Morning sunlight washed Arcadia in a soft golden haze, spreading across rooftops and windows like a gentle blessing. But Kael did not feel its warmth. Not even a little. His mind was too full, too heavy, carrying thoughts that never seemed to slow down. Bills, medicine, hospital visits, and the countdown he constantly imagined hovering above the Veilgate Tower like a silent judge.
Twenty nine days left.
He kept repeating it without meaning to. Sometimes it came as a whisper in his mind, other times like a shout. Twenty nine days until everything changed. For better or worse, the date was fixed. The city knew it too. Arcadia always seemed louder before Veilgate season, as if the streets carried the heartbeat of every seventeen year old waiting for their fate.
Kael wiped sweat from his forehead and bent again over the half repaired engine in Toba's workshop. The air smelled like metal filings, burnt oil, and the faint scent of fried plantain drifting from the shop next door. His hands were black with grease, and his shirt clung to his back. He tightened the last bolt with a small grunt and stepped away.
"All done," he murmured.
Toba, a burly man with a permanent scowl that hid a decent heart, nodded. "Good. Customer will pick it up tonight." He stretched his back until it cracked loudly. "You're getting faster."
Kael only shrugged. Working faster didn't change the numbers on the bills. It just meant less sleep.
He reached for a rag when a sudden swell of noise rose from outside the shop. At first, he thought it was the usual midday chaos. But the noise didn't fade. It got louder. Shouting. Excited voices. Footsteps rushing toward the plaza.
Kael wiped his hands and peeked outside. The street was alive with people moving quickly in one direction.
"What is happening?" he asked.
Toba stepped beside him and followed his gaze. His scowl deepened, but this time with resignation, not anger. "The Veilborn are arriving today. One of them is turning seventeen. Passing through the portal station."
Kael's fingers tightened around the rag. His breath caught for half a second. "A Veilborn… here?"
Toba nodded. "Yeah. Happens rarely. City always makes a show of it." He tossed the rag aside. "Go on. Take a break. You should see what real talent looks like."
The words weren't meant to hurt, but they stung anyway. Kael hesitated, then grabbed his backpack and followed the river of people toward the square.
The city square near the small portal station was packed. Police officers formed a barrier, holding back the crowd as reporters raised cameras and drones hovered above. Holographic screens flickered to life overhead, showing angles of the glowing portal from every direction. People murmured with excitement, the kind reserved for legends or royalty.
Kael squeezed into a small space near an alley wall. He didn't like crowds, but this was different. Veilborns were almost mythic. People born inside the Veilworld itself. Their bodies grew in a place filled with energy ordinary humans could barely survive. Their childhoods were spent around spirits, absorbing power like air. Stories said they fought beasts at age five, mastered abilities at age eight, and awakened levels normal humans spent years trying to reach.
They were walking miracles. Gifts from the Veil.
Kael had never seen one.
The portal shimmered like rippling glass. Its surface glowed and bent inward as if something enormous pressed against it from the other side.
The crowd held its breath.
A silhouette appeared, then stepped through.
The boy was Kael's age, maybe a little taller, with sharp, cold eyes and snow white hair tied loosely behind his head. He wore armor unlike anything crafted in the human world, etched with luminous symbols that pulsed faintly. At his side floated a spirit shaped like a metallic wolf, its silver body shifting like liquid steel, every movement smooth and deadly.
A collective gasp rose from the crowd.
"That is a Titansteel Lupus."
"He bonded before birth?"
"Look at the aura coming off him."
"He is already stronger than our military trainees."
Kael felt something tighten in his chest. He had known Veilborn were powerful, but seeing one in person was different. The boy radiated confidence, not arrogance, but the cold assurance of someone who had never lost a fight.
The Veilborn's gaze swept across the crowd lazily. Bored. Detached. As though nothing he saw was impressive.
Then his eyes passed over Kael.
They moved on.
Then returned.
And locked onto him.
For a moment, Kael felt as though the air thickened. Like invisible weight pressed down on him. He tried to breathe normally but felt his lungs stall.
The Veilborn walked forward. Each step deliberate, slow, cutting through the crowd as if people weren't even there. Some stepped aside quickly, others backed away in fear. The metallic wolf spirit shadowed him, silent and graceful.
The boy stopped directly in front of Kael.
