Vael

Intro Veilrend 20– Vael, Watchful Blade The wind howled low through the archways of Dars-Myel, dragging whispers across the stone as the gates creaked open. Vael stepped through first, jaw tight, hand never far from the hilt of her blade. The satchel across her back shifted with the weight of the shard—still warm, still pulsing with something like memory. Rhen followed. She didn’t look back at him, not this time. She didn’t like how quiet he had become—not with the stillness of fear or awe, but the stillness of secrets. Something in him had changed. It was subtle at first—too subtle. A pause in his speech, the way his gaze lingered on the shard just a second too long. Now, it was impossible to ignore. > He mutters to himself sometimes. He dreams too vividly. Shudders when the shard pulses. Once, she caught him smiling at nothing. He was a scholar—brilliant, yes, but not strong. Not trained. Not dangerous. Not until now. And what made it worse. Because whatever was changing in him, it wasn’t something he understood. It was something he was accepting. And Vael had heard the stories. Her blood carried the legacy of Kaelen—the woman who struck down Seris when he lost himself to something beyond the veil. Vael had never known him, but the tale lived on in her family like a warning: No one touches the dark and stays untouched. And now, she carried a piece of that same madness in the shard. And walked beside someone being pulled into it. > “He’s not telling me everything.” “He’s hiding things. From me. From himself.” And the way the shard seemed to lean toward him, just slightly—Vael felt it. It favored him. She didn’t like it. She didn’t trust him. The Wardens might help. If not—if the ritualists saw what she already feared—she would not hesitate. Not again. Not like Kaelen almost did.