The road to the capital was long and quiet.
Mist hung over the trees like breath from sleeping giants, and the dirt path glimmered faintly where dew caught the first light of dawn.
Sir Thane rode at a steady pace, his posture straight, eyes scanning the horizon.
Cael sat behind him on the saddle, cloak wrapped tightly against the chill. The air smelled of pine and wet earth — peaceful, yet unfamiliar.
He looked back only once.
The Renard estate was already hidden behind the hills.
For the first time since his rebirth, he was truly leaving home.
---
"Don't look back too long," Thane said, voice calm but firm. "The road's in front of us."
Cael nodded quietly. "I was just… making sure it was still there."
"It'll still be there when you return."
"Do you think I will?"
Thane didn't answer for a moment. "That depends on what you decide to become."
They rode in silence for a while. The forest slowly opened into fields dotted with white flowers that swayed gently in the wind.
Cael had never traveled this far from the village. Everything felt too wide, too bright. Yet beneath that peace, the same unease pulsed in his chest — a reminder that his mark still glowed faintly beneath its bandages.
After an hour, Thane stopped near a stream. "We'll rest here."
Cael dismounted, stretching sore legs. Thane knelt by the water, filling a flask before speaking.
"What you did back there — that surge — that wasn't something ordinary mages can do," he said. "You froze time itself. Even the rain stopped falling."
"I didn't mean to."
"I know. But intent doesn't change power. You need control, or you'll tear yourself apart."
Cael knelt opposite him. "Can you teach me?"
Thane shook his head. "Not me. My Aether's rooted in earth — duty, endurance. Yours… yours sings differently. It's like trying to grasp wind with stone."
"Then who can?"
The old knight looked toward the distant mountains. "There's a shrine a few days north — the Shrine of Echoes. The priests there study resonance. If anyone can help you, it's them."
"Will they tell the Order?"
"Not if I ask them not to." He smirked faintly. "I did save their high priest's life once."
Cael allowed himself a small smile. "You've saved a lot of people, haven't you?"
"Too many," Thane said softly. "And lost more than I should have."
He stood, wiping his hands. "Eat something. We've got miles ahead before nightfall."
---
They camped by the stream that evening. The stars stretched endlessly above them — countless pinpricks of light scattered across the black canvas of sky.
Thane sat by the fire, sharpening his sword, while Cael lay on his back, watching the stars flicker.
"Sir Thane," Cael said quietly, "do you ever think about the people you lost?"
The knight paused, blade glinting orange in the firelight. "Every day."
"Does it ever stop hurting?"
Thane looked into the flames. "No. But the hurt changes. It becomes… a promise. To live better than they did. To give meaning to the life they couldn't finish."
Cael turned his gaze back to the stars. A promise.
He thought of Lyra's smile, of his parents' fear, of the echo that shared his soul.
Maybe that was what he needed — a promise to keep himself grounded in this world.
The fire crackled softly. For a while, neither spoke.
Then, faintly, a sound drifted through the night — soft and melodic, almost like singing.
Cael sat up. "Do you hear that?"
Thane's hand went to his sword hilt. "Stay close."
They followed the sound across the stream, into a grove of old trees glowing faintly with blue moss.
At the center stood a stone arch half-buried in vines. Beneath it, a girl about Cael's age knelt beside a small pond, her white cloak fluttering in the wind.
She turned as they approached, her eyes bright — though clouded, unfocused.
"Travelers," she said softly. "You're far from the safe roads."
Thane lowered his guard slightly. "We didn't mean to intrude."
The girl smiled faintly. "Few ever do. Yet everyone ends up here eventually."
Cael frowned. "What is this place?"
"The forest calls it the Echo's Rest. A fragment of the old world."
She tilted her head, her gaze settling directly on Cael despite her blindness.
"And you," she whispered. "You carry two voices."
---
(continued in Part 2 →)