The night was quiet, too quiet.
Arka's boots pressed into the damp earth as he approached the edge of the ruined forest. The air smelled of iron and burnt sap. Every step felt heavier — the Balance mark on his hand burned faintly, pulsing in rhythm with something distant.
Ahead lay the remnants of an old village. The houses were half-buried in vines, their roofs caved in. Only one structure still stood — a shrine of pale stone, carved with the faint emblem of twin circles intertwined.
The same symbol that once adorned the halls of the Balance.
Arka's chest tightened. "Kael…"
He pushed the door open. Dust swirled in the light from his sword. Inside, the shrine was nearly empty — save for a small altar, and a girl kneeling before it.
She turned slowly at the sound of his steps.
Her hair shimmered silver-white under the moonlight. Her eyes — deep amber, flecked with faint light — made his breath catch.
For a second, he saw Kael.
Then the image faded, leaving only the stranger.
She looked young, barely twenty, her face calm but weary. Around her neck hung a crystal shard — glowing faintly, pulsing with the same rhythm as his mark.
"You shouldn't be here," she said softly. "The shadows still linger outside."
Her voice trembled, and yet… there was a strange familiarity to it. A tone, a cadence — something that reached deep into the memory he'd buried.
Arka lowered his sword slightly. "Who are you?"
The girl hesitated, as if searching for an answer. "I… don't know. When I woke up here, all I remembered was a name. Ka—"
She stopped, clutching her head. "No… not mine. But it feels like… someone else's memory."
Arka froze.
His heartbeat thundered in his ears. He stepped closer, studying the glow of the crystal. The energy it emitted matched perfectly with the Balance fragment within his body.
"Show me your hand," he said.
She hesitated, then raised her palm. A faint, crescent-shaped mark shimmered beneath her skin — incomplete, but unmistakable.
"The other half…" Arka whispered. "Kael's seal."
The girl looked up, confusion filling her eyes. "You know this symbol?"
He nodded slowly. "It's part of what kept our world together… before everything fell apart."
For a moment, silence hung between them — heavy, fragile. Then, outside, the wind shifted. The shadows at the treeline began to stir again.
The girl turned toward the sound, panic flickering in her eyes. "They found me again."
Arka drew his sword, the Balance mark flaring. "Stay behind me."
"No," she said firmly, her voice breaking with an emotion she couldn't name. "I've seen this before. I know what I must do."
She stepped forward. Her crystal flared — and from her shadow, faint threads of light began to rise, forming patterns in the air. The sigils of the Balance.
Arka stared, realization dawning. "You're remembering her magic…"
The girl's eyes blazed golden for a heartbeat. "Not remembering," she whispered. "Reclaiming."
The forest erupted with shrieks as the shadow-creatures lunged from the dark. Arka's sword met the first, silver light colliding with void. The girl's magic spread through the ground — a field of starlit chains forming a dome around them.
For the first time in centuries, the Balance's sigil reappeared on earth.
The shadows recoiled, screeching. Their forms unraveled, turning into dust that melted into the soil.
When the last one fell, silence returned.
The girl collapsed to her knees, trembling. Arka caught her before she hit the ground. The crystal around her neck dimmed, its glow fading into a soft pulse.
"Easy," he murmured. "You did well."
She looked up at him weakly. "That light… it's inside you too, isn't it?"
He nodded. "The last piece of what we once protected."
Her fingers brushed his hand — the two marks glowed faintly in unison, resonating.
For a moment, both felt it — a pull, not of memory, but of destiny.
When the glow faded, she looked into his eyes. "If I'm truly her echo," she whispered, "then maybe you're not meant to fight alone anymore."
Arka didn't reply. But for the first time in years, he allowed himself to hope.
Outside, dawn began to break. The first light touched the horizon — and from the east, a single star refused to fade, glowing brighter even as the sun rose.
The world was remembering.
And the Balance was beginning to awaken once more.