Morning in Umbralune came slowly...as though the sky was reluctant to lift its veil after the night's terror.
Aurelianth barely slept.
Every time he closed his eyes, he felt the Hollow Pulse breathing in the dark behind them...a presence just beyond the edge of thought, waiting, listening.
Lioren spent the night sitting beside him, lantern dim, her head resting lightly on his shoulder. She didn't speak.
She didn't need to.
The Pulse's whisper still crawled through the stone walls at dawn:
click…
click…
not yet…
A reminder.
A promise.
A hunger.
But when the lanterns dimmed and villagers emerged, Aurelianth forced himself upright.
Today would not be spent trembling.
Today he would learn.
The Matriarch's Lesson
The matriarch found him at the cliff's edge, sitting as the sun bled pale light over the Shadow Sea.
"Aurelianth."
He didn't turn. "I thought I'd have a moment to breathe."
"You will," she said dryly. "After your training."
He exhaled shakily. "Training? Already?"
"Yes."
Her staff tapped the stone beside him.
"The longer you remain ignorant, the faster the Pulse will devour you."
He turned then.
Her face held no cruelty.
Only truth.
"What do you plan to teach me?"
"Three forms," she said. "If you master even one, you may survive the next attempt."
He swallowed.
"Three forms of what?"
"Existence," she said.
"Because you do not belong solely to the living…nor to the echoing…nor to the unmade."
His skin prickled.
"You stand between."
Aurelianth stood slowly.
"My runes didn't choose that. I didn't choose that."
"No," she agreed. "But your existence chose you. And now we answer."
She gestured toward a stone platform beside the cliffs...etched with spiraling runes that shimmered faintly.
"Come."
Aurelianth followed.
Lioren joined them silently, lantern hanging from her wrist.
The matriarch lifted her staff.
"Lesson One....
Containment."
Aurelianth frowned. "Contain what?"
"You."
The matriarch raised her palm.
A rune glowed between her fingers....a thin, elegant sigil shimmering like condensed moonlight.
"Your runes react without your consent," she said. "Your veins blaze when your emotions shift. Your presence destabilizes structure."
"So I'm dangerous."
"Yes," she said plainly. "And fragile."
He stiffened.
She gestured to the stone platform.
"You will learn to hold your power inward. To stop your runes from reacting. To stop the Pulse from feeling your heartbeat."
"My heartbeat?"
She nodded.
"The Pulse resonates with patterns. Your pulse....your literal pulse....draws it."
Aurelianth felt sick.
"So every time I feel afraid....every time my heart races...."
"It hears you," she finished.
His lungs froze.
Lioren's hand found his arm. "We'll learn to silence it, Aurelianth. I know you can."
The matriarch tapped the platform.
"Sit."
He obeyed.
"Close your eyes."
He did.
"Now," she whispered, "feel your veins."
His pulse throbbed under his skin...each beat a flare of silver light.
"Slow them," she said.
"I don't know how...."
"Then learn."
Her tone didn't soften.
Aurelianth inhaled.
Exhaled.
Tried to find stillness.
But the moment he reached inward...he felt it.
A whisper, small but sharp.
click…
He flinched.
Lioren saw.
"It's listening," she hissed. "It can hear the lesson."
"That is why he must control himself," the matriarch said.
Aurelianth inhaled again.
Deep.
Slow.
Shaking.
He tried to focus on the sensations inside:
The runes shifting like restless insects.
The veins burning like glowing rivers.
The Pulse echoing at the edges.
And beneath all that....His heartbeat.
Fast.
Erratic.
Afraid.
He lowered his breath.
Focused inward.
Tried again.
His heartbeat slowed.
The runes dimmed.
His veins pulsed more steadily.
"Good," the matriarch whispered. "Hold it."
Aurelianth held.
The clicking quieted.
Lioren exhaled in relief.
"Excellent...."
CRACK.
Aurelianth gasped as a flash of pain tore through his ribs.
His runes flared violently....silver bursting from his skin.
The cliff platform shook.
The sky flickered.
Reality stuttered.
The matriarch cursed. "He lost control...pull him out!"
Lioren leaned forward but the pulse burst outward again.
