Prologue of “The Awakening Flame”
Prologue: The Ashfall
The ash had always fallen like snow. Thick, gray flakes drifted from the crimson-tinged clouds above, coating the rooftops of Blackbarrow in a blanket of silence. To the townsfolk, the ash was as much a part of life as the morning sun or the clink of pickaxes in the mines. But to Cairos Vail, it was a warning.
Standing at the edge of the Shadowwood, he felt it before he saw it—a pulse, deep in his chest, like the echo of a drumbeat no one else could hear. The air was heavier here, thick with shadows that slithered through the skeletal trees. Whispers flitted past his ears, faint but persistent, as if the woods were trying to speak his name.
And then he saw it.
The creature emerged from the darkness like a nightmare given form, its body twisting unnaturally, black smoke billowing from its jagged frame. Its eyes burned like coals, and where its claws scraped the earth, the ground hissed, turning to ash.
Cai’s breath hitched. He should have run. He should have screamed. Instead, he stood frozen, the pulse in his chest quickening until it roared in his ears.
The beast lunged.
Instinct took over. Cai raised his hand, and the world erupted in flame.
A plume of fiery ash exploded from his outstretched palm, engulfing the creature in an instant. The force knocked him backward, his head striking the frozen earth. When the world stopped spinning, he saw the creature lying motionless, its body reduced to cinders.
But the whispers didn’t stop.
They grew louder, sharper, as if the Shadowwood itself had taken notice.
Cai scrambled to his feet, his heart racing. He stared at his hand, still trembling, tendrils of smoke curling from his fingertips. He didn’t know how he’d done it, but he knew one thing for certain: this was no ordinary fire.
Somewhere deep in the woods, a new whisper reached him, carried on the wind like a melody just out of reach.
“Cairos Vail,” it sang, soft and haunting. “You cannot run from what you are.”
The boy turned and fled, the ashes swirling in his wake.
