Kael stood in the clearing long after Aelira vanished into the mist, the weight of her words pressing on him like a storm cloud waiting to break. The energy within him still hummed, a strange mixture of the power from the relic and the fear of the unknown that now consumed him. The choice she spoke of gnawed at him. To be a Wanderer was one thing, but to embrace a purpose that tied him to something greater—that was a burden he wasn't sure he was ready to carry.
The glowing plants around him seemed to pulse in rhythm with his heartbeat, as though they, too, were waiting for his decision. Slowly, Kael turned and walked toward the river, his reflection dancing on its surface. His mind replayed the events of the past weeks—the battles, the constant struggle for survival, the whispers of something far more significant that seemed to call out to him, just beyond his reach.
The sound of the river, the only constant in this strange and untamed land, brought him a momentary sense of calm. He knelt by the edge, dipping his hand into the cool water. It was refreshing, the coldness biting into his skin as if reminding him that he was alive—that he could still make choices. But the weight of his past and his future pressed down harder the longer he lingered in this place. He was no longer just a boy with a spear, no longer someone who could pretend the wilds were his only enemy. There was more at stake now. And with every step, he felt the burden of destiny drawing closer.
Kael stood up abruptly, shaking off the thoughts that threatened to overwhelm him. He wasn't ready to face whatever this "true calling" was. Not yet. But he knew he couldn't avoid it forever. The relic inside him would ensure that.
He turned his back to the river and began to walk deeper into the vale, his mind set on finding answers. Aelira had said that his path was not easy, that he had a choice to make. But that choice, Kael realized, had already been made for him long before he ever stepped into these wilds.
As the forest closed in around him once again, Kael couldn't shake the feeling that the wilds were not just a place of survival, but a crucible. He had been forged in these woods, tempered by the fires of battle, and now the world was offering him a chance to shape himself into something more.
The path of the Wanderer would be his, for now. But Kael was no fool. The world had a way of forcing even the most unwilling to confront their fate. And though he didn't know what lay ahead, he was certain of one thing—he would face it head-on.