They came before dawn.
Kael woke to shouting—muffled voices and the heavy thud of boots on stone. He sat up in the loft above the forge, still dressed, arm still burning. Outside, the village sounded wrong. Tense. Like a blade waiting to drop.
He crept to the edge of the window and looked down.
Three riders had arrived—cloaked in deep grey, their horses pale and foaming. At their lead was a man dressed differently than the others. Not in armor, but in robes that shimmered faintly, like oil on water. His eyes were covered by a thin silver cloth.
A Seer.
Kael's blood ran cold.
Everyone knew the Seers. The Emperor's watchers. They saw things others weren't meant to. Sometimes they came to judge a crime. Sometimes, they came before one was committed.
And sometimes, they came looking for people with marks.
From below, Master Doren spoke in a low, respectful voice. "He's just a boy. Works the forge. Nothing strange about him."
The Seer tilted his head. "Strangeness is not always seen. Sometimes, it is felt."
His voice was too calm. Too quiet.
The Seer raised one hand. The other riders dismounted and began searching. Kael's stomach twisted. He backed away from the window.
He had to go.
He didn't take much—just a waterskin, his father's old knife, and a piece of flatbread wrapped in cloth. No time for anything else. The glowing mark on his arm felt hotter now, pulsing in rhythm with his racing heartbeat.
Kael slipped out the back, moving through alleys and over fences, his boots light against the packed earth.
He didn't know where he was going.
Only that if the Seers found him, they'd take him. And he wouldn't come back.
He made it to the tree line before someone stepped out from behind a trunk.
Lira.
She held a small satchel over her shoulder, and her eyes flicked past him to the smoke curling from the village chimneys.
"You waited?" he asked.
"No," she said. "I was leaving. You're just late."
He almost laughed. Instead, he nodded.
Together, they disappeared into the forest as the sun broke the horizon.
Behind them, the Seers began to search the woods.