Chapter 10: Echoes of an Unseen Force

Evening sounds filled the village: children's laughter, merchant's shouting the attractions of their wares, gentle buzzing of daily routine. Yet, even with the radiating warmth in the air, an unvoiced tension clings to Kael, subtle but undeniable. He drifted through the narrow streets, listening to low murmured voices about the day's work of the villagers, as his mind reached deep within themselves.

There was a presence lurking just beyond the fringes of his perception. Kael could feel it—a ruffled whisper in the fabric of reality, one that disturbed an otherwise serene balance. Though the Harbingers of Dissonance posed no threat to him in raw power, something about their being was different. They did not seek to challenge him head on but to disturb the world around him instead.

As he walked along the center of the village, Kael saw Erasa standing by the fountain. Her arms were packed with herbs she had foraged from the surrounding forests. She waved to him, and her face beamed out in a brilliant smile as she recognised him. Erasa was now a fundamental part of his quiet new life. He had come there so full of fury, anger finding a passage through his veins in utmost fervor. It had all changed after her. Her gentle nature, her decency, and more importantly, her strong spirit made him realize power did not dominate every aspect of people's lives. She did not know of his omnipotence yet, and Kael liked it that way for now. The more people who didn't know of how powerful he was the less complicated things were.

"Kael! Over here!" Erasa shouted out with a warmth in her voice that lightened his mood, though he pushed down the tension still simmering inside him.

"Busy day?" he said, coming toward her, his hands automatically dropping to help him support the packets of herbs she was carrying.

"Always," she replied with a laugh. "The elder asked me to brew some special remedies for a few sick villagers. Thought I'd stock up before nightfall.".

She cared how she did things so much, he reflected. And she never wavered under challenge. That, at least, reminded him of why he was here--despite the looming presence of Harbingers.

"Don't you're going to ask any questions or just blabber me with orders?" Erasa asked, cocking her head to one side as she studied him. "You look…distracted."

Kael breathed deeply, gazed out at the horizon as the fading light of day was overtaken by encroaching night. He hadn't voiced his concerns to her yet, but it was hard to avoid Erasa with her sharp intuition.

"I just had some stuff going through my head," Kael explained, giving her a reassuring smile. "Nothing serious.".

She turned and looked at him with a provocative smile, narrowing her eyes. "Ah, that's what you always say," she retorted. "But I know when something's bothering you. Is it about those rumors again?"

Kael's heart skipped a beat. The rumors. Word had spread about weird things happening in the forests that surrounded the village—animals vanishing, unnatural shadows flickering through the trees. The villagers chalked it up to superstitions, but Kael knew better. The Harbingers of Dissonance had made subtle moves, and although they neither menaced him nor any people who lived around his tribe, their presence alarmed him for the sake of the village.

"There are strange things happening," Kael said finally, his gaze softening as he met Erasa's eyes. "Nothing to worry about yet, but I think it's something I'll have to keep an eye on."

Erasa furrowed her brow in concern but asked him nothing further. Instead, she reached out and placed a hand on his arm, her touch grounding him.

"You've done so much for this village already," she said softly. "If anything happens, I know you'll handle it. But promise me you won't carry everything on your own shoulders."

Kael nodded, though the weight of what he wasn't telling her still lingered heavily in his mind.

It was night when Kael emerged among the villagers, solitary and at the extremity of the village, where fields hide away in dense woodland. The silence was oppressive, unnatural for being too complete. His senses, sharp as his omnipotence allowed them, went out instinctively, stroking by touch the faint eddy in the fabric of reality.

The Harbingers were close.

He felt the wild forces rebounding in ripples of ether, none threatening, yet unquiet – a wrong note in a grand symphony. Kael knew they could not reach him, but what they were doing to the world around him, he couldn't help but acknowledge. It wasn't so much that they would try to conquer his power – rather, to break down everything he'd managed to establish here, the peace he'd built.

Trees swayed in the distance, though there wasn't a breath of wind. A shadow, faint but unnatural, flickered between the trunks, bending to obey rules it never knew existed in this world.

Kael didn't need to chase after them. He knew they wouldn't dare approach him straight, at least not when he's standing his ground, channeling the quiet power of his Infinite Ascendant tier. His mere presence was enough to send ripples through the surrounding air.

"I know you're here", Kael said aloud, yet his voice was calm and resonant, ringing through the still night.

There was momentary silence. Then, steadily, there rose a figure from the trees. Unlike any ordinary being, this shadowy presence seemed to shimmer, shifting as if it couldn't maintain a singular form in Kael's reality. It was one of the Harbingers, but not in its true form—that was an echo, a projection of its chaotic nature.

"Kael…", the voice rasped, a distorted whisper that sent a chill through the air. "You cannot remain untouched by the discord forever…"

Kael narrowed his eyes, unmoved. "You can't challenge me. Not here, not anywhere. Your attempts are worthless."

The Harbinger's form shuddered once more, its amoeba-like shape quivering beneath the strength of Kael's power. But it didn't retreat. Instead it seemed to harden a little, as if it were invigorated by something unseen.

"We don't want you destroyed, Infinite Ascendant," it hissed, its voice warping now. "Only undone what you defend. This village, this harmony. they are fragile. You cannot save them from all discord."

Kael's eyes pinched into slivers. The Harbingers could not actually hurt him, but their intent was clear: they sought to unwind the world's peace, step by step, until the delicate balance he had forged here fell apart.

"I won't let that happen," Kael declared, his voice strong. "This village falls under my protection."

The Harbinger's shadowy shape quivered, its presence flickering as though Kael's very declaration weakened it.

"For now, " it whispered, the sound barely audible as it faded back into the darkness, retreating once more into the shadows from whence it came.

He woke early the following morning to the usual cacophony of village life-the jostling merchants arranging their stalls, and laughing children running through the streets. On the face of things, everything was normal and even peaceful, but Kael's senses had remained attuned to the undertow of unease. The Harbingers were out there waiting and watching.

For all Kael knew as he walked through the village, this confrontation was far off. The Harbingers did not hurry. They had time, and they did not waste it. They allowed the slow seeding of discord to grow with each passing day in hopes that Kael's defenses would crack.

"Good morning, Kael!" a familiar voice broke through his reclusive thoughts.

She waved at him from the bakery, dusting her flour-dusted hands as she tended to her morning chores. Her smile was warm, her presence a reminder of the life Kael had come to cherish here. Yet even as he returned her wave, the weight of what lay ahead pressed on him.

For it was a life he had picked—a life of peace, of simplicity. But with the Harbingers lurking in the shadows, peace would not come easy. And Kael knew that. Still, he was no one to shy away from a challenge, not even if this one was as subtle as it seemed.

As he turned down the street toward the bakery, Kael made his decision: however poorly the Harbingers went about it, he would defend this village and its people, who had accepted him with such openness. The discord they tried to sow would find no soil in which to take root here-so long as he stood guard.

And if the Harbingers wished to prove it, he would be ready.