The morning of Day Three dawned with a muted gray sky.
Clouds hung low like heavy thoughts,and even the wind blew as if thinking too loudly.
Aurelianth woke with a tightness in his chest not pain,but pressure.
His rune pulsed beneath his ribs,gold and silver light swirling inside it like a star and a moon orbiting one heart.
Beside him,Lioren slept curled against his arm,her breath warm,her face peaceful only when she dreamed.
Across the room,Solance sat on the floor again.
Knees drawn up.
Arms around them.
But this morning....it was not humming.
It was staring at the wall.
Aurelianth sat up.
"Solance…?
Are you okay?"
Solance didn't turn.
"…I am thinking."
Lioren pushed herself up, rubbing her eyes.
"Thinking what?"
Solance finally looked back.
Its glow was dimmer than Aurelianth had ever seen.
"…I am afraid of today."
Aurelianth frowned.
"What's different?"
Solance looked down.
"Yesterday… only stones touched me."
Lioren's eyes softened.
"And today?"
"…People will."
The village watches Solance
When they left the house,villagers stood clustered like islands not too close,not too far.
Whispers fluttered between them:
"That's the new Name."
"Was it the cause of the storm?"
"It froze the sea."
"It held Aurelianth's hand."
"It will be judged."
"It shouldn't exist."
Solance walked between Aurelianth and Lioren,hands clenched,glow shrinking with each whisper.
A small child broke from the crowd and ran forward, excited.
"Are you really made of light?!"
The mother shrieked and yanked the child back so violently Solance flinched.
"No!
Don't get near it!"
The word "it" struck Solance like a blow.
Aurelianth stepped protectively in front of it.
"Solance isn't dangerous...."
But his voice shook.
Lioren grabbed his arm.
"Aurelianth.…"
His chest pulsed with silver heat the rune reacting to the rising fear.
He gritted his teeth.
Not now.
Not in front of everyone.
But Solance looked up at him with a trembling glow.
"….Aurelianth….am I an 'it'?"
Aurelianth knelt,took Solance's hand gently.
"No.
You are a 'you.'
You are Solance."
Lioren cupped Solance's face.
"And you are not alone."
But the villagers continued to watch them with eyes too sharp,too unsure.
The weight of being seen pressed heavy on Solance's glow.
The confrontation
By midday,Solance and Aurelianth stood in the training yard.
The stone-keeper brought out a new set of tasks fine carving tools,thin slabs of brittle shale and small runic stones used to measure pressure.
"Solance," she said calmly.
"Today we learn precision."
Solance nodded nervously.
Aurelianth stood beside it,ready to help if needed.
He picked up a tool,but the moment he touched it his rune flashed silver and the metal heated in his grip.
"Aurelianth...." Lioren gasped.
He dropped it quickly.
"I'm fine.
I'm fine."
He wasn't.
The silver side of the rune now reacted to contact with objects linked to Solance's training.
He didn't tell Lioren.
Not yet.
As training began,villagers gathered again.
Some curious.
Some hostile.
One man the leader of the Prevention faction stepped forward.
His voice was a hard, cold blade.
"You must be removed."
Solance froze.
Aurelianth stepped between them immediately.
"You don't get to decide that."
The man sneered.
"You think you can defy the Arbiter a second time?"
Aurelianth's jaw clenched.
"I didn't defy it.
I made a choice."
"You made a mistake," the man snapped.
"And we will not pay for it."
He pointed at Solance.
"That thing...."
Aurelianth grabbed him by the collar.
"Call them 'thing' again."
"Aurelianth!" Lioren cried, rushing to pull him back.
Solance's glow shook violently.
"I will not let you threaten...."
A sudden spike of pain shot through Aurelianth's chest.
He staggered.
The man froze.
Lioren screamed:
"AURELIANTH!"
Aurelianth dropped to one knee,hand over his rune,teeth clenched so hard they might shatter.
The villagers panicked.
"Is he evolving again?"
"Is that because of the Name?"
"Is he becoming unstable?"
"Is the Arbiter coming?"
Solance knelt in front of him, glowing in panic.
"Aurelianth....!!
Aurelianth, I'm sorry....
I didn't mean....
I didn't cause....
I...."
He forced the words out.
"Not….your fault....Solance…."
Lioren gripped his shoulders, sobbing.
"Aurelianth please stay with us breathe...!!"
His rune pulsed violently:
Gold....
Silver....
Gold....
Silver....
