“Every seal is a prison and a pact. Blood is merely the most common price.” — Grimoire of Runavel, Volume II
Night fell without warning.
In the clearing where Kael and Nim had taken refuge, the air felt heavier, charged with a tension that didn’t come from the wind or the darkness — but from the very ground, the trees, the world itself. The silence was so complete that Kael’s breathing sounded unbearably loud.
Nim moved quickly inside the cabin, rearranging vials, grimoires, and magical tools like a general preparing a battlefield.
“You said they were coming. Who are they?” Kael asked, still staring at the rune on his arm, now pulsing slowly like a slumbering heart.
“The Arcane Secret Order. The Academy.” She spoke as if spitting the words. “They control all authorized magic on the continent. Anything unknown… is either destroyed or sealed.”
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She stopped and looked at him.
“And you are something they don’t understand.”
Kael hesitated for a moment.
“So… this rune… am I dangerous?”
“I don’t know,” Nim replied. “But the rune… it’s alive. And living runes don’t appear by accident.”
Later, Nim pulled an object from a chest, wrapped in dark cloth. When she uncovered it, she revealed a small obsidian mirror, with a rune carved in the center.
“This is a Sealer. Ancient. Forbidden. It might contain part of your rune — or kill you in the process. But if you keep radiating that energy, the Academy will find us in days — maybe hours.”
Kael looked at the mirror, then at Nim.
“You’re going to use this on me?”
“No. You will decide.”
Silence.
The mirror seemed to call to him. As if it knew his name before he remembered it himself. Kael reached out. The rune on his arm flared, and the mirror responded, radiating heat.
“Kael! Wait—” Nim tried to stop him, but it was too late.
The moment he touched the Sealer, a sharp pain pierced through him, as if his soul were being torn from his body. He screamed. The entire cabin shook.
And then—silence.
When he opened his eyes, Kael was still standing. The rune was still there… but different. A new mark had appeared at its center. And his mind… was clearer. Faint memories: shadows, a circle of stone, someone screaming his name. A voice whispering...
“The first seal has been opened. The blood will remember.”