The morning sun bled gold across the desert horizon, its rays whispering through the ancient dunes like forgotten hymns. The wind howled softly, carrying sand and memory alike. Rayyan stirred from a restless sleep, his body resting against the cracked wall of a crumbling temple.
Nael had vanished before dawn.
"Nael?" Rayyan called, sensing the disturbance in the air—not of danger, but of something... pulling.
A faint scorch mark on the sand led away from the ruins, glowing faintly like a sunburn on the earth. Rayyan stared for a moment, then sighed. "He went alone again."
---
Nael's Journey – Into the Flame
Nael walked the burnt village paths alone, his heart echoing louder than his footsteps. This place, once full of life, was reduced to charcoal and silence.
He didn't know why he was drawn here—only that something inside screamed for answers. Answers about his father. Answers about the fire inside him that seemed less like power and more like pain.
Suddenly, the air shimmered before him. A figure emerged—tall, cloaked in scorched gold armor, with burning eyes like suns behind a veil of smoke.
"Ifrit," Nael breathed. He didn't know how he knew the name. It was etched into his soul.
"You seek truth?" Ifrit's voice was thunder and seduction all at once. "Then let me show you the world your father refused to reveal."
Flames erupted around them, and Nael found himself not in a village—but in a grand city of fire and crystal, people kneeling before a throne of ash. On it sat Light—Iblis, his father—crowned in blinding flame.
Nael's eye ignited. The Solar Eye, radiant like a mini sun, flared with overwhelming heat. But the emotion broke him. He felt joy, hope... and betrayal.
"This isn't real," Nael growled.
Ifrit grinned. "Is it not what you want?"
Nael screamed. The vision shattered, and a blast of light erupted from his eye, incinerating the illusion and blasting Ifrit away. In the sand beneath him, a sigil burned—a flaming emblem: The Mark of the Veilborne.
Nael fell to his knees, panting. The fire inside had changed—it no longer burned wildly. It listened.
---
Rayyan's Divine Trial
Far from Nael, Rayyan stood in the ruins of a refugee village. Screams echoed nearby—a boy lay dying, pierced by rubble. A woman sobbed beside him.
Rayyan's white-blue eye flickered. He could heal the boy. But to do so, he had to use the divine power reserved only for divine will—not emotion.
"If I use it," he whispered, "I'm breaking divine law…"
The eye pulsed with warning.
He closed his eyes. Then opened them, tears flowing.
He used it.
A blast of holy light poured from him, healing the boy instantly. The villagers gasped. But Rayyan fell to the ground—the eye sealing itself shut.
A voice, ancient and ethereal, whispered in his mind:
"You chose mercy. But the heavens may not forgive you."
---
Whispers in the Dark
Elsewhere, in the halls of a noble leader's court, a shadow in a hooded robe spoke gently.
"Nael and Rayyan… they are not heroes. They are the storm before the fire. Would you let them lead your people to ruin?"
The noble's face paled.
The stranger smiled from beneath his hood—Sammael. His lies were seeds, and this court had fertile soil.
---
The Map of Shadows
Rayyan and Nael reunited under a cold night sky. Nael's fire dimmed, focused. Rayyan's eye sealed, humbled.
They met with the ancient hermit once more. The man handed them a piece of tanned leather—a map inscribed with dark symbols.
"This," the hermit rasped, "leads to the Valley of Shadows… where one of the old ones still sleeps. You must go. What you find there may shatter your truths… or forge your purpose."
Nael held the map tightly. Rayyan nodded, his jaw set.
---
To Be Continued…
Their path forward would lead them into the land where darkness was born. And in its heart, they would face something even their father feared: the first of the Veilborne Lords to awaken.