Kai drifted in a restless sleep, his body slumbering while his mind swirled in a haze. Unbeknownst to him, the pendant in his chest pocket pulsed softly, resonating with his very heartbeat, sending waves of energy into his soul. The adults watched in silent awe, sensing the powerful connection between the pendant and Kai's essence.
But in Kai's mind, he was somewhere far, far away.
He stood on the edge of a scarred battlefield, vast and endless, under a brooding sky, deep in the sleep of Kai. Ash and blood-colored land lay spread out in all directions as if earth had been tainted by all those battles waged upon it. There was an oppressive stillness in the air-a silence so deep that it felt like a held breath before the storm.
Yet it was not the earth that took the breath from Kai's chest. It was the army—not the land, but the sea of creatures, massed solemnly before him, so far that his eye lost them. The giants tall as hills, with boulder like shoulders, shadowy monsters with gleaming fang, men with horns curving like iron, and others so queer that no human tongue can tell. Warriors, mages, beasts of scales and claws—all stood, shoulder to shoulder, in unwavering silence.
The pressure of their presence weighed him down. Each creature, each warrior bore an aura of power that, put together, could overwhelm anything that dared to stand before them. But as Kai's gaze traveled over the crowd, he saw something remarkable.
They were afraid.
Some hid it behind a stern gaze and set jaw. Others couldn't hide the very fear in their eyes and gripped their weapons strongly, hands shaking. Subtle shudders flowed through the ranks, as one cold wind brushed across to chill their hearts. And there was all their eyes - their focus, their dreadful intent - fixed on just one figure.
Floating alone, above the ground stood a woman. She, armed with only a single spear was standing alone against this monstrous, countless horde. Her black hair flows behind her, like a river of dark silk caught in the faint breeze that only she seemed to feel. Her eyes are bright burning green, containing within them the very soul of the earth. She stood poised with such a placidity that somehow seemed to scorn the prospects against her, an unbeatable purpose that slashed through the atmosphere like some sharp sword.
And at that instant, Kai could sense the battle shift. By herself, her very being transformed what would have otherwise been a rout into a standoff. Hers alone against countless others. The legions before her were no longer an impenetrable wall of invincibility but an agitated crowd awaiting judgment. Her aura weighed down on them and compelled a response they could not deny—an instinctive fear forged from some primeval wisdom, some primeval grasp of who she was.
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Kai could hardly believe it. Thousands upon thousands of creatures, yet all of them seemed fragile, insignificant, when facing this one woman and her spear.
Something stirred deep within him, a feeling that rose from his very core. His pulse quickened, and his hands clenched with an intensity he didn't quite understand. He felt a fierce pride surge through him—something so pure and powerful it left him breathless. He stood there, dazed by her as if a hidden part of him had been waiting all his life for this moment. His blood was boiling with an energy he did not know he had within him, almost mirroring the resolute power that radiated from her.
As he stood there, frozen, her eyes moved, found him. She turned, her gaze piercing through the distance, cutting through the ranks of enemies, until she looked straight at him. Her green eyes met his, and in that moment, it felt as though the world froze, leaving only the two of them.
Her eyes were so intense and powerful, full of something he did not quite expect: softness, gentle pride, as if she knew him, as if she recognized him. The sense of connection was so powerful, so real that he wanted to reach out to say something—anything—and his voice caught in his throat.
The woman's mouth opened her mouth to speak but before he could say a word, before he could sort out the whirlwind of feelings inside him, the entire scene broke like glass and shards of it scattered into darkness.
With a jolt, Kai sat upright, his heart thumping, his breath short, as if he had run several miles. He stared blankly at the ceiling while, in his mind, those dream images seared in more vividly than a flash of lightning on a black night. He felt across his chest with his fingers, touching the pendant that seemed now to pulse faintly as if it too had memories of the dream.
"What...what was that?" he breathed out aloud, his voice a mere whisper in the dead quiet of his room.
The pendant seemed to reply in warmth, soothing yet potent as if it held within itself a thousand echoes of battles won. He clutched the pendant tightly as his mind still spun with the picture of the woman who alone stood against an entire army. Her eyes had seemed so full of strength to be both inspiring and humbling to him.
Kai sat in silence, trying to put together the disjointed pieces of his dream with the pulsing warmth in his hand. As he looked out the window and watched the quiet village of Elaris, he had a flicker of something new—a calling that he could not quite put into words, but that he somehow knew was meant for him.