Chapter 1: The Quiet Before the Hooves
The southern plains of Aethermoor were never truly silent, but that morning, they were wrong.
Kai Greyhold noticed it first while brushing the flank of a chestnut mare, her breath warm against the chill of the dawn air. The usual rhythm of the stable, the nickering of horses, the flutter of birds nesting in the rafters, the distant clang of a knight patrol changing shifts, had thinned into something hollow.
The animals were restless, ears twitching, hooves scraping the dirt as if the ground itself whispered warnings only they could hear.
Kai was twelve, old enough to recognize patterns, young enough to trust them without doubt.
He rested his forehead briefly against the mare's neck, feeling the tension coiled beneath her hide.
"Easy," he murmured, the word coming as naturally as breathing.
She stilled, not fully calm, but listening. They always listened to him. He had never questioned why.
Behind him, his father watched.
Braxon Greyhold stood in the open doorway of the stable, a tall man in simple leathers dusted with hay and earth. To the southern villages, he was a gifted livestock breeder, a commoner with an uncanny eye for strong bloodlines and healthy beasts. Knights rode days out of their way to buy his horses. Merchants paid extra for his cattle. Farmers swore their flocks lived longer if they passed once through his pens.
None of them knew why.
Braxon's gaze was fixed not on his son, but on the horizon beyond the fields, where the road bent toward the southern capital, and farther still, toward the floating shadow.
He felt it now. A disturbance. Not magic, not corruption in the way the old folk spoke of it, but imbalance the kind that made wolves go silent and birds delay their flight.
The land was holding its breath.
"Aveline," he called softly.
His wife stepped out from the farmhouse, a woven shawl draped over her shoulders, her hands already busy tying off a bundle of cloth-wrapped goods. To anyone watching, it was an ordinary morning ritual, trade supplies prepared for market. But the patterns in the weave were precise, deliberate.
A message. A warning.
"You feel it too," she said quietly.
Braxon nodded.
Kai finished brushing the mare and stepped back, wiping his hands on his trousers.
"Dad," he said, squinting toward the fields, concern and innocence etched into his voice. "Why are they all acting like this?"
Braxon didn't answer right away.
"The horses," Kai added, nodding toward the other stalls. "Even Old Gray doesn't twitch unless there's a storm coming. But the sky's clear."
Old Gray was the only warhorse Braxon owned, his most precious one, used whenever he had to travel the full stretch of the ranch.
Braxon finally turned, offering a faint smile, the kind meant to reassure, not explain.
"Animals feel things before people do," he said. "Doesn't always mean danger. Sometimes it's just… change."
Kai frowned. "Change feels like danger," he said skeptically.
That earned a quiet huff of laughter from his father. "That's because you're young."
"Kai, eat before you head to the paddock. You'll forget again."
From outside, Aveline's voice carried in, light but edged with concern as she gathered fresh milk drawn from the cows earlier that morning.
"I won't!" Kai called back automatically, then muttered under his breath, "I didn't forget yesterday."
"You skipped breakfast yesterday?" Braxon said calmly.
Kai groaned. "I was busy."
"With what?"
"Listening," Kai replied, then froze.
"I mean… watching hens?"
Braxon studied him for a long moment. Too long. Kai shifted his weight.
"…The wind," Kai finished, uncertain why his chest felt tight.
Braxon reached out and ruffled his son's hair. "Go. Your mother's food is warmer than my patience."
Kai grinned and ran past him, but slowed at the doorway.
"Dad?"
"Yes?"
"Do you ever feel like the ground's… angry?"
The smile faded from Braxon's face.
"No," he said carefully. "But I've felt it afraid."
Kai nodded as if that made sense. "Me too."
He left before Braxon could say more.
Aveline approached her husband once Kai was out of earshot, lowering her voice.
"He's getting sharper."
"I know."
"He didn't learn that from you," she said gently, a trace of loving sarcasm easing her overprotective husband's worry.
Braxon exhaled through his nose. "I was hoping he wouldn't learn it at all."
Aveline touched his arm. "The land doesn't choose gently. Not even for children."
Braxon's jaw tightened.
Far above them, unseen and unheard by human ears, a lone hawk wheeled, then veered sharply west, crying out once before vanishing toward the mountains.
Braxon closed his eyes.
The mare's tail lashed nervously. Even the chickens in the yard, usually loud at this hour had gone silent, huddling together in a trembling cluster.
There was a tension in the air that made the hair on his arms rise a little bit.
From the farmhouse porch, Braxon's hand drifted to the hilt of a sword. To any neighbor, it was an ordinary tool, dull with age and use. But Aveline had seen it once, a flash in the moonlight, glowing faintly as if it carried its own pulse.
That was no ordinary weapon.
Braxon placed the sword into the cart's storage box, where a coachman would normally sit to guide the horses.
Together, he and Aveline prepared the goods, crates of eggs, milk, and butter. Loading them onto the cart for the market.
Kai left his parents at the stable and went straight to the kitchen.
There, he found his younger sister asleep at the table, her head resting beside a plate of still-smoking bacon and fried eggs.
"Hey, Anya, wake up! Let's eat," Kai said, taking the seat opposite her.
"Arghh… brother, I'm still sleepy," Anya replied sourly.
"Then why did you wake up so early if you're still sleepy?" Kai added as he sliced his egg with a fork.
"I wanted to go to the market with Dad like usual and help at the stall," she said, pouting. "But Mom said I won't go today, while giving me a stern look."
"Then go back to your room after you eat."
"But I still want to go to the market," Anya whined helplessly.
Kai didn't reply. He continued eating quietly.
Anya narrowed her eyes. "Did Mother notice there's one less plate in her collection?"
Kai paused to what he is doing. "…Okay. I'll help you."
"Yay! You're the best big brother!"