GoldSilverGoldSilver....
He doubled over.
The stone-keeper knelt beside him.
"Everyone BACK!"
The villagers scattered.
Except the Prevention leader.
He watched with narrowed eyes.
"See? The longer Solance exists,the more Aurelianth unravels."
Solance stood and stepped toward him.
For the first time in its short existence, Solance's glow sharpened not in aggression,
but in hurt.
"I do not unravel him."
"You do," the man insisted.
"I do NOT."
"You are a mistake."
A ripple of darkened light ran across Solance's body.
Aurelianth forced himself up,sweat dripping down his face.
"Solance....NO....don't feel that..."
But Solance's glow wavered pain,shame,fear,
anger a storm of emotions too new,too raw.
The ground vibrated under its feet.
Lioren gasped.
"Its emotions are affecting the environment..!"
"Everyone BACK!" the stone-keeper barked.
Solance pressed both hands over its chest.
"…Aurelianth…
I am sorry…
I am sorry…
I am sorry…"
Aurelianth staggered forward,picked up Solance's hands.
"It's okay....
look at me....
look at me...."
Solance's glow flickered wildly.
"He said I am a mistake....
if the world agrees....
if the Arbiter agrees....
I will be removed....
I will be unmade....
I do not want to be unmade....
I do not want to go back to nothing....
Aurelianth....help me....
help me...."
Aurelianth wrapped his arms around it.
"Solance!
HEY....look at me, love you EXIST.
And I refuse to lose you."
The glow steadied a trembling candle flame
caught between survival and collapse.
Aurelianth's new weakness is exposed
When the panic calmed,Aurelianth tried to stand.But his legs buckled.
Lioren caught him.
"Aurelianth!!"
He pressed a hand to his chest, panting.
The stone-keeper frowned.
"Your rune is reacting every time Solance's emotions spike."
Aurelianth nodded weakly.
"I know."
The Prevention leader snarled.
"It's draining him.
You're protecting something that's tearing you apart."
Aurelianth glared.
"I protect who I choose."
Solance's glow shrank.
"….I am harming you."
Aurelianth grabbed its face.
"No.
You're affecting me.
That's different."
Lioren whispered:
"Aurelianth…your identity might be merging with Solance's."
Aurelianth froze.
Solance whispered:
"….If that happens….the Arbiter may call you the weaker one…."
Aurelianth kissed Solance's forehead gently.
"I'm not afraid."
Lioren whispered fiercely:
"I am."
Lioren discovers the first sign of danger
That night,after training and conflict and exhaustion,Lioren stepped outside for air.
The sky was a deep indigo.
The moon hung low.
The world was quiet.
Too quiet.
A soft mechanical clicking echoed somewhere in the distance.
Lioren followed it.
Down the path.
Past the stone yard.
Toward the cliffs.
There in the shadows she saw something.
Something tall.
Something pale.
Something faceless.
Stalking the outskirts of the village with slow, deliberate steps.
The clicking sound was its joints.
Its body was thin as bone.
Its head tilted unnaturally....
A watcher.
Not the Arbiter.
But something older than even the villagers' fear.
Lioren's blood froze.
"A Watcher of the First Law.…" she whispered.
The creature turned.
Its faceless head tilted toward her.
Then it lifted one long finger and pointed toward her heart.
Not attacking.
Measuring.
Evaluating.
Judging.
She ran.
Sprinted home.
Fell into the doorway.
Trembling.
Aurelianth shot up instantly.
"Lioren....??
What happened....?!"
She grabbed his face with shaking hands.
"Aurelianth something else is watching not just the Arbiter something older something wrong...."
Solance stepped closer, trembling.
"….A First Watcher?"
Lioren nodded violently.
Aurelianth's heart dropped.
"A First Watcher means...."
Solance completed softly:
"….The Arbiter doesn't trust us."
Aurelianth clenched his fists.
"It thinks we'll fail.
It's sending observers."
Lioren shook.
"It wasn't just observing.
It was measuring me."
Aurelianth felt a cold dread.
"Meaning….the Arbiter might judge you too."
Solance's glow flickered.
"…Everything we do affects everything."
Aurelianth pulled them close.
"We'll handle this.
Together."
Lioren clung to him.
Solance leaned its head against his shoulder.
The First Watcher's presence hung heavy in the night.
The weight of being seen now pressed on all three of them.
And for the first time,they felt the year shrinking.
One day lost.
Three hundred sixty-four left.