"How… how do you know my name? What is this place, and who are you?" Leo stammered, his voice trembling as the questions tumbled out of his mouth like the rushing waters down the Trident Falls.

"So inquisitive!" the woman responded, her melodic voice almost intoxicating. "Which should I answer first? But realize, young man, that time is not on our side."

Leo shook his head as if trying to shake off a dream. He slapped the side of his head—the hurt side—and winced. "Ugh! Start anywhere," he moaned, feeling overwhelmed.

The woman's smile was soft and mysterious. Her eyes gleamed with an otherworldly light, and Leo suddenly felt unsteady. He reached out and gripped the edges of the stone ledge where Soot, his new companion, had fallen asleep and was softly snoring. How in the world can you sleep through this?

"It's the water's song," Nerina answered as if reading his thoughts.

Leo blinked, startled. "Then why aren't I sleeping too?" he asked, his voice dripping with suspicion.

"There isn't much time to explain," Nerina said, her tone growing more urgent. "You've landed at the edge of the curse of Cleitus. Long ago, I was placed here to ensure the cursed stayed within these caves."

"The curse of Cleitus?" Leo scoffed, pulling his face into a scowl. "That's a myth. It's just the sort of story drunk men in pubs lie to each other about, and old women tell children to scare them. There are no dragons, no real ones anyway."

"Yet here you stand, in the center of it," Nerina replied calmly. "And trust me, Elloria and Ignatius are very real. Their misuse of magic nearly destroyed this realm. May I continue? Time is of the essence."

Leo leaned back against the stone, folding his arms across his chest.

"The enchantments in this place were created to contain the magic Elloria and Ignatius raised, then abused," Nerina continued, her voice echoing slightly. "It was prophesied that one day evil would come close to releasing that power, and when it did, only a chosen one could stop it. I was tasked with releasing some of this power to that chosen one."

Leo's eyes narrowed. He didn't like where this was going.

"Today," Nerina said, her voice soft but commanding, "that prophecy is realized. You, Leo Stronghart, are the one foretold to help save the realm."

Leo's lips tightened, and a deep scowl formed on his face. "I get it. I hit my head hard enough to knock myself out. Now I'm hearing snake voices and seeing magic ladies in lakes. It's all a dream."

Nerina's face grew serious. "Snake voices?" she repeated, her voice growing colder. "What did you say about snake voices?"

Leo frowned, but before he could answer, the ground beneath his feet trembled slightly. The air shifted, and a sound—like the roar of a lion magnified a hundredfold—echoed through the cave. Soot, who had been peacefully sleeping, jolted awake, his wings flapping frantically.

"Blorp! Blorp!" Soot cried out, his tiny wings buzzing as he panicked. Leo instinctively pulled the creature into his chest, his heart pounding.

"What… what was that?" Leo stammered, his eyes darting around the cave.

"They've been awakened!" Nerina declared, her voice filled with urgency. She rose above the water, extending her hand. A small orb of energy began to form in her palm, growing larger until it obscured her face entirely.

"What's happening?" Leo shouted as the ground began to shake with greater intensity.

"You, Leo! You are happening!" Nerina said, her voice growing distant. She launched the energy ball toward him, and as it moved through the air, it split into two glowing orbs.

Everything seemed to slow down. Leo tried to move, to turn away, but it was too late. The twin energy orbs struck him—one hitting his chest, the other landing squarely between his eyes. The force of the impact caused Leo to stumble, releasing Soot, who glided back to the stone ledge.

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For what felt like an eternity, the energy surged through Leo's body. His skin alternated between burning hot and freezing cold, and every muscle tensed with a power he had never known. His veins pulsed with energy that seemed both ancient and foreign, and shock registered in his wide eyes.

He turned toward Nerina, but she was beginning to evaporate, her form dissolving into the mist. Her voice, now faint and distant, whispered close to his ear.

"Go through the tunnel on your left. When you reach the end, think of where you need to be, and you will find yourself there."

With that, she vanished completely. The lake, once vibrant and glowing, was gone too—replaced by a small puddle of water dripping from a stalactite. Leo blinked, his mind reeling from what had just happened. His body still tingled with the remnants of the energy that had surged through him.

