Pain brought Kael back.
Cold stone against his cheek. A sharp ringing in his ears. The taste of copper on his tongue.
He rolled instinctively, just as a blade carved through the space where his neck had been.
Kael gasped and scrambled up, drawing his own weapon in one motion. The corridor was chaos—Vein light pulsing erratically, shadows jerking across the walls like living things.
The girl was already moving.
She was fast. Not trained-fast. Desperate-fast.
Her cloak hung in tatters, one sleeve burned clean through. Dark hair clung to her face, eyes wild and calculating as she circled him, blade low, ready to strike again.
"Don't move," she hissed.
Kael steadied his breathing, boots sliding slightly on the smooth stone. His head throbbed. His vision was still swimming, but his instincts were sharp.
"I could say the same," he replied.
She lunged.
Kael barely managed to parry. Metal rang out, sharp and loud, echoing through the trench. The impact rattled his arm to the shoulder.
She pressed the attack relentlessly—short, efficient strikes aimed to disable, not show off. She wasn't trying to win a duel.
She was trying to survive.
Kael backed toward the wall, deflecting, stumbling, heart hammering. His blade clipped her forearm. She hissed but didn't slow.
"You Sunbound?" she spat, driving him back again.
"Yes!" Kael snapped. "No—wait—"
Too late.
She kicked his knee. Pain flared. He went down hard, rolling just in time to avoid a downward thrust that would've pinned him to the floor.
Kael twisted, swept her legs out from under her. She hit the ground, breath whooshing from her lungs.
For a second, they stared at each other—both panting, both bleeding, blades trembling inches apart.
The Veins pulsed brighter.
The light washed over them in a cold blue wave, and Kael felt something pull at him, like fingers brushing the inside of his skull.
Images flickered behind his eyes.
Stone towers burning. Screams swallowed by light. A woman standing in ruin—his face, but not his body.
He gasped and staggered back.
The girl screamed.
She clutched her head, dropping her weapon, knees buckling as she cried out in pain.
"No—no, stop—!" she choked.
The Veins flared again.
The corridor shook.
Kael forced himself forward despite the pressure crushing his chest. "Hey! Hey—look at me!"
She flinched as if struck, eyes snapping to his. They were dark, sharp, furious—and afraid.
"You did this," she snarled.
"I didn't!" he shouted back. "I don't even know what this is!"
She laughed—a broken, bitter sound—and surged to her feet, slamming into him shoulder-first. They crashed into the wall, breath knocked out of both of them.
Her forearm pressed into his throat.
"Liar," she whispered. "You don't walk into the Veins by accident. You don't trigger a pulse unless you're marked."
Kael's vision darkened at the edges.
"I came because of this," he rasped, fumbling inside his coat.
Her pressure increased.
Then the relic slid free.
The moment it caught the Vein light, the air changed.
The hum deepened into a resonant chord that vibrated through bone and blood. The conduits along the walls ignited, lines of light racing outward like veins filling with fire.
The girl froze.
Her eyes locked on the relic.
Her face drained of color.
"…That's not possible," she breathed.
Kael coughed, gasping as she loosened her grip. "You recognize it?"
She stared at the inscription, lips parting as if she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.
"Kael Wynn," she read aloud.
Her gaze snapped up to his face.
"That's your name."
Kael swallowed. "Yeah."
Her expression hardened instantly.
She yanked him forward by the collar and slammed him back into the wall.
"Then you're worse than Sunbound," she said coldly. "You're a ghost."
Before he could respond, alarms blared.
Red light flooded the corridor.
Footsteps thundered from above.
Sunbound patrols.
She cursed viciously and stepped back, grabbing her blade.
"They'll kill you," she said. "Or take you apart piece by piece."
"Same to you," Kael said.
She hesitated—just for a heartbeat—then made a decision.
"This way," she snapped, already moving.
Kael didn't argue.
They ran.
The Veins surged as they fled, light chasing them through branching corridors that twisted and shifted like a living maze. The relic burned against Kael's chest, guiding him even as panic clawed at his lungs.
They dove into a narrow access shaft just as Sunbound fire scorched the wall behind them.
The girl sealed the hatch manually, sparks flying as it locked.
Silence fell—heavy, trembling.
They leaned against opposite walls, breathing hard.
Finally, she looked at him again—not with fury this time, but wary calculation.
"You're not what I expected," she said.
Kael wiped blood from his mouth. "Likewise."
She studied him for a long moment, then spoke:
"My name is Lysandra."
He nodded. "Kael."
"I know," she said. "The Veins already told me."
A chill slid down his spine.
Outside the shaft, the Veins pulsed once—slow, deliberate.
Like a heartbeat.
Like acknowledgment.