They hid in a ruined watchtower on the outer edge of Emberreach. The night air was cooler here, tinged with pine and ash. Thalia lit a small lantern, shielding the flame with a flick of her fingers — not fire, not shadow, but something more refined. Kael didn't ask. Not yet.
He sat across from her, exhausted, bruised, and burning with questions.
"Why did you help me?" he asked.
Thalia didn't answer at first. She pulled a rolled scroll from her satchel and spread it out on the stone floor between them. It was a map — faded, hand-inked, and alive with symbols Kael didn't recognize.
"Because I've been waiting for you," she said. "Or someone like you."
Kael frowned. "What is this?"
Thalia pointed.
"This is Velmira. The Five Kingdoms. Each ruled by a house tied to an element: Ember for Fire, Torran for Water, Skyreach for Air, Stonevale for Earth, and Umbros… what's left of it… for Shadow."
Kael leaned closer. He'd seen maps before, but never one like this. Rivers marked with glowing blue lines. Mountains shaded with rust-red inks. And in the southeast, the region marked "Umbros" was scratched out — completely blackened.
"That used to be the Shadow Kingdom," Thalia said. "Before the others united against it."
"Because of the war?" Kael asked.
She nodded. "More than a century ago. They called it the Elemental War. Shadow magic was growing too strong — too unpredictable. The other kingdoms feared it would consume everything."
Kael swallowed. "So they destroyed it."
Thalia nodded. "And every Shadowborn who survived… was hunted."
Silence settled between them.
"You think I'm one of them?" he asked. "One of the hunted?"
"I know you are," she replied. "That flame you caught — it bent to your will like a shadow obeying the sun. That doesn't happen by chance."
Kael looked down at his hands.
"Then why do I feel like I'm breaking?"
"Because you are," Thalia said, softer now. "But that's how power begins — with fracture. The trick is choosing what you become when you put the pieces back together."
She reached into her satchel again and handed him something wrapped in cloth — a pendant shaped like a spiral, half gold, half obsidian.
"What is this?"
"A relic. One of the last ever forged by the Shadowforged Order. It's drawn to your bloodline."
Kael held it — and it pulsed in his palm, just like the feeling in his chest. "So what happens now?" he asked.
Thalia looked out at the distant mountains, where smoke coiled like sleeping dragons.
"Now?" she said. "Now we find out what kind of heir you really are."