A shockwave...bright, hot, raw...threw her backward.
"Lioren!"
Aurelianth broke the state instantly and stumbled up, grabbing her.
"I'm sorry....I didn't mean...."
Lioren groaned. "It's okay. I'm okay…"
Her lantern lay shattered on the floor.
Aurelianth's hands trembled.
The matriarch approached him.
"Again," she said.
He blinked. "What? But I...."
"Again."
He stared at her.
"You will lose control fifty times.
A hundred.
Perhaps a thousand.
But each failure teaches the Pulse less."
He hesitated.
Then nodded.
And tried again.
The Pulse Watches
Hours passed.
Each attempt was harder.
Each shockwave weaker.
Sometimes Aurelianth's control held.
Sometimes it shattered.
Sometimes it flickered like a candle in a storm.
But slowly....painfully...he learned to dim his glow.
To silence the trembling runes.
To slow his pulse.
To become quiet inside.
Lioren watched every attempt.
Sometimes she corrected him.
Sometimes she steadied him.
Sometimes she simply sat close enough that he remembered he wasn't alone.
By midday, Aurelianth managed a full two minutes of control.
The matriarch nodded once.
"For a first lesson, this is acceptable."
Aurelianth nearly collapsed.
Lioren caught him. "He needs rest."
"Yes," the matriarch agreed.
"But the Pulse draws closer."
Aurelianth stiffened. "How do you know?"
The matriarch pointed at the shadow-water bowl sitting near the platform.
A silhouette flickered inside.
Aurelianth stopped breathing.
"It's… watching?" he whispered.
"It has been all morning," she said. "But your moments of control frustrate it."
The silhouette twitched.
click…
Soft.
Insistent.
Aurelianth swallowed thickly.
"Why is it watching me train?"
"Because hunger studies," she whispered. "And the Pulse has never seen a prey that learns."
The silhouette in the bowl rippled, leaning closer.
Aurelianth looked away....the contact too intimate, too invasive.
Lioren grabbed his hand, pulling him from the platform.
"You're done," she said firmly.
He didn't argue.
The Lantern of Lioren
They returned to his room.
Lioren gave him water, kelp-bread, and a fresh moon-lantern one she had made herself.
"It's attuned to your veins," she said softly.
Aurelianth frowned. "Why?"
"So if the Pulse approaches, the lantern responds first."
"What about you?" he asked.
Lioren's smile was fragile but warm.
"I don't need a lantern to sense you."
He swallowed.
"Lioren… why do you stay close to me? I'm dangerous."
"So is fire," she said. "But it can save a village if guided."
He stared at her.
"You think I can be guided?"
She reached up and touched the side of his face.
"I think you can choose."
He closed his eyes.
For once, he allowed himself a moment of stillness.....
And the clicking vanished.
No whisper.
No echo.
No hunger.
Just quiet.
The Pulse Responds
But the quiet did not last.
That night just after lanterns dimmed and the village settled into uneasy sleep.....
Aurelianth woke with icy breath.
The room was cold.
Too cold.
His lantern glowed faintly.....
A warning.
A trembling.
A pulse of fear.
Aurelianth sat up fast.
Not again.
He rose from bed, runes stirring faintly beneath his skin.
The room was empty.
Silent.
And then....
His shadow moved.
But he didn't.
Aurelianth froze.
His shadow rippled.
Thinned.
Lengthened.
And slowly....precisely...lifted itself from the floor.
Aurelianth's mouth went dry.
The shadow turned toward him.Its hollow face forming from the darkness.
And the voice of the Hollow Pulse whispered:
"You learn.
Good.
I want you stronger."
Aurelianth stumbled back.
"No....no....get away...."
The shadow advanced.
"That is how it will taste best."
The runes on Aurelianth's chest screamed.
His veins flared.
"Lioren....!" he shouted.
The shadow hissed....
"Not yet."
And then....
Reality flickered.....
The shadow retreated....dissolving back into flatness.
The room fell still.
Aurelianth gasped, collapsing onto the bed.
His lantern crackled weakly.A new truth carved itself into his bones:
The Pulse didn't fear his training.
It welcomed it.
Hungered for it.
Wanted him stronger before it came again.