The village was silent now, fire doused, the attackers gone. Still, there was a feeling of weight in the air. Kahel stood alone in the center of the village square, his sword still in hand, with Elion’s body at his feet. Grief choked his breath as if to swallow him.

Everything felt different: his body, his mind. The speed he now possessed wasn’t a gift; it was a reminder of what he had lost. Every time he moved, the rush of Elion’s absence surged through him.

“Kahel.”

He turned to see Rein—one of the elders of the village and one of its most respected warriors—approaching. His face was grim, his eyes understanding. He had seen death before—too many times. “I saw what happened.”

Kahel said nothing; his throat was tight with emotion.

Rein set a hand on Kahel’s shoulder. “Your friend’s death wasn’t in vain. You inherited something powerful, something rare. But it will change you. It already has.”

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Kahel looked down at his hands, shaking only a little, not with fear but with the weight of power running through him. He could feel it, just beneath the surface, ready to be unleashed at any moment.

“I didn’t ask for this,” Kahel whispered.

“No one ever does,” Rein replied softly. “But the world doesn’t care what we want. It only cares what we do.”

He closed his eyes, and in the dark of his eyelids, the memories of the last moments of Elion replayed. The light-hearted days of his friendship with Elion were far now, replaced by the cold, stark realities of death and power.

“I don’t know what to do,” Kahel admitted.

“You’ll learn,” Rein said, “but you must be careful. Power like this… it comes at a cost. And it shall draw attention—dark attention.”

Kahel nodded, though he didn’t fully understand; all he knew was that nothing would ever be the same again. The world felt darker now, and he couldn’t shake off this feeling that this was only the beginning of something big.

As Rein turned to go, Kahel turned back for one last look at Elion’s body. Kahel couldn’t bring his friend back. But he could carry his memory—and his power—forward. And so, with an ache in his heart now and a strength well birthed in him, Kahel started walking down that track that would bring him back to the shadows of his past into darkness.

And so, his heart heavy yet stronger now, Kahel took his first steps onto the path that would take him deeper into the shadows of his past and the darkness of his future.