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The forest was silent again.
Too silent.
Miss Kaur and I were walking slowly through the trees, the ground crunching under our feet like thin glass. Everything around us felt weirdly still. No birds. No wind. Just the soft hum of something ancient watching us.
"Why do I feel like we're being followed?" I asked.
Miss Kaur didn't answer. Her eyes were scanning the trees like she already knew.
"We are," she said after a moment, her hand already near her coat's inner pocket where she kept that weird folded spell tag. "He's here."
And then… we saw him.
The Forgotten Son.
He stepped out from behind a tree like he'd been there the whole time. Tall. Hood up. Eyes glowing faintly beneath the shadow. The markings on his neck peeked out, those weird tattoos of bugs and flowers curling like vines under his skin.
He looked at us like we were strangers.
No, not strangers.
Disappointments.
"You're finally here," he said. His voice wasn't loud, but it hit like thunder. "You brought him."
His eyes landed on me.
I felt cold.
"You knew I'd come," Miss Kaur said calmly, but her hand didn't move from the pocket.
"You should've come alone."
"Why?" she asked.
He stepped closer, his boots barely making a sound on the forest floor. "Because he doesn't deserve to see me. Not after what your bloodline did."
I blinked. "Wait, what?"
He looked at me like I wasn't worth a second of breath. "You. The child of betrayal."
Miss Kaur moved in front of me.
"Don't say that," she said. "He doesn't even know what happened-"
"Exactly." His voice turned sharp. "Because none of you ever tell the truth. Not to your children. Not even to yourselves."
I stepped forward, heart pounding. "Look, if this is about what happened to your mothers-"
"Don't call them that," he snapped. "You don't get to."
My mouth shut instantly.
He took a breath. His hood slipped a little, revealing more of his face. Younger than I thought. Sadder, too. But the hatred in his eyes was ancient.
"I was eleven," he said quietly. "They locked me inside. I watched everything from that window. My mother, Miss Kaur's ancestor ran into the fight first. She died first. And what did your family do?"
"I wasn't even born!" I started.
"They let her body rot alone," he said. "And your ancestor? She took the bracelet, sealed Sallos inside it, and showed up later with a corpse and silence. No words. No apology. Nothing."
Miss Kaur's face twitched.
"She didn't do it out of hate," she said. "She was trying to protect everyone!"
"Then why was she cursed?"
Silence.
I swallowed hard. I had always known that something dark had crawled into our family line, but I didn't know this.
"Sallos's curse followed her," I said slowly. "Because she sealed him… in your mother's bracelet."
"Exactly." His voice turned bitter. "She used the only thing left of my mother to trap that thing. And you… you're the result."
I couldn't look away. His words felt like knives, carving something real into my chest.
"You blame her," Miss Kaur said softly. "But you saw it. You know she tried!"
"She got cursed," he interrupted. "And she passed that curse down seven generations. And now look, look what's become of him."
His eyes burned into mine.
"I didn't ask for this," I whispered.
"No. But neither did I."
Then everything got quiet again.
He reached behind his back and pulled out a sword.
It gleamed in the dim forest light, but it wasn't clean. The metal had a sickly purple sheen to it, like it was dipped in venom. I felt my skin crawl just looking at it.
Miss Kaur didn't wait.
She pulled out her own blade, thin, silver, etched with runes.
"You don't want to do this," she said, holding her ground.
"Yes, I do," he replied.
And then they moved.
Not like humans. Not like martial arts movies.
Faster.
Scarier.
I stepped back, nearly tripping over a root as they clashed in the clearing. The sound of metal hitting metal was louder than thunder. Sparks flew. The air stank of poison and burning spells.
Each strike was careful, but brutal. They weren't just fighting to test skill.
They were fighting like one hit could kill.
Because it could.
Those swords weren't normal. I knew it. One cut from his blade, and the venom would spread in seconds. The runes on hers were defensive spells, but even they wouldn't protect her forever.
I watched as he twisted mid-air and slashed down hard. She barely dodged, her sleeve tearing open. A thin red line appeared on her arm.
"Miss Kaur-!"
"I'm fine!" she snapped, pulling something from her pocket and slapping it on the wound. It sizzled.
The Forgotten Son didn't stop.
"You still protect him," he growled. "You really think you can fix everything? That you can undo the curse? That you can guide him better than they did?"
She blocked another hit with a flick of her blade, spinning low and aiming for his knee. He jumped back just in time.
"I'm not trying to fix the past," she said. "I'm trying to protect the future."
His face twisted with rage. "You sound just like her."
Miss Kaur's eyes went still. And in that second, he struck again, this time harder. She fell back, hitting the ground, coughing from the wind knocked out of her. The poisoned sword hovered above her chest.
I froze.
This was it.
He was going to-
"Stop!"
I ran between them.
Miss Kaur screamed, "Ojas-!"
But it was too late.
He didn't move the blade, but he didn't strike either.
His arm trembled.
His eyes were furious, locked with mine.
"Move."
"No."
"You don't get to stop me."
"I'm not trying to stop you," I said, chest rising and falling. "I'm just tired of being blamed for something I didn't do."
He stared at me. Really stared. Like he was finally seeing something new.
"You think I want to be this cursed thing?" I asked. "I didn't ask for this. I didn't want this. But I still got it. And I'm still here. So either you kill me and end the line-"
He blinked.
"-or you let me live and help me end Sallos for real."
The silence was sharp. He looked down at his sword. Then back at me. And finally… he stepped back. The blade vanished into mist. Miss Kaur sat up, still breathing hard, still clutching her bleeding arm. But she didn't move.
"You've got guts," the Forgotten Son muttered.
I nodded, not even trying to be cocky. "Yeah. I'm just tired of being scared."
He stared at me for a long time.
Then he looked at Miss Kaur.
"You've got three months," he said. "Train him. Prepare him. I won't be merciful next time."
And then, just like that, he turned, melted into the forest mist, and disappeared.
The air was still again.
Miss Kaur let out a breath she'd been holding.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
She nodded slowly. "Yeah. Just a scratch."
I reached out and helped her stand.
The sword fight was over.
But the war?
Not even close.
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