The basement had been silent since the incident. No one talked about what Kael had done. No one dared to approach. The children looked at him as if he were a strange creature, more feared than the guards themselves.
One night, as the rain fell heavily on the city and water seeped through the cracks in the roof, Kael sat alone, in the darkest corner, hugging his knees. That fire inside him, now more latent than ever, would not leave him alone. His mind was in chaos. He no longer knew if he was still human.
Then he heard it.
A soft laugh, like the tinkling of bells in the wind.
Kael looked up.
On the other side of the basement, where the light never reached and the little ones were afraid to look, was a tiny figure, standing, watching him. It was a girl. She wore a simple, white, mud-stained robe and a mask carved from dark wood that covered her face. The eyes of the mask were hollow, but a faint, almost imperceptible light seemed to emanate from them.
Kael frowned.
-Who are you? -he asked, his voice hoarse.
The girl tilted her head gently, as if studying him.
-You don't remember? -she whispered, her voice clear, melodic, almost unreal. We met before. In your dreams.
Kael stepped back slightly. He recognized her. Not her face -that was still hidden under the mask-, but her presence. That sense of inexplicable familiarity. The warmth he had felt in his dreams. The same glow that had enveloped him in visions of golden towers and flaming thrones.
-You... you are the woman..." he stammered.
She laughed again.
-Not yet. But I am. In part.
Kael didn't understand. He wanted to ask more questions, but the girl stepped forward. She walked towards him, unafraid, as if the monster that had killed a guard days before didn't exist. She sat down in front of him, crossing her legs calmly, as if the basement were not filled with pain and death.
-Your fire has awakened. But that doesn't mean you're ready," she said, quietly.
-Ready for what?
-To remember. To decide. To be you.
Kael swallowed. He looked at her silently, trying to read past the mask. There was something about her that wasn't human, but not frightening either. It was as if she were speaking to a fragment of the world that had been denied her since birth.
-Why are you here? -she asked.
-Because I lost you once," she answered, her voice barely trembling. And this time I don't want you to get lost.
Kael frowned, confused.
-Do you know me?
The girl did not answer immediately. She raised a small hand and rested it on Kael's chest. Where her fire was beating. Her eyes burned for an instant, and the basement disappeared.
In the blink of an eye, Kael was standing on an endless plain, under a starry sky that did not belong to the world he knew. All around her were ancient ruins covered with vines, and in the center, an altar carved with Mayan symbols that glowed with golden light.
On that altar... was she. Not a girl. A woman with infinite eyes, hair as long as the night, and a face that seemed carved by the gods. Her silhouette was blurred, as if the memory itself protected her from oblivion.
Kael took a step towards her.
-Ixchel..." he whispered, not knowing why.
The woman reached out her hand, and her voice was that of the girl, the same one that accompanied him in the present.
"Wake up, Kael. You're not just a child anymore."
The world came back. The stinking basement, the distant screams, the hunger, the fear. It all came back like a punch.
But the girl was still there, sitting across from him.
-Who are you... really? -Kael asked, his breath hitching.
The girl did not answer. She just stood up.
-I'll be waiting for you," she said tenderly. Don't let them change you before you remember who you are.
And without further ado, she turned and walked into the shadows. No one else in the basement seemed to notice her. It was as if she existed only for him.
Kael stood still, the fire in his chest now vibrating like a sleeping voice awakening.
That day he knew he was not alone. That there was something... someone... that had been searching for him since before his birth.
And that his destiny was far away from that basement.