Chapter 30: The First Signal
Adrian couldn't stop thinking about the boy. Sixteen, ordinary on the surface, sketching quietly at the corner of a busy street. Yet the pendant had flared harder than it had in weeks, burning against Adrian's chest as if screaming: Here. This one.
He lay awake that night, staring at the ceiling, pendant glowing faintly in the dark. Elias's warning echoed in his mind: Trust is risk. Isolation is death. Learn to tell the difference. But the visions had been clear. Ordinary people carrying fragments. The boy wasn't ordinary. He was part of it.
Leah noticed his restlessness. "You're thinking about him," she said quietly, sitting beside him in the warehouse after training.
Adrian nodded. "The pendant reacted stronger than ever. He's connected. I know it."
Leah frowned. "Then what's stopping you?"
Adrian clenched his fists. "If I approach him, I risk exposing everything. Hunters could be watching. He might not even know what he carries. And if I tell him too much…" He trailed off, the weight pressing down heavier.
Leah's gaze softened. "You can't protect him by pretending he's ordinary. If the relic chose him, hunters will find him eventually. Better he learns from you than dies confused."
Adrian swallowed hard. She was right. But Elias's skepticism lingered.
That evening, Adrian told Elias.
Elias scowled immediately. "Dangerous. You start chasing signals in crowds, you'll lose focus. Hunters thrive on distraction. If the relic is binding others, let them wake on their own. Don't drag them in before they're ready."
Adrian's chest tightened. "But what if they don't wake on their own? What if hunters find them first?"
Silence hung heavy. Elias sighed, rubbing his temples. "Then you move carefully. If you approach him, you do it slowly. No revelations. No pendant. Just… watch. Learn who he is before you decide."
Adrian nodded reluctantly.
The next day, he returned to the street. The boy was there again, sketching in his notebook, oblivious to the world around him. Adrian stood across the road, pendant pulsing faintly, heart pounding. He watched quietly, studying him.
The boy's sketches were detailed — buildings, streets, faces. But every so often, Adrian noticed something strange. Symbols. Faint, almost hidden, etched into the margins. They matched the markings from the cavern.
Adrian's breath caught. The boy wasn't just connected. He was already seeing fragments.
Leah appeared beside him, whispering. "He knows something. Even if he doesn't realize it."
Adrian clenched his fists, whispering to himself. "Then the relic was right."
The boy looked up suddenly, eyes meeting Adrian's across the street. For a moment, Adrian felt it — a faint shimmer, like recognition. The pendant pulsed harder, frantic.
Adrian stepped forward instinctively, but Elias's warning echoed in his mind. Trust is risk. He stopped, forcing himself to breathe. Not yet. Not here.
The boy blinked, then returned to his sketch. Adrian exhaled, chest heaving, pendant glowing faintly. He turned away, whispering to himself. "Soon. But not yet."
That night, he sat in his apartment, pendant glowing faintly in his hand. He thought of the visions, of the boy's sketches, of the symbols hidden in the margins. He thought of hunters, of balance, of legacy.
He whispered, voice hoarse. "I'll rise. I'll uncover the truth. And I'll find them. One by one."
The pendant pulsed again, brighter than before.
And Adrian Reyes knew the path ahead wasn't just about cultivation or history. It was about signals — scattered across the city, waiting to be found, waiting to be awakened before the hunters reached them first.