The rain had started during the night, softly at first — a whisper on the roof tiles, barely audible over the wind. Kael had already been awake when the first drop fell. Sleep came to him rarely. Too many voices in his head. Not real ones — only memories.
The boys in his class had laughed again today. Not out of joy. But with that sharp, mocking tone they reserved only for him.
"Without Chi. Without a name. Without meaning."
One of them had written it on his door. In chalk, but scratched in deep.
You'll never be a legend.
Kael stared out the window, so fogged over that the world outside was just a blur. Maybe that was for the best.
In the distance, beyond the crooked rooftops of the academy, a faint light flickered. Probably a patrol guard. Someone with Chi. Someone who was something. Who could become something.
Legends.
He kept hearing that word.
They were more than warriors. More than mages. They were like stars in the darkness — rare, unreachable, feared, and revered. To become a legend meant to reach the highest rank among those who stood against the creatures beyond the Mistborder. Few ever even made it into training. And fewer still ever rose.
Kael wasn't even in the first circle. No element. No Chi.
Only… silence.
He pulled the blanket over his shoulders, got up, and opened the small window. Cold air bit into his face immediately. But he didn't move. The rain smelled of stone, moss, and old walls.
"Maybe I was just born too early," he whispered. "Or in the wrong place."
No one answered. Only the rain. And then — a sound.
A croak. Low, but close. Kael turned his head. A raven was sitting on the window ledge. Black feathers, slightly ruffled by the rain. But its eyes… they were still. Calm. Almost… knowing.
Kael didn't move.
The raven blinked. Once. Then it dropped something — a small, silver wire band. It landed with a soft clink on the windowsill. Kael hesitantly reached out and picked it up. It felt… warm. Despite the rain.
When he looked up again, the raven was gone.
He stood there for a long time, the band in his hand, while the raindrops struck his skin like tiny questions.
And somewhere deep inside — where the emptiness had always been — he felt something else.
Something like the first breath after a long silence.
Kael held the band between his fingers. Thin as a hair, but strong. It was woven intricately — like a ring with no beginning and no end. No engraving. No mark. And yet, it wasn't an ordinary piece of metal.
It vibrated. Very slightly.
He didn't feel it on his skin, but deeper. Like an echo. As if the band were singing a note only his innermost self could hear.
Kael swallowed. Instinctively, he glanced back into the dormitory. No one was awake. The others lay in their beds, wrapped in blankets, dreams, and a destiny that had already accepted them. He stood alone, barefoot on the cold stone floor, wondering if he was dreaming.
Slowly, he turned the band between thumb and forefinger. In the moonlight, it shimmered silver-blue. For a moment, he felt as if he had seen it before. Or felt it. Not in memory. In the silence.
He sat on the windowsill, pulled his knees up, and held the band up in front of him.
"Are you from him?" he whispered.
The raven. The gaze.
No answer.
He pressed the band to his chest. There it was again — that flicker. Not hot, not cold, just… unfamiliar. Not strong. No fire, no wind, no lightning. But also no longer emptiness.
Something in between.
The legends, it was said, carried their Chi like a fire in their chest. Golden Chi — rare, pure, bound to one of the eight elements. For some, it raged like a storm; for others, it was silent like mist. And then there was the black Chi… the one no one spoke of. That one was different.
Kael had nothing.
Nothing — until now.
The band began to grow warmer.
"What are you?" he asked. But again, no answer came.
Instead, an image suddenly appeared in his mind — unclear, unreachable. Only the shadow of a thought:
A gate. Locked. Behind it, mist. Voices. And a flickering light.
He recoiled.
"No," he said softly. "I don't want this."
But the band in his hand was now hot. Not painful, but insistent.
As if it were telling him the path had already begun.