Because I had no idea what that meant.
But Kaelith must have because she had gone very still beneath me.
I took a slow breath, my fingers brushing Kaelith’s scales for strength, for grounding. Then I looked to Norven and nodded once.
“Proceed.”
The gray Striker inclined his head, and at his silent command, the mists curled back like retreating shadows, revealing a narrow path ahead. The trees along it were gnarled and blackened, their bark veined with glowing silver lines, like lightning frozen mid-strike.
Enter the path,Norven said.
I slid from Kaelith’s back, my boots hitting the ground with a muted thud. She didn’t stop me. She didn’t even speak.
Because she knew what this was.
The moment I stepped onto the path, the air changed—thicker, denser, humming with power so ancient it felt like breath drawn from the bones of the earth itself.
Light twisted around me.
And the first vision came.
A woman sprinting through a forest, branches clawing at her gown. She held something tightly against her chest—a baby. Her face turned as she ran, and my heart lurched.
She lookedjustlike me.
Same long pale hair. Same full mouth. But her eyes were lavender.
And her ears?—
Fae.
She was crying.
Tears streaked her cheeks as she whispered words I couldn’t hear and handed the infant—me—to a woman I didn’t recognize. A human. She kissed my forehead once before turning and vanishing into the trees.
“Wait!” I screamed. “Don’t go!”
But she ran. Without looking back.
The vision shattered.
I staggered.
The next image rose like smoke and slammed into me?—
Siergen.
But not the Siergen I knew.
He was massive, glorious, his scales gold like the heart of a star. He reared back, letting out a howl that split the sky, his anguish vibrating through the air as he lifted his head and breathed fire into the heavens.
At his feet, a silver dragon lay still—its wings crumpled, its chest unmoving.
The pain in Siergen’s roar cut deeper than steel. I felt it in my bones, and I cried out, clutching my chest as if it would keep my heart from breaking.
Then the world burned away again.
A new vision formed.