His eyes were a pale silver, unreadable.
He tilted his head slightly, studying Kael like a problem to solve. "You," he said. His voice was calm. Cold. "You have the look of someone desperate."
People nearby murmured. Kael held the Veilborn's gaze, refusing to look away.
"Planning to enter the Gate soon?" the boy asked.
Kael's voice came quieter than he intended. "Yes."
The Veilborn's eyes hardened with something like disappointment. Or annoyance. Or maybe neither. He inspected Kael from head to toe. His clothes. His posture. The faint circles under his eyes. The callouses on his hands. He saw everything.
"You will die," the Veilborn said simply.
The words hit like a punch.
He did not say it with cruelty. Or mockery. He said it like a fact.
"People with eyes like yours always die," the boy continued. "Fear mixed with hope. A bad combination."
Kael's jaw tightened. A muscle twitched in his cheek. But he remained still.
A guard approached the Veilborn carefully. "Sir, we should go now."
The boy didn't move. He leaned closer, just enough that Kael could see faint energy lines moving along his armor.
"If you are entering for money or glory," the Veilborn said, "give up. The Veil does not reward the weak. It destroys them."
Kael's fists curled slightly at his sides. "I have no choice."
"There is always a choice," the Veilborn replied. "But yours will lead you to an early grave."
Without another word, he turned away. His spirit followed silently, paws leaving faint glowing marks that faded moments later.
The crowd whispered as he left.
"He singled out that boy."
"He must have sensed weakness."
"Poor child. He is done for."
"He won't survive the Gate."
Kael inhaled slowly. The noise blurred into a distant hum.
He walked away. He didn't look back.
He would not let a stranger write his story.
He had already decided what he would become.
But when he reached his apartment building, everything shifted.
The door was slightly open.
Kael's breath failed. He pushed it wide.
His mother lay on the floor beside her bed. One hand reaching weakly toward the spilled water cup. Her breathing was shallow. Too fast. Too faint.
"Mum!" Kael dropped beside her, his hands trembling as he lifted her gently. "Mum, can you hear me?"
Her eyelids fluttered. She whispered something, but he couldn't make it out.
Her skin burned under his touch. Fever. Too high.
Kael wrapped a blanket around her and lifted her carefully in his arms. His steps were uneven, almost frantic, as he rushed outside. Rain had begun to fall, thin at first, then harder, cold drops running down his neck and soaking through his shirt.
He didn't stop.
The clinic lights flickered as he pushed inside. Nurses called a doctor immediately.
Minutes felt like hours.
Finally, the doctor came out, gloves removed, expression serious.
"Kael," he began softly, "her condition has worsened. The infection has spread deeper than last month."
Kael felt the world tilt.
"She will not survive another two months without advanced treatment."
Kael closed his eyes. The Veilborn's words echoed in his mind.
You will die.
"What are the options?" Kael asked quietly.
"There is a rare herb called the Silverdew Lotus," the doctor said. "Only found in a specific region of the Veilworld. One petal can reverse organ failure. But it is extremely rare."
"How much does it cost?"
The doctor sighed. "Even if you sold your entire district, you could not afford it."
Kael felt a sting behind his eyes. He blinked rapidly.
The doctor rested a hand on his shoulder. "Kael, I understand why you want to enter the Veilworld, but it is dangerous. If you die, she will have no one."
Kael lifted his gaze slowly. Something inside him hardened.
"If I stay here, she dies for sure," he said. "If I go in, I have a chance. Even if it is small."
The doctor held his stare for a long moment, then nodded with quiet defeat. "Then prepare well. You have one month."
Kael carried his mother home through the rain. The world felt muted, like sound traveled slower. Water dripped from his hair, his clothes, his fingers. Thunder rumbled far away.
He laid her gently on the bed and covered her. Her breathing was softer now, but still weak.
He sat beside her all night.
He didn't move. Didn't sleep.
The Veilborn's voice echoed again.
You will die.
Kael whispered into the dim room.
"I don't care."
His mother stirred faintly. He took her hand.
"If death is the price to save you," he whispered, "then I will pay it."
Outside, rain hammered the window, steady and relentless.
Inside, Kael Ardyn made his choice.
He would enter the Veil.
He would face whatever waited there.
And he would survive.
For her.
Always for her.