The kingdom of Aurelion believed destiny was inherited.
Magic followed bloodlines. Power obeyed ancestry. If you were born without either, the world expected you to disappear quietly.
Erynd did neither.
He lived on the outer edges of the realm, beyond the stone markers that defined belonging. His village had no banners, no noble protection, only the wind and the old forest that breathed at night. People there survived by instinct, not prophecy.
Yet the wind followed him.
It whispered when he walked. It shifted when he slept. And on the night the stars went silent, it knelt.
Erynd stood alone on the cliff path when the sky dimmed, as if someone had blown out a candle behind the heavens. The air thickened. The forest stilled. Even the insects fled.
Then the ground cracked.
A rift opened where none should exist, spilling pale light and ancient magic. From it rose creatures woven from shadow and bone, remnants of a forgotten age.
Erynd's heart hammered. He had no sword. No spell. Only the strange warmth spreading from the faint sigil etched into his palm, a mark he had carried since birth without meaning.
The shadows recoiled.
Confused.
Afraid.
Before Erynd could understand why, a voice cut through the darkness.
"Enough."
The creatures froze mid-motion as golden light poured from the trees. A woman stepped into the clearing, staff planted firmly in the earth. Her presence bent the air. Runes bloomed along her cloak like living fire.
She was a Mage of the High Conclave.
Erynd had only seen them in stories.
She lifted her staff and the rift collapsed in on itself, sealing with a thunderous sigh. The forest exhaled.
Then she turned to him.
Her gaze sharpened.
"You shouldn't be alive," she said calmly.
Erynd frowned. "I get that a lot."
For the first time, her composure cracked.
She stared at his palm, where the sigil still glowed faintly.
"That mark," she whispered. "That belongs to an oath older than the kingdoms."
Erynd flexed his fingers. "It's just a scar."
"No," she said softly. "It's a promise."
And promises, in Aurelion, always demanded payment.