Kael couldn't move.
His hands gripped the windowsill so tightly his knuckles turned white. His pulse pounded in his ears as he stared at the lifeless man in the alley below.
The black tendrils. The eerie glow of the **Eclipse Seal**. The hooded figure who vanished like a phantom.
It wasn't a dream.
"Kael," Lyra whispered, tugging on his arm. "What did you see?"
He turned to her, the words caught in his throat. Could he even explain it? Would she believe him?
A heavy silence hung between them before Lyra cursed under her breath. "We need to get out of here."
Kael hesitated. "You think someone saw us?"
"I don't know, but I don't like this." She grabbed a small satchel from the floor, slinging it over her shoulder. "If people are disappearing, and that thing—whoever he was—is involved, we can't risk staying in one place."
Kael wanted to argue, but the memory of the man's twisted, frozen expression flashed through his mind. He swallowed hard and nodded.
They slipped out of the ruined chapel, sticking to the shadows. The Lower Quarter was quiet, save for the distant murmur of the city guards patrolling the outer districts. They moved swiftly through back alleys, past rusted iron gates and abandoned shacks.
Kael's mind raced.
The **Eclipse Seal**—he had seen it before. Not just in dreams but in old murals hidden within the ruins near Astra City. It was a symbol of calamity, feared by both gods and mortals alike.
And yet, tonight, he had seen it in the flesh.
As they approached an old warehouse by the docks, Lyra let out a breath. "We can stay here for the night. No one comes this way except smugglers, and they have their own problems."
Kael nodded and stepped inside. The air smelled of salt and rusted metal. Wooden crates were stacked haphazardly, and dust swirled in the faint moonlight filtering through broken windows.
Kael sank onto a crate, running a hand through his messy black hair. "Lyra... do you think—"
A sharp pain shot through his chest.
He gasped, clutching his ribs as fire burned beneath his skin.
"Kael?!" Lyra rushed to his side.
He doubled over, biting back a scream. His body felt like it was being torn apart from the inside.
Then, he saw it.
A **black mark**—the same symbol as the hooded man's—burning itself into his right arm.
The **Eclipse Seal**.
Kael's breath hitched. His vision blurred. He barely heard Lyra shouting his name before the world went dark.
---
### **Somewhere Else…**
Kael opened his eyes.
He was no longer in the warehouse. No longer in Astra City.
Instead, he stood in a vast, empty void, where the sky churned like ink and the ground shimmered with strange, shifting patterns. It felt both infinite and suffocating at the same time.
"Where… am I?" he muttered.
"You stand between the light and the abyss."
Kael spun around. A figure sat on a throne of shadow and silver, his presence immense. His face was obscured by a mask, but his voice carried the weight of eternity.
"Who are you?" Kael asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
The figure leaned forward. "I am the one who watches. The one who waits." His masked face tilted slightly. "And you… are the one chosen by fate."
Kael's heart pounded. "What do you mean?"
The figure raised a hand. Shadows swirled around him, taking shape. Kael watched in horror as he saw visions—warriors battling against celestial beings, cities crumbling under blackened skies, and a lone figure standing atop a ruined world.
A figure with the **Eclipse Seal** glowing on his arm.
Kael took a step back. "No… that's not me!"
The masked figure remained silent.
Then, Kael felt something pulling him—yanking him back into reality.
The void shattered.
---
### **Back in the Warehouse**
Kael's eyes snapped open, his body drenched in sweat.
Lyra was hovering over him, shaking him violently. "Kael! What the hell was that?!"
He sat up, breathing hard. The pain had vanished, but the mark on his arm still remained—burning faintly like an ember.
"What… happened to me?" Kael murmured, staring at the symbol.
Lyra's face was pale. "We need to find someone who knows what this means."
Kael clenched his fists.
Somewhere out there, the hooded figure had the same mark. And whoever he was, he held the answers Kael desperately needed.
For the first time in his life, Kael wasn't just a nameless street rat.
He was something far more dangerous.
And now, the whole world would be coming for him.
---