The one who watches:Kael and Sylis

Somewhere deep in the Wyrmwood, where light bent around branches and time coiled like a serpent, someone watched.

Kael, the seer of broken patterns, moved a stone across his scrying circle. The vision shimmered. Flames curled, water boiled. And in the heart of it two figures.

Aure, awakening.

Lian, remembering.

Beside him, Sylis stirred. His tattoos shimmered like ink and starlight, his eyes glowing faintly gold.

"It begins again," he said.

"Yes," Kael murmured. "The bond stirs. But so does something darker. Xarion moves in the east."

Sylis hissed. "He was bound."

"He was," Kael said, voice cold. "But bonds break. Even the sacred ones."

The flames flared higher, dancing around the sigil between them. The mark of soulfire, the ancient vow once made under the starlit oath. It burned now, unstable.

"They must remember," Sylis said.

Kael nodded. "Or the bond will devour them both."

And far off, in the place between realms, a pair of crimson eyes opened.