ASHER
The light outside the cabin had shifted from gold to a dying grey when the door creaked open again.
Another figure stepped in, cloaked in a brown robe dusted with leaves and forest dirt.
His steps were silent, practiced. His presence felt like it belonged here, but still... there was something off. Something familiar.
The woman in white…my strange nurse, savior, jailer….stood, nodded, and without a word, left us alone.
The man pulled down his hood.
His face was young, yet his eyes looked older than any I had ever seen.
He studied me as if I were a broken sword he once wielded, now bent and rusted with time.
"You're awake," he said at last.
My throat scratched as I forced out a reply. "Who are you?"
"Name's Merlin. Grandson of the Seer," he said, as if it explained everything.
My heartbeat spiked. Seer. That word pricked something inside me. A word that felt sacred, but also tragic. I blinked. My vision wavered.
