The wind moved like a living thing through the valley of Elyndros.
It carried whispers—soft, ancient, half-forgotten—around the roots of a single luminous tree whose bark shimmered gold and black.
No one remembered who had planted it. No one dared to cut its branches.
Except her.
Iris Vale
The girl brushed a curl of silver-blonde hair from her eyes as she pressed her palm to the tree's trunk.
Warmth. Then a pulse.
A heartbeat that wasn't her own.
She snatched her hand back, gasping.
Every night since childhood, the same dream had haunted her: a man's voice, a woman's scream, light exploding through darkness.
And always, the whisper—Find him.
The townspeople called the tree The Lovers' Curse.
But Iris didn't believe in curses. She believed in patterns.
And lately, the same mark had begun to appear on her wrist—a faint shimmer shaped like two intertwined circles.
Her grandmother warned her never to go near the valley again.
Which, of course, meant Iris would return tomorrow.
Kael Dorne
On the far side of the continent, a storm-rider named Kael leaned against the railing of his airship, watching lightning crawl across the clouds.
He'd spent years chasing voices only he could hear.
Sometimes they whispered his name. Sometimes they begged him to remember.
Tonight, they spoke a single word.
Elyndros.
Kael clenched his fists. That name had been branded inside his nightmares for years, and now—somehow—it called him home.
He didn't know he carried the same shimmering mark on his chest that Iris hid beneath her sleeve.
The Return
At dawn, Iris stood again before the luminous tree. Mist curled around her feet. The mark on her wrist burned brighter.
When she reached forward, the bark parted like silk. A thread of light spilled out, wrapping around her hand, pulling her forward.
Find me, a voice breathed—warm, deep, familiar.
She stumbled backward, heart pounding. "Who are you?"
The one who waited.
The valley trembled. Petals fell like snow. And in the far distance, thunder answered with a whisper that sounded almost like her name.
Kael's Vision
Far above the world, Kael's airship bucked violently as the storm split open. Through the clouds he saw it—a golden-black flash, a vision of a girl standing beneath a radiant tree.
His pulse stuttered. "Who is she?"
Your other half, the wind replied.
Kael gritted his teeth, steering his ship toward the east.
"I don't believe in destiny," he muttered.
But the mark on his chest flared again, and for the first time, he wasn't sure.
The Awakening of Elyndros
Beneath the tree, something stirred. Two faint silhouettes—one of light, one of shadow—shifted within the trunk as though remembering how to breathe.
Elara's voice, soft and fractured, echoed through the roots.
Lucien… they're coming.
And from within the light, his reply—tired but certain.
Then the story begins again.
The bark sealed, the glow deepened, and the valley fell silent—except for the heartbeat pulsing deep inside the soil.