The rain hadn't stopped for hours. It clung to the windows like fogged glass memories, quieting the world outside the safehouse. Inside, Abhi sat cross-legged on the wooden floor, his cane resting nearby, unused. His fingers traced the edges of the ring on his hand, feeling the pulse that no longer felt foreign-but alive. A part of him.
Across the room, Isha moved silently as if the rain obeyed her presence. She finally turned, holding a weathered, leather-bound journal in her hands.
"This was your father's," she said, walking toward him.
Abhi looked up. "You said he ran. That he wasn't a Guardian."
She nodded and placed the journal in his lap. "He wasn't. And everything you think you know about your past... was a lie to protect you."
He opened the journal, careful not to tear the fragile pages. The writing was shaky, desperate in places. Isha knelt beside him and flipped to a marked page.
> "Red Moon. Screams. Trees burning like paper. I held him-my newborn son-and watched a village fall to fire. His eyes glowed. Just a baby, and yet... so much power. Too much."
Abhi's fingers stopped. He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.
"I don't remember any of this," he said quietly.
"You couldn't," Isha replied. "You were barely a day old. But others did. And your father never forgot what he saw that night."
He turned the page.
> "I couldn't raise a weapon. I couldn't raise a god. So I tied the cloth around his eyes. Told him he was blind. He had his truth from him and from myself."
Abhi let the book fall into his lap. "So... I was never blind. All those years-fumbling in the dark, trusting him."
"He was terrified," Isha said. "You killed people without knowing. Not out of malice, but because your power reacted to the Red Moon. It's the sign of an awakening. But he wasn't equipped to handle it."
"And instead of finding help," Abhi muttered, "he lied. Left me defenseless."
"He did it to protect others-and you," she said gently. "But that doesn't mean he was right."
Abhi stood abruptly, pacing. "I've lived thinking I was broken. Useless. Blind. I trusted him."
Isha rose to meet his gaze. "You weren't broken. You were chosen. You have Light-bearer blood. The Red Moon only appears for those tied to the Vault of Eyes."
He stopped pacing. "The Vault again. Everyone keeps mentioning it."
"It's not just a place," Isha explained. "It's a sealed chamber of ancient power and memory. Guardians were created to protect it. But your father? He refused the calling. He never stepped into the role. He abandoned it-and you."
Abhi clenched his jaw, eyes glowing faintly as the ring pulsed again. "So what now?"
"Now," she said firmly, "you learn who you are. What you can do. So you don't end up fearing yourself the way he feared you."
---
The training hall was dim, lit only by a flickering lantern. Isha stood at its center, blades at her sides, hair tied back. Abhi entered slowly, adjusting the wrap around his eyes out of habit before stopping.
He removed it.
His vision was strange-not normal, not clear-but flooded with glimmers of energy, like he could see heat, emotion, intention. Not with his eyes, but with something deeper.
"You're ready," Isha said, watching him.
"I'm scared," he admitted.
"Good," she said. "Fear reminds you to be careful. But don't let it stop you."
She moved first-vanishing into a ripple of shadow and reappearing behind him. He turned instinctively, light flickering from his eyes.
"Don't shoot unless you can aim," she warned.
"I'm trying," he said through gritted teeth.
Isha struck again. This time, Abhi responded with a burst of light-not full force, but enough to blind the senses. She stumbled, laughing as she regained her footing.
"That's it! Controlled burst."
But the moment froze. The ring on Abhi's hand burned, humming like a warning.
"They're here."
From the darkness beyond the hallway, two shadows stepped in-Seekers.
Clad in bone-gray, their presence was suffocating. Unlike the hunters from before, these didn't hesitate. One raised a hand, and the light around them dimmed unnaturally.
Isha leaped first, knives dancing in her hands. She struck one clean in the side, but he dissolved into mist-reappearing beside Abhi.
The other raised a spear of dark energy and lunged at Isha.
"Abhi!" she shouted.
Something in Abhi snapped. The heat in his chest surged. Without thinking, he turned, unleashed a blinding wave of light-and the Seeker shattered like crystal under a hammer.
The second seeker hissed, shielding his eyes. Isha struck again, this time with a surge of her own power-a pulse of shadow that wrapped around the Seeker's limbs and dragged him down.
The fight was over in seconds.
Abhi collapsed to one knee. "I didn't... I didn't mean to kill him."
"You had to," Isha said, breathing hard. "Or he would've killed both of us."
Abhi looked at his hands. "He said I was a monster. My father... he must've believed it."
"No," Isha said firmly. "He was afraid. But that doesn't define you."
She walked over, offering him her hand. "I told you-I'm not leaving. We'll train. We'll uncover your full power. And we'll find the Vault before the others do."
He hesitated, then took her hand.
"Together?" he asked.
"Together," she said, eyes shining. "You're not alone anymore, Abhi. Not now. Not ever."