The sword that listens

The sun rose over the royal training grounds in Virethien, the empire's capital, casting long gold shadows over sand and steel.

Kael Rynhart, heir to the throne and commander of the Bladelight Guard, stood at the center of the sparring ring. Sweat clung to his skin like armor, his raven-blue hair damp, his sky-blue eyes locked on the movements of the elite warriors circling him.

> “Again.”

Steel clashed. One after another, they charged—some to disarm, some to strike. Kael moved like a storm between them. Calm. Controlled. Every strike was precise, every parry effortless.

But something was… off.

He could feel it—not in the rhythm of the fight, but beneath it. A whisper in the air. A tingle in his left hand where the Mark of Fate—a birthmark shaped like a spiraled thread—burned faintly under his glove.

He dropped his sword mid-motion.

The blade landed in the sand.

> “Prince Kael?” one of the soldiers asked, stepping back. “Are you—”

Kael turned his head toward the temple towers that shimmered far beyond the palace walls.

His pulse slowed.

> There… she’s there.

The same presence he'd felt as a child on sleepless nights—when the world felt bigger than it should, and the stars felt closer than they were.

But this time… it wasn’t distant. It was calling to him.

> “She’s awake,” he murmured.

The others didn’t hear it.

But his mark did. And his heart answered.

Later, in the Royal Chambers

Kael sat with one hand over his chest, staring at the scrolls and maps laid across his war table. His usual calm was disrupted. Not by battle plans, but by a presence too large to explain.

> “You’ve been quiet,” said a voice from the doorway.

Stryker , his childhood friend and most trusted guard, stepped into the chamber. Tall, silent, with hair black as shadow and eyes that missed nothing.

Kael didn’t look up. “Did you feel it?”

Tae-Hwan’s expression didn’t change, but his pause said enough.

> “Something moved,” he said. “Like a string pulled tight.”

Kael nodded slowly.

> “The goddess,” he said, half to himself. “But not the one they remember. This… feels different.”

> “Dangerous?” Tae-Hwan asked.

Kael stood, walking toward the high windows. The temple’s spires shimmered in the distance. The wind shifted.

> “No,” he said. “Not dangerous. Just… wounded.”

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🌙 That Night

Kael couldn’t sleep.

He stood on the palace balcony, his sword propped against the wall, his fingers tracing the spiral of his birthmark beneath the glove.

A single gust of wind passed.

Warm. Familiar.

And with it… a voice, not in words, but in feeling:

> “I’m still learning how to be her.” goddess ELARIA

Kael closed his eyes.

He didn’t need proof. He didn’t need to see her.

He believed.

Just as he always had.

> “Then I’ll fight for the person you’re becoming,” he whispered to the wind.

From the temple far beyond, a single bell rang.

And somewhere in the silence, the goddess stood unseen in the gardens, clutching her chest—because for the first time, someone heard her not as a goddess… but as a person.

Liora believes through emotion and faith.

Selene sees the truth and still believes.

Kael feels her through instinct, loyalty, and unshakable connection.

Each one forms a bond not with the image of a goddess… but with the soul hidden inside her light.

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