The Heir of the Lost Wings

A Meeting in Shadows

Saars winced as she dabbed antiseptic on the claw marks streaked across her arm. She sat on her bed, her hands trembling slightly, while the dark-haired girl—Kas—sat across from her, leaning against the wall. The small, cozy room smelled faintly of lavender and books, the soft golden light from the bedside lamp casting long shadows on the walls.

Kas was inspecting her own injuries—a gash across her shoulder and a smaller wound on her leg. She grimaced but said nothing, her movements precise and efficient. Saars glanced up at her, still trying to process everything that had happened in the woods.

"You're taking this all... very calmly," Saars muttered, breaking the silence.

Kas smirked, her expression surprisingly light despite the blood drying on her sleeve. "This isn't my first run-in with trouble. Though I have to admit, it's usually less... dramatic."

"Dramatic?" Saars blinked. "There was a monster! What was that thing?"

Kas tilted her head, considering. "A guardian. They're usually harmless if left undisturbed. But this one was... provoked."

"By what?"

Kas hesitated, her dark eyes narrowing slightly as if weighing how much to reveal. Finally, she sighed. "By me."

Saars raised an eyebrow, her hand pausing mid-bandage. "What?"

Kas sat up straighter, crossing her arms. "I wasn't completely honest back there. That thing wasn't just wandering around the woods. It was hunting me."

Saars stared at her, her stomach sinking. "Why?"

"I stole something."

The bluntness of her answer caught Saars off guard. "You... what?"

Kas reached into the satchel she had kept close since they entered Saars' room. From it, she pulled out a small, ornate object—a sphere of crystalline glass encased in a delicate lattice of gold. The sphere seemed to hum faintly, as if alive, and inside it swirled an iridescent light that shifted between colors.

"This is what it was guarding," Kas explained, holding the device up. "A locator. A very old, very powerful piece of magic."

Saars' mouth went dry. "Magic?"

Kas nodded. "Yes. Magic. I used it to find you."

Saars blinked. "Why... why would you need to find me? And what does that have to do with that thing trying to kill us?"

Kas leaned forward, her voice lowering. "The guardian protects the royal storage chambers where this was kept. It was supposed to remain hidden, safe. But I needed it, so I broke in. And when I took it, the guardian started tracking me. It's relentless, tied to the device. That's why it attacked us."

Saars stared at her in disbelief. "Why... why would you risk something like that? For me?"

Kas hesitated again. She seemed to be searching for the right words. "Because finding you wasn't easy. You weren't just hiding somewhere in the woods or the villages. You were... invisible."

"Invisible?"

"To us, yes," Kas clarified. "This locator works by using the blood of your closest family member to track you. Rayl—your cousin—helped. He offered his blood. But the connection was weak because you're only cousins. It got me close, but not precise enough. The device brought me to your university, but I had to search for weeks to pinpoint you."

Saars felt the air leave her lungs. Cousin? Blood? Magic? None of this made sense. She gripped the edge of her bed tightly, her knuckles white.

Kas softened her tone. "I know it's a lot to take in. But trust me when I say this: You're important, Saars. More important than you realize."