The Abyss-Touched Mage

The night stretched long and quiet around them. The cold settled into Raine's bones, but it wasn't the chill that kept him awake.

It was the weight of what had happened.

They had hunted him. Tracked him.

And when they had him cornered—something had shifted.

Something inside him had answered.

He sat near the fire Kael had built, staring into the flickering embers, his mind racing.

Kael had barely spoken since the fight.

The man had simply led him deeper into the wilderness, moving with a purpose Raine didn't understand. Now, Kael sat across from him, sharpening a knife with slow, deliberate movements. The only sound between them was the rhythmic scrape of metal against stone.

Finally, Raine couldn't take it anymore.

He broke the silence. "Where are we going?"

Kael didn't look up. "Somewhere they won't find you."

before it was buried beneath careful neutrality.

"So they did," Kael murmured.

Raine's pulse quickened. "What does it mean?"

Kael sighed, setting the blade aside. He leaned forward slightly, resting his arms on his knees. "It means they're afraid of you."

Raine exhaled sharply, shaking his head. "I haven't done anything."

Kael's gaze sharpened. "Haven't you?"

Raine flinched. "I—I don't even know what I did."

Kael studied him for a long moment before nodding slightly, as if confirming something to himself.

"Then it's time you learn."

He stood, grabbing a stick from the ground and dragging it across the dirt, marking a long, shallow line.

"Step over."

Raine frowned. "What?"

Kael motioned to the line. "Cross it."

Something about the request unsettled him.

But he exhaled and took a step forward—

Kael moved.

A flash of motion—too fast.

Raine barely had time to react before he was on the ground, a knee pressed against his chest, a knife gleaming just below his throat.

His breath stalled.

Kael's voice was calm.

"Now tell me—" He pressed the knife slightly closer. "How were you planning to stop me?"

Raine's heart pounded. He struggled, but Kael was too strong, too quick. There was nothing he could do.

Except—

The pull returned.

A whisper curled at the edges of his mind.

Not words. A sensation.

Like something waiting beneath his skin.

His breath hitched. The air around them felt wrong—stretched too thin.

Kael's expression didn't change. But he saw.

He felt it, too.

Then, just as suddenly as he had moved, he let go.

Kael stepped back, sheathing the blade. "That's what I thought."

Raine pushed himself up, his hands shaking. "What the hell was that?"

Kael exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "A lesson."

Raine scowled. "A lesson in what? Getting thrown to the ground?"

Kael smirked slightly. "A lesson in surviving. You're too slow."

Raine's pulse still hadn't settled. He could still feel the remnants of whatever had stirred inside him.

The thing he didn't understand.

Kael studied him, his smirk fading. "You don't even know what you're touching, do you?"

Raine swallowed. "I don't even know what I am."

Kael was quiet for a moment.

Then, finally—he spoke.

"My name is Kael."

Raine blinked. The name meant nothing to him.

Kael continued, voice even. "And what you touched back there—what almost answered you—is something the Arcanum has been trying to erase for centuries."

The fire crackled between them.

Kael's expression darkened.

"If you want to live, you need to understand what you are."

Raine's breath was still unsteady.

The Arcanum had feared him. Had marked him for death.

And now, sitting across from him, was a man who knew why.

Kael exhaled, shaking his head. "Come on."

He stood, brushing the dirt from his coat.

"We're close. It's time you meet the ones who can actually help you."

Raine's eyes narrowed. "Who?"

Kael turned, stepping into the darkness of the forest.

"The Weaving Society."

Raine hesitated, then followed.

He didn't trust Kael.

But if there were answers waiting at the end of this path—

He would find them.