The storm howled outside the glass dome.
Rain pelted the ceiling in endless waves. Beyond it, lightning danced through clouds so thick they looked like walls of smoke. The entire castle floated in the heart of the storm, adrift in the sky.
Four figures stood in silence, gathered in the center of the circular chamber. The floor beneath them was smooth gray stone.
"This is reckless… even for you," a woman said coldly.
Her eyes were a piercing violet. Her black hair flowed over her shoulders. Her tone made it clear—this wasn't concern. This was anger.
"I agree," said another.
She looked exactly like the first, except for one thing—her eyes were a vibrant emerald green. The twins stood side by side, tension rolling off them like heat.
The green-eyed one turned to a man standing slightly behind them. He was tall and thin, with messy black hair and dull silver eyes.
"Well?" she asked. "Aren't you going to say anything?"
The man didn't answer. His gaze never left the final figure.
The one standing at the center of it all.
A tall, muscular man with long white hair and golden eyes that gleamed like sunlight through honey.
He spoke at last.
"It must be done," he said.
The violet-eyed woman stepped forward. "No. You won't recover from this. Five or six years is one thing, but you don't know how far you'll need to look. The end of the Rift? That could be tomorrow… or a thousand years from now, or never at all..."
Her hands curled into fists.
"Your mind will break. You won't even be able to tell us what you see."
Orion Solonar didn't flinch.
"I will," he said. "I'll tell you how the Rift closes. Even if it's the last thing I do."
He turned to the silver-eyed man.
"Thalen," he said. "Report everything I say to the king."
Thalen gave a slight nod.
Orion lifted his head. Slowly. Then stared up through the glass at the lightning-streaked sky.
His golden eyes began to glow.
Then—
He screamed.
The sound tore through the room like thunder. Blood burst from his eyes and nose. He stumbled, fists clenched, body trembling—
And then the words came.
"Kaelen Draeven."
"The mirror will lie, but only once."
"The storm will shatter the chain, but not the shackle."
"The songless bird will teach the world to scream."
"The king will bow before the traitor's child."
"Three speak the truth. One will be killed for it."
"The garden will bloom in winter… and be torn out by spring."
"He who stands at the edge will take no step… and still fall."
"The Rift will open its eye… and see only itself."
"The blade will choose the second son."
"The world will end in the tongue that first named it."
"The girl who sees no stars… will carry the last light."
Orion collapsed.
His knees hit the stone, and he fell face-first onto the floor. His golden eyes stared ahead, wide and unblinking. Blood ran from his face, pooling beneath him.
"Orion!" the green-eyed woman—Eira—rushed to his side.
Her hand glowed with soft emerald light as she placed it over his chest.
"…He's alive," she said. "His body's fine. But…"
Her voice dropped.
"His mind is gone."
No one spoke.
Then Thalen turned and walked toward the door.
"Where are you going?" the violet-eyed woman—Selene—asked.
"To report to the King," he said.
***
Thalen knelt at the base of a long red carpet.
At the top of a staircase, two thrones sat carved into blackstone.
On the right sat a pale man with split hair black on one side, white on the other. His eyes matched it: one black, one white.
King Auren Vaelirius.
On the throne to his left sat a woman with long silver hair and two pure white eyes. Her expression was unreadable.
Queen Elyria Vaelirius.
"What has Orion done now?" Elyria asked, irritation flickering in her voice.
"He looked into the future," Thalen said quietly. "Too far."
"His condition?"
"His body's fine," Thalen replied. "But his mind… is gone. Eira tried to heal him. It's beyond her reach."
The Queen didn't answer. Her jaw tightened.
The King spoke next. "Why? What was he trying to see?"
"He said he wanted to know how the Rift would close. That he'd tell us… no matter the cost."
Thalen paused.
Then, without emotion, he repeated every word Orion had said.
The hall fell silent.
"Bring Orion here, our dream walkers will look into his mind." The king said. "And speak of this to no one"
Thalen stood, bowed, and exited the throne room.
The doors closed behind him with a deep boom.
Queen Elyria rose to her feet.
"What a fool!" she snapped. "He was the one who warned us about looking too far into the future! And now he pushes himself past his limit and ends up barely clinging to life?!"
She began pacing, robes swishing behind her.
"He gave us something," King Auren said from his seat.
She stopped. "Cryptic riddles. That's all he gave us."
"No," he said quietly. "He gave us a name. Kaelen Draeven. He said he'd tell us how the Rift closes… and that name was the first thing he spoke."
The Queen frowned. "There's no one by that name in House Draeven."
"Which means they haven't been born yet."
She sat again, this time with a deep breath of frustration.
"…And what are we supposed to do with this?" she asked. "The last time we acted on Orion's words, we failed. The next vision we didn't act, and it still did not come to pass. His foresight might never come to pass—and now we've lost our only remaining connection to the Five. And a powerful ally."
"For now," Auren said, "we wait."
His eyes narrowed.
"If a child named Kaelen Draeven is born without interference… then we act. But if we interfere now, we might create the wrong future."
The Queen didn't argue.
She knew he was right.