The Sanctuary of the Unseen felt like a dream made of light and quiet. I spent three days there, feeling totally out of it. Finding out who my real parents were hit me hard. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the face of Liora, the woman who raised me. Her kind face kept mixing with the image of a queen named Aelia. I really loved my folks back in Oakhaven—that was real. But now, knowing they kept this huge secret, everything felt different. Were they faking their smiles? Was my dad scared sometimes? I was seeing my whole childhood in a new, messed-up way.
Training with Elias was a good thing. It kept me busy and stopped me from overthinking. His style was totally different from Lyra's. She taught me to reach out, but Elias taught me to hide.
We were in a grove where the trees made this complex, cool harmony. Their bark glowed with a soft, pulsing light.
"A hunter doesn't crash through the forest to find what he's after," Elias said, his voice sounding out of place. "He blends in. He breathes with the wind and his heartbeat matches the earth. Your power, Kaelen, is like yelling in a library. You need to whisper."
He had me work on my aura instead of Chroma. I was supposed to keep my power inside, to stop the weird silence from leaking out. It was like holding my breath forever. My head was pounding, and I felt trapped. When I lost focus, my power would burst out, and the trees would pull back from the empty space.
"Again," Elias would say, no emotion in his voice. He just expected more.
During breaks, I walked around the sanctuary. The Chroma-users there were interesting and a bit awkward to be around. They were artists, doing their thing with magic. A woman named Elara showed me how she could spin Moonlight into thread that held memories of starlight. A big guy named Kael (weirdly, same name as me) worked at the forge, using focused Crimson Chroma instead of fire to shape blades with contained energy.
They were polite but distant, looking at me with a mix of hope and… pity? Or maybe respect? I couldn't tell. They called me "Prince Kaelen," which felt like wearing clothes that were too big. I was a symbol to them, someone from a story. They didn't see the scared kid from Oakhaven, they saw Queen Aelia's son who was going to take on the Prime Chroma.
It felt lonely. Lyra was always with Elias and the others, planning stuff. Finn was working with Kael at the forge. Apparently, the intense Crimson work was good for his senses. So, I was alone in a crowd of my own people.
On the fourth day, I found Finn by the river, washing off soot. The ward was still there, but he seemed… better. The haunted look was gone.
"Prince Kaelen," he said, nodding.
"Just Kaelen," I said, sitting down. "Please."
He shrugged. "The work is good. It's hard and simple. Shaping metal with will is honest. It either works or doesn't."
I picked up a stone from the riverbank. "Do you ever… think about going back? To your old life?"
He watched the river for a bit. "There's no going back. That kid, the apprentice, was just a sketch. The Ash-Singer was the dark, finished drawing. This…" He pointed around. "This is a new page. I don't know what to draw yet." He looked at me. "What about you? Home?"
"All the time," I said. "But it feels like a story about someone else. Knowing my parents weren't my parents… it changes everything." I told him about Oakhaven, the Stain, and the love I never questioned. It felt good to talk to someone who wasn't a warrior or anything.
He listened without judging. "They loved you," he said when I was done. "That's clear. They raised you and kept you safe. That's what makes a parent."
It helped. The knot in my chest loosened a bit.
Later, things changed during training. Elias took me to the edge of the sanctuary, where the valley's Chroma met the mountains' wildness. A shimmering veil marked the boundary—the ward that hid them.
"Now," Elias said. "You'll hide not in practice, but against the real world. Sense something beyond the veil—wind, water, grass. Then, match it."
I closed my eyes and pushed through the ward. It felt like diving into a freezing, loud river. The Chroma out there was wild. I felt a hawk's Crimson, prey's Viridian, and shifting rocks' Umber. It was a lot.
I focused on the steady drip of water from an icicle. Its song was a simple note of Cerulean and Umber. Drip. Drip. Drip.
I calmed my power, matching my silence to the drip. My head pounded as the chaos outside fought for my attention. But I focused on the sound.
Drip. Silence. Drip. Silence.
Slowly, I started to sync with the water. For a moment, I wasn't hiding. I was the water.
And then I felt something else.
A deep vibration, like a distant earthquake. It was a chord of power, both a scream and silence. Made of stolen Chroma, it was focused and searching.
It was the Prime Chroma.
It barely lasted a moment, but it was enough. The scale of it shattered me. I fell, my mind spinning, the chord echoing in my bones.
Elias was at my side, protecting me. "What did you feel?"
I struggled to speak. "Him. I felt… him."
Elias's eyes darkened. "Tell me."
"It was… a note made of millions of voices, forced to sing the same thing. It was… looking for somewhere the song wasn't right."
Elias helped me up. "You touched him. Your attempt at harmony flickered in his control. He might not have seen you, but he felt it."
I felt scared. "Did I lead him here?"
"No. The wards are harmony. We're a note in his song. But this confirms his power is growing. His perception is expanding." He held my shoulder tightly. "That's why you're important, Kaelen. You can sing a different song. The burden isn't yours yet but This experience will help you to learn the mountain you must face. You felt him. Now you know what you're up against."
I looked towards the veil, at the world where the Prime Chroma was taking over. The sanctuary didn't feel safe anymore. The title of Prince didn't feel ill-fitting armor. The fear was still there, but now there was understanding. It wasn't about my past or parents anymore. It was about the future of everything, and I was the only one who could offer a different sound.