Rain poured over Elaria.
Not soft rain. Not the kind that gently kissed rooftops or trickled through gutters. No — this rain came down like knives, cutting through air and mud and silence.
Kairo Vale walked through the storm, soaked from hood to boots, his eyes low and his thoughts heavy.
The power inside him was quiet now, but it was there. Always there. Sleeping, waiting, breathing under his skin. Like it had a mind of its own.
He had nowhere to go.
He couldn't go back to the slums. Couldn't stay in the city. Couldn't hide anymore.
They'd all seen what he did.
He was the boy who broke the spell. The boy who survived the Rite. The one who didn't just live — he destroyed the platform meant to erase him.
They would hunt him now.
So he moved, step by step, through the alleyways and shadows, deeper into the lower part of the city. A place with no guards. No nobles. Just broken people and cold eyes.
And that's where he saw her.
She stood in the middle of the street, right in the rain, without an umbrella or a hood. Her arms were crossed, and her coat flapped in the wind. She looked straight at him.
Short. Slender. Wild brown hair tied up with cloth. Eyes sharp as glass. She didn't move.
Kairo stopped walking. "You lost?"
"No," she said.
He looked around. "This is a bad place to wander."
"I'm not wandering."
He narrowed his eyes. "You following me?"
"Yes."
He raised an eyebrow. "You're not very good at it."
She shrugged. "I wasn't trying to be."
Something about her felt off. Not in a bad way. But she didn't flinch. Didn't blink. Didn't even step back when he took a slow step toward her.
"You know who I am?"
She nodded. "You're Kairo Vale. The Void who wasn't."
"Then you should be running."
"I don't run from things I'm curious about."
Kairo smirked. "That's a good way to get killed."
She smiled back. "Maybe."
He stopped in front of her. The rain didn't seem to touch her. Or maybe she just didn't care.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"Answers."
"Don't have any."
"Still want to ask."
He sighed. "Fine. Ask."
She tilted her head. "What does it feel like?"
He blinked. "What?"
"That thing inside you. The curse. The power. What does it feel like?"
He looked at his hand.
"Like... noise. Like something's screaming under my skin. Sometimes it's quiet. Sometimes it's not. It doesn't hurt, exactly. But it's there. All the time."
She nodded. "Does it want something?"
"I think it wants everything."
That made her smile again. Not a happy smile. A strange one. Like she understood too well.
"You're not scared?" he asked.
"I've seen worse."
He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? Like what?"
She walked past him and pointed at the edge of the alley. "Come on. I'll show you."
Kairo hesitated, then followed.
They moved through the streets in silence. Past ruined buildings and broken walls. Into a side tunnel, hidden behind crates and old carts.
It led underground.
They descended into darkness, the sound of rain fading behind them.
Torches burned along the walls. Not many. Just enough to show the path.
She led him into a chamber with cracked stone floors and strange markings drawn across the walls. Not rune circles. Not magic. Something older. Rougher.
There were no guards. No books. Just a pile of burned cloaks in the corner and a wooden desk with a shattered crystal on it.
"What is this place?" Kairo asked.
She looked at the ashes. "A testing site."
His stomach twisted. "For Voids?"
She nodded.
"Why bring me here?"
"Because I was one of them."
Kairo's eyes widened. "You—"
"I wasn't born magicless," she said. "But they tried to erase me anyway."
He stepped closer. "Why?"
She rolled up her sleeve.
Her arm was covered in faint red marks. Scarred. Like something had burned through it again and again.
"I showed a different kind of magic. Something the crystal couldn't read. Something wild. They thought I was broken."
"And now?"
"Now I hide it. Like you do."
Kairo stared at her. "What's your name?"
She looked him dead in the eye.
"Lira."
"Why help me?"
"Because I don't like the people who decide what should exist and what shouldn't."
He nodded slowly. "That's a good reason."
"Also…" she paused. "You're going to need someone. Once they really start coming after you."
Kairo looked at the ashes again.
"You think I'll survive long enough to need help?"
Lira walked up beside him. Her voice was calm.
"I think you'll survive long enough to burn half the kingdom."
He smiled.
"Then stick around. You might get a good view."
That night, Kairo didn't sleep.
He sat beside the old testing crystal, watching the flickering torchlight dance across the stone walls.
Lira sat across from him, sharpening a knife that looked older than both of them.
Two cursed souls.
Two mistakes.
Waiting for the storm to begin.