Chapter Twenty two
Kael remained perfectly still.
The world around him disappeared.
He no longer felt the grass beneath him or the cool breeze drifting across the lake. Even the borrowed spiritual energy flowing through his body faded into the background.
His entire focus turned inward.
The silence surrounding him was familiar.
He had entered this place countless times throughout his life. As a child, his father had taught him to quiet his mind before attempting to cultivate his spiritual energy.
"The spirit cannot hear itself in a noisy mind," the king had often said.
Kael had never understood those words when he was young.
He did now.
Everything became still.
He could feel Arith's spiritual energy flowing gently through him. It did not try to become his own. Instead, it strengthened the pathways his own energy had long neglected.
Like rain falling into a drying river.
His breathing remained slow.
Steady.
Patient.
He reached inward.
Not toward the borrowed energy.
Toward the emptiness.
For centuries, that emptiness had become part of him.
The place where his core should have rested had always felt... hollow.
Now, for the first time since awakening, something answered.
A faint warmth stirred deep within his spirit.
Kael's concentration sharpened.
There...
It was weak.
Almost impossible to notice.
If Arith had not shared her spiritual energy with him, he would have mistaken it for a passing thought.
But it was real.
He felt it again.
A pull.
Gentle.
Patient.
Waiting.
A slow smile appeared on his face.
"My core..."
He reached toward the feeling, not with his hands, but with his spirit.
The moment he did...
The warmth stretched before him.
A single thread of golden light slowly appeared within the endless darkness of his mind.
It was impossibly thin.
No thicker than a strand of silk.
Yet the instant Kael saw it, he knew exactly what it was.
The bond had never been broken.
It had only become too weak to follow.
Carefully, he reached for the thread.
The moment his fingers closed around it, warmth rushed through his entire being.
Recognition.
Belonging.
Home.
His core remembered him.
Kael closed his eyes against the wave of emotion threatening to break his concentration.
"I found you."
The thread pulsed softly beneath his fingers before stretching into the distance.
Kael followed.
He did not walk.
The thread simply drew his spirit forward through the endless darkness.
Time lost all meaning.
He did not know whether seconds or hours had passed.
Gradually...
Shapes began to appear.
Mountains.
Ancient forests.
Long, winding roads.
Villages.
Cities unlike those he remembered.
The thread continued onward.
Farther.
Farther still.
Then...
It stopped.
Kael's spirit hovered above a vast mountain range.
Towering cliffs surrounded a deep valley hidden from the world.
A river wound through the rocks below before disappearing beneath the mountain itself.
The golden thread descended toward that mountain.
Not into the forest.
Not beside the river.
Into the mountain.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"So..."
His core had been hidden underground.
He memorized everything he could.
The curve of the river.
The shape of the cliffs.
The distant road leading toward the valley.
Satisfied, he slowly released the thread.
It slipped gently from his fingers but did not disappear.
Now that he had found it...
He knew he could always find it again.
The darkness around him slowly dissolved.
—
The golden sphere surrounding Kael pulsed one final time before slowly fading.
His feet settled lightly onto the grass.
He remained motionless for a moment.
Then his eyes opened.
The world came rushing back.
The scent of the forest.
The sound of water against the shore.
The familiar presence of Arith.
Aiden waiting anxiously nearby.
Arith smiled before he had spoken a word.
"You found it."
Kael returned the smile.
"Yes."
Aiden stood so quickly that he nearly stumbled.
"You did?"
Kael nodded.
"I know where it is."
Relief spread across Aiden's face.
"That's incredible."
"It is farther away than I expected."
"Can you tell where?"
Kael thought for a moment.
"I saw mountains."
He looked toward the horizon as he recalled the vision.
"A hidden valley. A river that disappears beneath the mountain. The core is somewhere inside."
Arith's smile faded into a thoughtful expression.
"So it survived."
"It did."
"And it has been waiting for you."
Kael nodded once.
"It never stopped calling."
Silence settled between them.
Then Arith slowly rose to her feet.
"I should return to my domain."
Aiden looked up.
"So soon?"
She smiled apologetically.
"I have given Kael enough spiritual energy to strengthen the bond between him and his core. I will need time to cultivate what I have shared."
Kael stood as well.
"You have my gratitude."
"I know."
She smiled teasingly.
"You still dislike saying the words."
"I do."
"I shall enjoy hearing them one day."
"You may continue hoping."
She laughed.
"There is one last thing."
She stepped closer and held out her hand.
"If we are to travel separately, we should have a way to find one another."
Kael understood immediately.
He placed his hand over hers.
Both of them closed their eyes.
A gentle silver glow spread between their joined hands.
It flowed silently around their wrists before sinking beneath their skin.
A faint mark appeared on each of them.
It resembled a winding river circling a golden serpent.
The mark shimmered once before disappearing beneath the skin as though it had never been there.
"Our spirits will recognize one another," Arith said softly.
"If either of us calls through the bond, the other will feel it."
Kael nodded.
"That will be useful."
"I thought so."
She smiled at both of them before stepping backward into the lake.
The water rose around her without a single splash.
Her body slowly became translucent.
"I will find you once I have recovered."
"We shall be waiting," Kael replied.
With one final smile, the goddess dissolved into countless droplets of water that drifted across the lake before disappearing beneath its surface.
The clearing became quiet once more.
Kael looked toward Aiden.
"We should return."
Aiden smiled.
"So we can start planning?"
"Yes."
"There are several things I still do not understand about travelling in this era."
Aiden laughed.
"I'll teach you."
Kael nodded.
"I expected no less."
Together, they turned away from the lake and began the walk back to the old house, carrying with them the first real hope Kael had felt in centuries.