Before he could gather his thoughts, the ground beneath him began to quake violently. Soot let out a frantic squawk, flapping in circles as the stone beneath them cracked. Leo lunged, scooping Soot into his arms just as the stone split into two pieces.

"We have to get out of here!" Leo shouted, his voice barely audible over the roaring sounds of the collapsing cave. "She said to take that tunnel!" he yelled, sprinting toward the dark passageway to his left.

Once inside, the chaos seemed to vanish. The tunnel was eerily calm—no quakes, no noise, just an unnerving silence. Leo slowed down, his breath ragged, and looked around cautiously. Soot sneezed, his tail lighting up to give off a soft glow.

"That's great, Soot," Leo whispered, his voice filled with a mixture of relief and awe. "I promise I'll help you find your mother once we get out of here… if we ever get out of here."

Leo moved forward, his heart pounding. The tunnel felt strangely different from the cave—it was smooth as if burrowed by some enormous creature. He shuddered at the thought of what could have created such a passage. Still, he pressed on until, finally, a small sliver of light appeared ahead.

As Leo reached the tunnel's exit, he gasped. The falls roared in the distance, and the castle glowed under the early morning sun. He was far from where he had started, dangerously close to the forbidden forest.

"How did I get all the way out here?" Leo muttered, running a hand through his hair. "Bruno is going to destroy me."

"Blorp," Soot chirped in agreement.

"Right, she said I could think of where I wanted to be. Seems crazy, but nothing today has made much sense. Do I close my eyes? Do I say it out loud?" Leo pondered.

Before he could decide, two figures in dark cloaks emerged from the trees, walking toward horses that seemed to appear from nowhere. Leo squinted, but he couldn't make out their faces.

"What kind of place is this?" he whispered, shaking his head. "Alright… I wish to be behind Bruno's butchery."

Suddenly, Leo was caught up in a swirling beam of light. He clutched Soot tightly as the world around him spun. When the light faded, he found himself standing by the two buckets he had abandoned earlier.

"Did that really happen? I don't know what to make of all of this," Leo murmured, rubbing the spot where the gash on his head had been. It was gone. He looked down at Soot, who was nestled in his arms.

"Well, I can't take you into the shop. You'll end up on someone's supper plate for sure."

Soot squawked softly, shivering in Leo's arms. "You act like you understand me," Leo chuckled, looking around for a safe place to leave the creature.

His eyes landed on a pile of brush. "Stay quiet and hidden, alright? I'll come back for you, I promise."

Leo carefully tucked Soot beneath the branches, covering him with grass and leaves. As he stepped back, Soot had already curled up and fallen asleep.

Sighing, Leo straightened up. "Now for my pummeling," he muttered, rinsing the bucket in the brook before heading back to the butcher's shop, his head hung low.

"Boy!" Bruno's gravelly voice cut through the air the moment Leo was in sight.

Leo's heart raced. He clutched the bucket tighter, his mind still spinning from everything that had happened. "I-I can explain—"

"It's about time you started doing your work with some haste," Bruno grunted, raising a heavy hatchet high above his head. He brought it down with a sickening thud, cutting cleanly through bone and gristle as though it were butter.

"Haste?" Leo tilted his head, confused.

"Now your job, until you leave, is to hang that meat over there on the side wall," Bruno said, nodding toward a stack of freshly butchered meat.

Leo stared blankly, still reeling and not fully understanding his encounter in the cave. The energy ball, the woman, and the faint voices that echoed through his head—was it even real?

Bruno growled, narrowing his eyes. "Well? Get going, boy! Hmph, one bit of praise, and these imps are speechless."

Leo snapped back to reality, giving a hurried nod and setting to work. But his thoughts were a whirlwind, focused on everything except the raw meat in front of him. The weight of what had just happened in the underground cavern clung to him like a heavy cloak. He kept glancing toward the brush where he'd hidden Soot, half expecting the creature to appear.

His hand brushed against the warm glow of his birthmark, sending a shiver through him. Something bigger was happening, and he was part of it now. The woman, Nerina, had said he was the one to fulfill the prophecy. But what did that really mean? He glanced nervously toward the castle, where the King's banners flapped in the wind. A sense of unease settled deep in his gut.

This can't be over yet, he thought. Something—or someone—is coming.