The voice sounded young. A girl's voice.
Kael forced his eyes open.
The ceiling above him was made of rough wooden planks.
He stared at it for several seconds.
This wasn't his room.
He slowly turned his head.
A girl was standing beside a small wooden table, staring at him with wide eyes. She looked about twelve or thirteen. Her clothes were strange too-a simple, faded dress that looked like something from another century.
When she noticed that Kael was looking at her, she froze.
"Mother!"
She ran out of the room.
Kael frowned.
"Mother?"
His voice sounded strange.
Too young.
He tried to sit up.
Pain shot through his body.
"Ah!"
He fell back onto the thin mattress.
Footsteps rushed toward the room.
An older woman entered, followed by the girl.
The woman looked tired. Her hair was tied behind her head, and there were dark circles beneath her eyes.
She hurried toward Kael and placed a hand on his forehead.
"Thank goodness."
Her voice shook.
"Kael, can you hear me?"
Kael stared at her.
She knew his name.
But he had never seen her before.
"Who are you?"
The woman's expression changed.
The girl behind her covered her mouth.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then the woman slowly sat beside him.
"I'm your mother."
Kael's stomach dropped.
"My... what?"
The woman looked as if she was about to cry.
"Your mother, Kael."
He stared at her.
No.
That wasn't possible.
He looked around the small room again.
The wooden walls.
The clay pot in the corner.
The old blanket covering his body.
None of it made sense.
"Where am I?"
His mother exchanged a worried glance with the girl.
"You've been sick for three days."
"Three days?"
"Yes."
Kael swallowed.
"What place is this?"
The woman hesitated.
Then she answered.
"Ravenhill Village."
The name meant nothing to him.
He closed his eyes.
Maybe he was dreaming.
Maybe the accident had left him unconscious, and this was some strange hallucination.
He waited.
Nothing changed.
He opened his eyes again.
The same wooden ceiling.
The same woman.
The same frightened girl.
His heart began beating faster.
"Can I have a mirror?"
His mother frowned.
"A mirror?"
"Yes."
She didn't understand, but the girl quickly brought him a small metal plate from the table.
Kael looked into its dull surface.
His blood went cold.
The face staring back at him wasn't his.
It belonged to a boy.
A very young boy, perhaps fourteen years old.
His face was thinner than he remembered. His black hair was messy, and there was a faint scar above his left eyebrow.
Kael touched his face.
The boy in the reflection did the same.
He dropped the metal plate.
It hit the floor with a loud clang.
His mother jumped.
"Kael?"
He didn't answer.
His breathing became faster.
"No..."
He looked at his hands.
Small hands.
Young hands.
He pulled the blanket away and looked down at his body.
He was definitely not himself.
He had died.
And somehow...
He had been given another body.
Another life.
The girl stepped closer.
"Brother?"
Kael looked at her.
"Brother?"
She nodded slowly.
"I'm Lila."
He stared at her.
He didn't know this girl.
He didn't know this woman.
He didn't know this village.
Yet somehow, their faces carried a strange familiarity.
As if memories belonged to someone else were buried somewhere inside his head.
Then suddenly-
A sharp pain struck his skull.
Kael grabbed his head.
Images flashed through his mind.
A boy running through the forest.
A woman shouting.
A group of older children laughing.
A small house.
A mountain covered in mist.
Then everything disappeared.
Kael gasped.
His mother grabbed his shoulders.
"What's wrong?"
He couldn't answer.
He knew now.
The body belonged to a boy named Kael.
A boy who had lived here for fourteen years.
A boy who had been considered weak since childhood.
A boy whose father had disappeared while hunting in the mountains five years earlier.
A boy who had never been good at hunting.
A boy the villagers often called useless.
Kael slowly lowered his hands.
He didn't know whether to laugh or scream.
He had been given a second life.
But apparently, someone had already lived it badly.
His mother looked at him carefully.
"Do you remember anything?"
Kael looked into her tired eyes.
He could have told her the truth.
I'm not your son.
But what good would that do?
She would think he was crazy.
So he shook his head.
"Not much."
She sighed with relief.
"That's okay. You can rest."
She stood.
Before leaving, she turned back.
"Your brother will bring some food later."
Kael nodded.
She walked out with Lila.
The room became quiet again.
Kael stared at the wooden ceiling.
He was alive.
That was the only thing he could understand.
Everything else was a mess.
He slowly sat up.
Outside, he heard voices.
People talking.
A dog barking.
Someone chopping wood.
Life continued as if nothing had happened.
Kael walked toward the small window.
When he looked outside, he stopped.
Beyond the village were mountains.
Huge mountains.
Their peaks disappeared into thick clouds.
For some reason, the sight made his chest tighten.
He couldn't explain it.
He felt like he had seen those mountains before.
But he hadn't.
At least, not in this life.
Then something strange happened.
A faint sound reached his ears.
Not a voice.
More like a whisper carried by the wind.
Come.
Kael froze.
He looked toward the mountains.
The whisper came again.
Come to me.
His skin prickled.
"What the hell..."
He stepped away from the window.
The sound stopped.
For several seconds, he stood there without moving.
Then he laughed nervously.
"Great."
He rubbed his face.
"Second life, strange family, strange village..."
His eyes returned to the mountains.
"And apparently I'm hearing voices now."
He turned away.
He didn't see the faint black mark that had appeared on the palm of his right hand.
A mark shaped like a mountain.
And far beyond the village, deep inside the mist-covered mountains, something ancient opened its eyes.
For the first time in hundreds of years.
It had finally found him.
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