Aerin did not cry again that night.
The city's bells rang frantically, calling men to arms, warning women to shutter doors, alerting soldiers that the horizon bled red with fire and smoke. Yet within the ruined house, beneath the thatched roof, the child lay silent, dark eyes wide open, absorbing a world he had yet to understand.
The knight who had stayed to protect the mother — a man Garron would later call the First Guardian — knelt beside him. He had fought through collapsing streets, clawed his way past monsters that shrieked and twisted in the torchlight, and yet the most unnatural thing was this quiet child.
"I've seen battlefields that spit fire," the knight muttered, voice raw. "I've seen men die before my eyes and cities crumble like dry clay. And yet… this child… he commands even the monsters to pause."
The mother, Lysa, whispered from her bed. "It's… a gift? Or a curse?"
The knight shook his head. "I don't know. But the world has a way of testing both at once."
Outside, the wind shifted. The distant howls of monsters crawled closer, but none entered the yard. Not a wolf. Not a shadow-beast. Not the crawling things with too many limbs that no one spoke of aloud. All hesitated. All avoided the house as if an unseen hand had drawn a line in the dirt.
The child blinked once, slowly, deliberately. The knight swallowed hard, feeling a cold understanding settle in his chest.
"You will never be normal," he said softly, almost to himself. "Not if they obey you without knowing why. And the world… the world will want to use you. Or destroy you."
Aerin's small fist clenched.
The knight bent closer. "I will guard you. I will shield you. But I will never… hold you. Not in the way they will try to take you. You must survive. And sometimes… surviving is lonelier than any battle."
The wind carried another distant scream. The city burned. Soldiers shouted. Smoke painted the sky black and red. Yet inside the fragile home, time paused. The newborn and the knight stared at each other, a silent agreement forming without words.
The knight wrapped the child carefully in a blanket. "We leave before they notice the quiet here," he said. "Because the world that sees nothing will destroy what it does not understand."
Aerin watched him go. The first step of many.
And the night waited.