The sky over Elaria didn't just turn dark—it bled.
Thick, crimson clouds swirled above the remains of my village, casting a haunting glow over the charred ruins of what used to be my home. The air was heavy with the metallic scent of blood and the suffocating stench of smoke.
I gripped my wooden staff tighter, the runes carved into it glowing with a faint, nervous amber light. My breath hitched in my throat as I stepped over a shattered doorway.
"Is anyone... anyone left?" I whispered, though I knew the answer.
Silence was the only response. The Dark Lord Kael's minions had done their work well. They didn't just kill; they erased.
Cough.
A faint, jagged sound broke the silence. My heart hammered against my ribs. It came from the direction of the Great Watchtower—or what was left of it.
I ran. My boots crunched against broken glass and ash. As I reached the base of the collapsed tower, I saw a hand. A pale, slender hand reaching out from beneath a pile of heavy stone slabs.
"Hold on! I'm here!" I shouted, dropping my staff and lunging toward the debris.
I channeled the little mana I had left into my arms. Strengthen. Lift. Protect. With a grunt of pain, I heaved a massive stone aside.
Beneath the dust and rubble lay a girl.
She looked like she belonged to another world. Her hair was a cascading river of liquid silver, matted with dirt but still shimmering. But it was her eyes that stopped my breath. As she struggled to open them, they glowed with an intense, ethereal blue—the color of a star just before it explodes.
"You... you came back," she wheezed, her voice like cracked silk.
"I don't know who you are, but you're safe now," I said, carefully sliding my arms under her to lift her out. She was surprisingly light, as if she were made more of magic than flesh.
"They are coming for it..." she whispered, her fingers clutching my tunic. "The Star... they cannot have the Star."
"Don't talk. Save your strength."
As I pulled her clear of the ruins, a sudden chill swept through the burning village. The crimson sky darkened further, and a low, guttural growl echoed from the shadows of the nearby forest.
The hunt wasn't over. It was just beginning.
I looked down at the mysterious girl in my arms. Her eyes were closing, but the magical energy radiating from her was so strong it made my skin tingle.
I was just a mage-in-training. I was supposed to be studying old scrolls and brewing basic potions. But as I looked into the darkness where red eyes were now glowing, I realized one thing:
My life as I knew it ended with the fire. And my destiny? It started with her.