Since the battle against that nameless creature, something inside Kael had changed. The scars no longer just burned: they whispered. In the quiet of the night, when everyone was asleep, he felt voices slipping through his thoughts, soft as wind, cruel as daggers.
At first he thought he was losing his mind. But they were not hallucinations. There were words he didn't know, names he had never heard, yet they sent shivers down his spine.
One day, guided by those voices, Kael crossed the boundaries of safe territory. He passed through forgotten tunnels, sewers sealed by ancient symbols, until he reached a stone chamber hidden beneath the ruins of a temple that no longer existed on the maps. There, in the gloom, something awaited him.
Not a monster. Not a shadow.
A man.
He was dressed in dark rags, as if time had adhered to his body. His skin was pale, cracked, and from his back sprouted the remains of withered wings, like those of a dead crow. But his eyes... his eyes were two black stars. Abysses that knew everything.
-You were late," he said, without moving his lips. Kinich blood is stubborn... even when it is reborn.
Kael tensed.
-Who are you?
The being smiled wistfully.
-I was a god. One who fell. One who rebelled against order for love... as you will.
Kael didn't understand. But something inside him did. Something ancient, buried, reacted as if it had heard the voice of a lost brother.
-I am not a god," he replied, but his voice trembled.
-Not yet. But your soul is not new. You were born three times. The first as light. The second as shadow. And this... this is the one that will decide what you will be in the end.
The walls vibrated. The symbols carved in stone glowed like embers. The air smelled of ash and eternity.
The fallen god approached slowly, leaving a trail of black dust.
-They are awakening. All of them. Those who fear you... and those who wish you destroyed. You will be the spark that reopens the war. You've felt it already, haven't you? In your dreams. In her.
Kael froze. In his mind, the face of the girl in the mask... of the woman of his dreams. Ixchel.
-Who are you?
-I was called Itzam-Yeh, the messenger of the end. But there's nothing left of him. Only this shell.
The god raised his hand and placed it on Kael's chest. An invisible mark burned in his flesh. An unspoken pact, an ancestral recognition.
-They will come for you. Those who fear you. Those who remember you. Prepare yourself, Kael, son of ancient fire. For the whispers of the gods... are only the beginning.
And then, the temple collapsed.
Kael awoke in the rubble, covered in dust and ashes. But in his mind, the words were still floating. And in his heart, a certainty.
He was no accident.
He was a prophecy that was beginning to awaken.