The rain had been falling since before Caelum was born.
It wasn't a gentle, cleansing rain, but a relentless deluge that painted the world in shades of gray. Every morning, the villagers of Nareth rose to the drumbeat of water on wooden roofs. Every night, they fell asleep to the whisper of streams swelling into rivers. Between those hours, life was a quiet war against the cold and damp.
Caelum stood beneath the eaves of their family's home, katana at their hip, eyes tracking rivulets sliding down warped planks. The blade felt heavy — a promise and a burden. Their father's old words echoed: Steel remembers. But Caelum wondered what steel remembered about the rain.
"Caelum!" called a voice through the drizzle. Oren approached, lantern raised high. He was a bear of a man with a beard streaked gray, his smile warm even when the storm bit. He'd taught Caelum how to set traps and sharpen blades. "Your mother's worried. She says you've been out here half the night."
"I couldn't sleep," Caelum admitted, gaze drifting to the treeline. The mist there moved oddly, curling in ways it never had. "Do you hear that?"
Oren paused, tilting his head. The constant patter of rain was broken by something else — a low, distant growl that rolled through the mist. His eyes narrowed. "That's thunder," he lied, voice too thin to hide his unease.
Thunder. But thunder didn't move through the forest like a hungry beast.
That evening, Caelum's mother recited an old tale at dinner: of storms that were tears of the sky, of a Shrine hidden beyond the mountains where sadness, joy, and rage wove the world. Their younger sibling, barely five, clapped at the lightning flashes. Their father, solemn and tired, only watched the rain slip down the window, his hand resting on the katana's sheath as if he sensed something approaching.
After night fell, Caelum climbed to the attic, staring through the warped glass of a circular window. Across the flooded fields, atop a ridge veiled in rain, stood a lone figure draped in black. Lightning illuminated a white mask etched with a faint three-pointed star.
And even at that distance, Caelum knew the figure was looking straight at them.