The rain started as a soft drizzle, speckling the cobblestones of the narrow alleyway before growing into a full downpour.
Seryth cursed under his breath as he slipped on the slick ground for the third time in ten minutes, the box of supplies he'd been hauling tumbling from his arms and scattering across the wet street.
"Dammit!" he hissed, scrambling to pick up the soggy mess of vegetables and cloth scraps. His hair clung to his face, plastered by rain, and his boots squelched unpleasantly with each step.
"Why did Emrys always seem to disappear the moment there was actual work to do?" he thinks to himself
He flung the last of the vegetables back into the box and slumped against the nearest wall, letting the rain soak him.
His birthday had come and gone, and despite Emrys's teasing and Merin's heartfelt attempt at a cake, the day had felt hollow. No grand awakening. No Radiance. No sign that he was anything other than a seventeen-year-old nobody trying to survive in Aelthyn's bustling streets.
"Maybe Emrys is right," Seryth muttered to himself. "Maybe I should stop waiting for something to happen."
But even as he said it, his fingers brushed against the star-shaped pendant under his tunic, with still a glimpse of hope. The tiny pulse of heat coming from the pendant unsettled him, like the ticking of a clock counting down to something he couldn't name.
"Or maybe," he whispered bitterly, "I'm just abandoned."
The sky was nearly black by the time Seryth finally got moving again, the box of supplies tucked awkwardly under one arm. The streets of Aelthyn grew quieter at night, the cheerful bustle of the market giving way to an eerie stillness. Lanterns flickered in the rain, casting distorted shadows on the walls.
He turned to an unfamiliar alley, muttering to himself as he tried to remember the way back to Merin's inn. The streets always seemed to shift and twist at night, as though the city itself wanted him lost.
"This is fucking stupid," he grumbled. "I could've just stayed at the harbor. But no, I had to play delivery boy—"
A sharp noise cut through the rain, freezing him mid-step.
He was walking down an alley, It was faint at first, a growl that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.
Seryth looked all around him, his heart pounded as he scanned the darkness, increasing the pace of his steps, breath coming in shallow bursts.
"Hello?" he called out, stopping his tracks, his voice trembling. "Emrys? I swear if its another one of your stupid pranks—"
The growl came again, louder this time, followed by the unpleasant sound of a metal scraping against stone.
Seryth's grip on the box tightened, his knuckles white. He backed away slowly, his boots splashing in shallow puddles. "Okay, not funny. Really not funny."
A shape emerged from the shadows—hulking, wrong, and utterly unlike anything he'd ever seen. Its body shimmered faintly, as though it weren't entirely solid, and its eyes burned like twin embers in the dark.
"Oh, hell no," Seryth whispered, his chest tightening.
The creature lunged towards him, its sword raking through the air where he's been standing. He stumbled backward, dropping the box with a crash, by chance dodging its attack with sheer luck and adrenaline.
"Run. Run. FUCKING RUN!"
The words screamed through his mind as he turned and bolted, slipping and sliding through the rain-slick streets. With rain dripping into his eyes, lungs burned, legs ached, and the pendant around his neck felt heavier with each step. He could hear the creature running after him, its growls growing louder, its sword scraping every wall they pass by.
"This can't be real," he gasped, his thoughts spiraling. "This doesn't happen in the middle of the city. Monsters don't just—"
His foot caught on something, and he went tripping face-first into the mud.
"ArGGHHH.. FUCK.." He screamed. Pain shot through his palms as they scraped against the ground and blood coming down from his forehead, but there was no time to dwell on it. He rolled onto his back, his breath hitching as the creature loomed over him.
Its glowing eyes locked onto his, and for a moment, he thought he saw something human in their depths—something cruel and mocking, as if it knew exactly how small and powerless he felt.
"No," Seryth choked out, his voice barely audible. "Not like this. I can't —"
The pendant flared suddenly, its warmth turning to searing heat burning his entire body. Seryth screamed as the pain spread through his chest, down his arms, and into his very core. The world around him seemed to blur, the rain slowing to a crawl as a strange, golden light engulfed him.
And then it came.
A surge of power, foreign and overwhelming, erupted from within him. The air around him shimmered with radiant energy, and the creature recoiled, its ember eyes narrowing in confusion.
Seryth staggered to his feet, his hands trembling as streams of light coiled around his fingers. He didn't know what he was doing—didn't even know if he was doing it—but the light responded to him, pulsing in time with his heartbeat.
"Get the fuck away from me!" he shouted, his voice raw and desperate, while he raised both of his hands trying to defend himself.
The radiant energy burst out from his palms as if it were a fireball, slamming into the creature with blazing power and speed, sending it skidding across the alley. It screamed in pain, its form flickering and distorting before it vanished into the shadows.
Silence fell, broken only by the sound of rain.
Seryth collapsed to his knees, shocked from what just had happened, the light on his palms faded as quickly as it had appeared. His chest heaved, his mind racing.
"What… what just happened?"
The rain drummed on the cobblestones as Seryth sat there, hands trembling, watching the faint glow flicker across his fingertips like dying embers. His chest rose and fell, his breath shallow but steady now, the adrenaline still rushing.
"Finally...!" He thought to himself.
The Radiance. That's what it had to be—his Radiance had finally awakened.
But something about it didn't feel right.
He flexed his fingers, watching the light dissolve into nothing, leaving only the faint warmth of his star-shaped pendant against his chest. That part of the stories, at least, had been true—the connection to his Guiding Star, the way it had burned like fire before unleashing its power.
But it wasn't supposed to feel like this.
The stories always described the Radiance as pure, beautiful, like a song only the soul could hear. It was supposed to feel like coming home. But this…
It had been wild, chaotic, like a storm raging inside him. There was no harmony in it—only raw, untamed force that had obeyed him without question. Too easily.
Seryth shook his head, running a hand through his wet hair. "You're overthinking it," he muttered to himself. "It's the Radiance. It has to be. What else could it be?"
The words felt hollow, even as he said them.
Still, he wasn't afraid. Suspicious, maybe. Confused, definitely. But not afraid.
Why would he fear power that had saved his life? Power that was finally his, after seventeen years of waiting, of being nothing?
A low groan snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Shit! The supplies!"
He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the ache in his knees and hands, and ran back to where he'd dropped them. Most of the vegetables were a lost cause, scattered across the muddy street, but the cloth scraps were still salvageable.
"Just Great..," he muttered, stuffing the ruined bundle into the box. "First Radiance moment of my life, and I still manage to fuck everything up."
A chuckle escaped him, bitter and sharp. It was either laugh or cry, and he wasn't about to break down in the middle of the street. Not after what just happened.
The walk back to Merin's inn was quieter, the rain easing into a soft mist. His thoughts churned as he navigated the labyrinth of Aelthyn's streets.
What if he asked someone about it? Maybe Merin would know—she always had a story for everything, even if most of them were wild exaggerations. Or Emrys? though he'd probably just laugh it off and call him dramatic.
But then Seryth thought of the look in the monster's eyes—how it had recoiled from him, almost like it knew what he was.
No.
He couldn't tell anyone. Not yet. They'd ask questions, want answers he didn't have. What if it wasn't Radiance? What if it was something… wrong?
He shook the thought off as quickly as it came.
"It's Radiance," he said under his breath. "It has to be."
But the pit in his stomach didn't ease.
[ TO BE CONTINUED]