Chapter 9: The Boy with the Burning Palm

The boy in the center of the circle wasn't performing any ritual. He was just… standing there. His eyes were closed, lips parted slightly as if in prayer, and the red sigil on his palm pulsed with a slow, rhythmic glow like the beat of a second heart.

Nightblade motioned for silence, holding one finger to his lips. He crept along the rim of the sunken chamber, his black cloak barely making a sound. Starflare followed, her steps light but steady, her light dimmed to the glow of a candle.

Wren stayed behind, crouched near the upper ledge, wide-eyed and tense.

One of the young people in the circle, a girl with short, copper hair and a bandage across her cheek, turned, sensing movement.

Before she could speak, Nightblade dropped behind her, placing a gloved hand over her mouth. "Shhh," he whispered. "We're not here to hurt anyone."

She tensed, but she didn't scream. Her eyes darted toward the boy at the center.

Starflare approached her carefully. "What's his name?" she asked gently.

The girl hesitated, then whispered against Nightblade's hand, "His name's Elian."

"Elian," Starflare repeated softly. "What is he doing?"

The girl's voice trembled. "He doesn't know. He just started glowing one day. After the red sky."

Nightblade exchanged a sharp look with Starflare. "That was the night of the fifth sigil."

The girl nodded. "He said he could feel something waking up. Said it was inside him."

"Elian," Starflare called gently, stepping forward.

The boy's eyes opened.

He didn't move. But the moment he looked at her, Starflare staggered back a step. His gaze wasn't cruel, but it wasn't entirely human either. There was something ancient behind those eyes. Something watching.

Nightblade took a slow step forward. "We're not here to fight you, Elian. We're here to understand. That symbol on your palm, it's dangerous."

Elian blinked slowly. "It hurts," he said, voice thin and quiet. "It burns all the time. I can hear it talking to me when I sleep."

Nightblade's jaw tightened. "What does it say?"

Elian's lips barely moved. "It says… he's still alive."

Starflare inhaled sharply. "Revenant."

Elian nodded once. "He's in me. But also not. Like a shadow that's looking for a body."

Wren finally climbed down and stood beside the others. "You said he could be a host," he whispered to Nightblade.

Nightblade nodded grimly. "He already is. Or part of him is. Enough to be dangerous."

Elian looked up at them. "I don't want to hurt anyone."

"We know," Starflare said quickly. "That's why we're going to help you. But we need to get you out of here, before it, whatever it is, decides to take more control."

"No," Elian said.

Starflare froze. "No?"

Elian stepped out of the circle. His skin was pale, and his veins pulsed faintly with crimson light beneath the surface. He didn't move like a normal boy. His steps were precise, balanced, almost too perfect.

"I'm not leaving because I need to show you something," he said.

He raised his palm.

The Eye flared.

And the wall behind him crumbled away.

Nightblade leapt forward, blades ready, but not at Elian. Something was crawling out of the wall. Not a creature. A vision. A projection of memory, thick and heavy like fog made of dreams.

The room darkened, shadows writhing along the stone as a city came into view not Arcadia, but something older. Ancient. A metropolis made of black stone and glowing towers, rising beneath a red sky.

"The First Gate," Embershade's voice whispered, though he was nowhere to be seen.

Nightblade stared, frozen.

The illusion expanded. People marched through the streets, heads bowed, hands marked with the same Eye. Above them, a figure stood on a dais, hooded, tall, his mouth open in silent command.

Revenant.

But younger. Stronger. And behind him something massive, wrapped in chains of smoke and light. A presence so terrible that the air grew cold just looking at it.

Elian's voice echoed. "This is where it began."

The vision flashed, turning to war. Fire erupted in the streets. The city collapsed into ash and smoke. Screaming. Magic. Betrayal.

Then silence.

The vision vanished, leaving only the sound of dripping water.

Elian swayed and nearly collapsed. Starflare rushed forward and caught him.

"I didn't know what it was," he whispered. "I just knew it wasn't done. That it wanted to finish what it started."

Nightblade stood, face pale. "He's using Elian to reawaken the original city's magic."

"And the creature in chains?" Starflare asked.

Elian looked at her with eyes full of quiet fear.

"That wasn't a creature. That was a god."

Back at the clocktower, Elian sat wrapped in a blanket, sipping from a chipped mug of tea. The warmth did little to hide the glow still pulsing in his hand. Starflare sat with him, her expression soft and distant.

Wren stood near the window, arms folded.

Nightblade circled the room, thinking aloud.

"If the creature Revenant tried to awaken was once worshipped, then the city itself was built as a gate. Each sigil was part of its prison. By activating them, he wasn't summoning it, he was unsealing it."

Wren frowned. "And now that the fifth is gone…"

Starflare nodded. "The door's open. But not fully."

Nightblade finally stopped pacing. "That's why Revenant needs Elian. He's the anchor. The key to the final lock."

"We can't just hide him," Starflare said. "He'll be hunted."

Nightblade turned to Wren. "You said he was part of a group. Do they know what's in him?"

Wren shook his head. "No. They just think he's a glowing freak who needs protection."

Nightblade picked up a data pad and scrolled through recent messages intercepted by the city's vigilante network. A name caught his eye: The Ember Veil.

"What's that?" he asked.

Starflare leaned over his shoulder. "It's a group. Underground. Magical freedom fighters. Fringe elements. They don't trust anyone tied to the old hero systems."

"They've been quiet for years," Nightblade said.

Wren stepped forward. "I've heard of them. They've been recruiting. Whispering about a final convergence. Something called the Rising."

"Elian mentioned it too," Starflare said slowly. "He said it comes at the eclipse."

Nightblade's eyes darkened. "Then that's our deadline."

He turned to the others.

"In three days, the eclipse reaches its peak. If the Rising happens then, and Revenant completes whatever ritual he's planned, Arcadia won't survive. Elian is the key, but he's also a child. We protect him. We prepare. We go to the Ember Veil and find out what they know."

"And if they won't help us?" Starflare asked.

Nightblade's voice dropped to a low murmur.

"Then we make them."