Night descended on the cove slowly, like a curtain being drawn by unseen hands. The tide rose and fell with steady breath, washing over the black sand in a rhythm that felt almost ceremonial. Kairo sat near the dying flames of a small fire, his back resting against a smooth boulder as Selene studied the relic again, its violet-silver glow dancing across her face.
He wasn't tired. Not truly. The battles, the running, the shifting danger—those things sharpened him. Made him feel alive. But tonight something pressed against his senses, an unease he couldn't shake.
Selene was the first to speak.
"You feel it too."
He looked up. Her eyes—sharp, moon-bright—watched him with unsettling clarity.
Kairo nodded. "Something's moving."
"Not something." She lowered her voice. "Someone."
A chill ran through the cove. It wasn't wind. The air stilled, as if holding its breath.
A presence slid through the night like ink in water. Kairo rose to his feet instinctively, Aether awakening beneath his skin. Selene took her position beside him, her own energy weaving to life—strands of shadow twined with soft radiant light.
Then the sea shifted. Just once. A single wave rose higher, darker, thicker—as if the night itself had taken shape. It didn't form a creature. No face. No limbs. Only a silhouette in the water, tall, cloaked, crowned with drifting shards of obsidian.
A voice followed, low and ancient. It didn't echo. It didn't need to. It vibrated through their bones.
"The thief's child walks freely."
Selene froze. Kairo felt the weight of the words settle deep.
He didn't speak. Something primal told him that answering was dangerous.
The silhouette tilted its unseen head.
"How curious that the clan children cling to him. How blind… your Sensi has become."
The name burned. Kairo's fists clenched.
"Who are you?" Selene asked quietly, her voice steady but controlled.
The sea rippled in response. A whisper slid across the surface, dark and soft, as though the ocean itself had learned to speak.
"I am Malrukh… the Veiled Warden."
The name pierced the night like a blade. Kairo felt something in the world shift—subtle, dreadful, irreversible.
Malrukh continued.
"Your steps wake old wounds, Kairo. Walk carefully… for shadows remember your blood."
Before Kairo could ask what that meant, the silhouette dissolved. Not faded—dissolved, like ink dispersing into the water. The waves returned to normal, as though nothing had happened.
Silence.
Selene exhaled the breath she had been holding. "We need to leave. Now."
Kairo nodded, but his mind churned.
The thief's child.
Shadows remember your blood.
Your Sensi has become blind.
Questions clawed at him, but none had answers.
They moved quickly, following the winding path that would take them inland. Night deepened. Stars stretched overhead in silver arcs. The land around them changed from cliffs to dense, silent forest. Each tree seemed to lean inward, listening.
As they walked, Selene spoke softly, her tone serious.
"There are names we are taught never to say aloud. Malrukh is one of them."
Kairo looked at her. "You know him?"
"No," she said. "And that's the problem. No records. No lineage. No connection to any pantheon—not Greek, not Egyptian, not Yoruba, not Norse. Nothing. It's like he shouldn't exist, and yet… every high-ranking clan official behaves as if he does."
Kairo frowned. "What does he want?"
Selene hesitated.
"War."
A branch snapped behind them. Immediately Kairo spun, Aether pulsing to his fingertips.
But it wasn't an enemy. A small creature, fox-like but covered in shimmering blue feathers, darted across the path before disappearing into the underbrush.
Kairo lowered his hand, but his heart remained tense.
Selene continued walking.
"Kairo, listen. Malrukh isn't like monsters we've fought. He doesn't show his true form. He doesn't lead armies. He infects the world quietly. Clans vanish. Elders disappear. Relics go missing. And every time, the only clue left is a whisper."
Her footsteps slowed.
"And he called you the thief's child…"
Kairo felt something twist sharply inside his chest. "I don't know what he meant."
Selene studied him but didn't push.
They reached the clearing where their boat was hidden. A small wooden vessel enchanted with runes, large enough for two. Selene activated the glyph near the bow, and the runes lit up faint emerald.
As they pushed off into the dark water, Kairo glanced back at the coastline.
The sea was calm now. Peaceful. Like a deceitful lullaby.
But the image of the silhouette stayed etched in his mind—the obsidian crown shards, the drifting cloak, the voice that felt older than gods.
Kairo.
The thief's child.
Walk carefully.
He sat beside Selene as the boat glided forward, slicing through the black water. The sky reflected on the surface like broken pieces of a glass mirror.
Selene leaned back, arms folded. "Don't let his words get inside your head yet. We report to Sensi first. He'll know what to do."
Kairo gave a hollow laugh. "You're suddenly trusting him a lot."
Selene didn't deny it. "We may not always like him. But he's the only one who's survived more than one encounter with things older than gods."
Kairo looked forward. "He never tells us anything."
"He tells us what keeps us alive."
Kairo didn't argue. The water stretched endlessly ahead—calm now, but hiding nightmares beneath the surface. Night sounds filled the air: distant bird calls, soft rustling of river reeds, the gentle splash of water against wood.
As they drifted deeper into the night, Kairo felt the presence return—not close, not near, but watching from somewhere unseen.
A whisper slid across the wind.
"Your blood remembers."
He stiffened.
Selene glanced over. "Kairo?"
He shook his head. "Nothing."
But it wasn't nothing. Not anymore.
Malrukh had marked him.
Named him.
Seen him.
And as the boat glided into the fog-covered stretch of river, Kairo knew one truth with absolute clarity:
Their world had just shifted.
Lines were being drawn.
War was stirring.
And he—Kairo, the boy with stolen power, the last of a dying lineage—was no longer just a member of Sensi's gang.
He was a target.