"He dreams of the world he will destroy… and the girl he will lose to his own hands."
Dark.
Not the kind that comes with night. This is the kind that happens when the sun gives up.
Kaen stands in the wreckage of Brindle Hollow. Houses crushed like eggshells. Torchlight snuffed out mid-flicker. Villagers turned to drifting ash before they know they're dying.
Liora lies in his arms.
Her white hair is streaked with soot. Her breath rattles against his ribs, fluttering like a bird trying to escape a closing fist.
The eclipse behind Kaen's head burns like a crown carved wrong—a black star swallowing the world's heart.
Her fingers tremble against his cheek.
"Kaen…"The way she says his name hurts more than any blade."Don't let them turn you into this."
Her voice is breaking—not from fear of himbut fear for him.
He opens his mouth to tell her he's still here. That he's still Kaen. That this isn't real.
But the world answers for him.
Light collapses. Mountains crumple into dust. The horizon folds inward like paper burned from the edges. Time screams and then—
Silence devours everything.
Kaen's own scream tears his throat raw—
He wakes.
Sunlight punches through his window like it has a right to. Kaen gasps, sitting up so fast his head swims.
His sweat-soaked shirt clings to his chest. A faint tremor rides his breath.
He looks down—his wooden pendant lies cracked in his fist. As if he tried to hold onto something that broke anyway.
Not real, he tells himself. But fear curls into his spine like it disagrees.
The church bell rings outside—the exact same sound that echoed through his nightmare.
And for a moment,he's terrified this is the dream.
Or worse—that the dream was a warning.
He forces himself to stand. To breathe. To be normal.
This village loves sunlight. Everything is bright here—white banners, polished Sun Bowls on every porch, smiles that feel rehearsed.
Kaen steps outside…and Brindle Hollow greets him the same way nightmares do:
With silence pretending to be peace.
He grabs his buckets. Water sloshes from the well. Tok… Tok… Tok—the hammer in his other hand hits wood-like he's trying to pound fear back into the ground.
He doesn't notice the shadow that's been following him since he woke—not until someone steps into it.
"That sounded rough,"a girl says, voice like wind through leaves.
Liora Veyra stands beside him. Cane in one hand. Smile soft but curious. Her hair catches the sun and makes it behave.
"You're shaking," she says quietly.
Kaen exhales too fast. He schools his face flat.
"Bad dream," he mutters.
"What kind?"
"The kind where everyone dies."
Liora's brows rise. "Sounds like more than a dream."
He doesn't respond. He can't.
Instead—
"You're up early," he says, deflecting.
"So are you," she answers. Her smile fades into something gentler. "You don't have to carry everything alone, Kaen."
He looks away before her kindness becomes unbearable.
"Someone has to make sure things don't fall apart," he whispers.
Liora touches the fence he's repairing. "It bends," she murmurs. "Doesn't break."
Then she hesitates—just long enough for her voice to soften into truth:
"You're stronger than you think."
Kaen wants to believe her. He wants the dream to stay dead.
But as he looks into the bucket's water—his reflection wavers. Just for a breath—his eyes glow whiteand the sun in the reflection goes dark.
He jerks back.
"Not real", he repeats. "It wasn't real."
But fear doesn't listen.
The bell rings again. Deeper. Closer.
The Resonance Ceremony is today.
The day the Source decides who belongs in the light—and who should be afraid of it.
"He already knows the truth.The light will not choose him."