Kael didn't sleep anymore.Not really.
When he closed his eyes, he heard footsteps. Not dreams — footsteps.Circling. Approaching. Leaving… only to return faster.The sound of gods pacing in his mind.
But tonight, for the first time in years, there was another sound.
"You chew loud as hell."
Kael blinked.
Lyra sat cross-legged near the fire, tearing a strip of dry root with her teeth like it owed her money. Her staff rested on her shoulder, her free hand spinning a rune-stone between her fingers.
She caught Kael watching.
"You okay?" she asked, tone too casual. "You looked like you were about to scream without making noise."
"I do that," he said simply.
🌱 Dialogue Scene: First Real Connection
Kael didn't speak much. Not because he was cold — but because his words had weight.Echo Commands were spoken intentions. Every syllable, if said wrong, could twist the world.
But Lyra? She talked like she had nothing to fear.
"So, what's your deal, Marky-boy?""You a cursed prince, a fallen god, or just born weird?"
Kael blinked again.No one had ever dared tease him before.
"I don't know what I am."
She stopped spinning the rune-stone.
"Fair. I don't know what I am either."
She tossed the stone into the fire. It hissed violet.And suddenly Kael saw her — truly saw her.
Her Veyra wasn't stable. It flickered like something half-snatched from death.
"You've died before," Kael whispered. "Haven't you?"
She smiled, but didn't answer.
⚙️ Lore Drop: Lyra's Mystery
Lyra bears a Half-Burn Sigil — a symbol etched into her back from something called the Infernal Gate.She doesn't remember how she got it. But she dreams of fire that laughs.And a name:
"The Ash-God Who Eats Stars."
Kael recognizes that name… but only in the part of his memory that doesn't belong to him.
🏹 Small Conflict: Bandits
They were stalked in the night.
Seven bandits. Starving. Armed with broken relics.
They expected a wounded child and a girl with a stick.
What they got was:
"Echo: Hollow Veil."
Kael disappeared — literally vanished from sight and perception.Then one by one… each bandit dropped, screaming, not from pain… but from remembering things that weren't real.
Lyra handled the last one herself.Cracked his knee with her staff, spun it behind her back, and knocked him out with clean precision.
"Remind me to never make you mad," she muttered to Kael.
"You didn't flinch when I used Hollow magic," he said.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Why would I? You didn't flinch when I fell asleep first."
Kael… smiled.His first real smile in seven years.
💫 Final Scene: The Prophecy's Echo
That night, Kael dreamed again.
But this time… so did Lyra.
They both stood in a sea of stars, chained together by threads of light.Across from them stood a child in a porcelain mask, weeping blood.
"You will destroy each other," the child whispered."You are Echo and Flame. Opposites. Bound. Doomed."
"And when one falls… the world will end with them."
Kael reached for Lyra's hand.
She didn't pull away.