, at least I'm not facing it alone.

Even if it feels like my heart might shatter every time I look at the stranger with ancient eyes who says he knows me.

"Come on," Finn says, helping me stand. "Let's get you somewhere more comfortable than this creepy healing chamber."

My legs shake embarrassingly, each step slower than the last. The room spins a bit, and I have to lean heavily on Malrik and Finn.

"For void's sake," Torric growls after watching me stumble for the third time. Before I can protest, he scoops me up like I weigh nothing. "This is painful to watch."

"I can walk," I mutter, though we all know it's a lie.

"Sure you can," he says dryly. "And I'm secretly a unicorn. "

Aspen's lips twitch as he holds the door. "I always wondered about that rainbow mane."

"Shut up."

The stranger—I still can't think of his name, though it feels like it's right there on the tip of my tongue—follows silently.

He moves with an unnatural grace, like something not entirely human, each step deliberate and soundless.

He's impossibly tall, all angles and restraint, shadows flickering in his wake like they remember him too.

Power rolls off him in waves I can almost see, disturbing my shadows as he passes.

Every time he gets close, that ache in my chest pulses harder.

"Second door on the left," he says quietly. His voice sends another wave of pain through me, and I feel Torric's arms tighten slightly.

The bedroom is simple but beautiful, with tall windows letting in soft light. Torric sets me on the bed with surprising gentleness.

"We'll be right outside," Malrik says, but there's a question in his silver eyes.

I nod, understanding what he's really asking. "It's okay. I… I think I need to talk to him."

Finn squeezes my hand once before following the others out. The door closes with a soft click, leaving me alone with the stranger who feels impossibly familiar.

Kieran.

His name finally surfaces, hitting me like a distant memory, like something long-buried clawing its way to the surface.

He exhales slowly, like he's felt it too. "Little star," he murmurs, and the nickname hits like a physical blow. "I've waited so long to find you again."

I swallow hard, my fingers twisting in the bedsheets. "Who… who are you to me?"

Kieran steps closer, his presence both overwhelming and comforting.

His movements are measured, restrained, like he's constantly holding back something tremendous.

"You are important," he says, voice thick with emotion.

"I have searched for you across centuries, through time and death and forgotten realms. I've held onto the hope that one day, you would return. "

My breath catches. "Why?"

His gaze darkens with something haunted. "Because you are meant to heal what was broken."

A muscle in his jaw tenses, as if he's debating whether to say more. Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, he speaks:

"You call to the shadows in ways I've never seen before. The fallen ones respond to you. The lost find their way back."

The words resonate deep inside me, something in them familiar yet untouchable. My shadows curl tighter around me, like they're whispering between themselves.

I exhale shakily. "What does it mean?"

His silence is heavy with unspoken truths.

"I don't understand," I whisper. "I'm just… I'm just Kaia."

"No," he says, taking another step closer. "You are so much more."

He looks at me like he's trying to memorize every detail, as if he still doesn't believe I'm real. "I swore I'd find you again. That I'd protect you this time. No matter the cost."

His hand lifts, but he hesitates, as if touching me would shatter whatever fragile reality this is .

And void help me… I want him to.

I want to remember why he feels like something I've lost.

Why his voice feels like home.

And why his presence makes my heart ache like an old wound I'm terrified to reopen.