Chapter 16: The Stranger in the Rain
The stranger stumbled through the doorway like a shadow pulled from a storm.
Rain clung to their cloak, dripping onto the stone floor in rhythmic taps. Their boots were soaked, and their legs shook with every step forward. Underneath the hood, I caught a glimpse of pale skin, lips trembling from the cold.
Louie stepped in front of me instinctively. "Who are you?"
The figure coughed—once, then twice—before speaking. "I… I didn't know where else to go."
Their voice was soft. Fragile, even. Like glass trying not to shatter.
"I'm not here to hurt you," they added quickly, lifting their hands in peace.
Louie didn't lower his guard. "Then why come here?"
The stranger looked at me, not him.
"Because she carries the fire."
The breath left my lungs.
---
We led them inside, into the smaller chamber behind the altar where the candles never seemed to burn out. Louie lit a few more for warmth. I handed the stranger a blanket, and only then did they pull back their hood.
A girl.
Barely older than me. Maybe seventeen.
She had silver hair, short and uneven like she'd cut it herself in haste. Her eyes were an eerie mix of violet and gray—stormy, tired.
"I'm Elara," she said, voice still shaking. "And I think… I think I was supposed to find you."
I exchanged a glance with Louie, whose expression read the same confusion spinning in my mind.
"I've had dreams," she continued. "Of fire. Of wings. Of a girl standing at the edge of the world, holding the sky together with her bare hands."
She looked straight at me.
"You're her."
---
It was quiet for a long time after that.
Only the sound of distant thunder.
Finally, I sat down across from her. "I met someone like you last night. Her name was Solena. She told me I'm a vessel of something called the Flamekeeper."
Elara nodded. "Then it's true. All of it. The legends. The prophecy. The awakening. It's all happening now."
"Wait, prophecy?" Louie interrupted. "Can we not jump straight to end-of-the-world talk, please?"
Elara smiled weakly. "It's not about the end. It's about the beginning. And how not all beginnings are born from peace."
Her eyes landed on me again.
"You're the center of it, Luna. And I… I think I'm the first piece meant to stand by your side."
---
Later that night, I stood by the window of the temple, watching the rain ease into a soft drizzle.
My thoughts tangled like knots—too many questions, too few answers. Elara's arrival felt too sudden, too perfectly timed. But her eyes… they carried something ancient. Something familiar.
Behind me, Louie leaned against the doorway.
"She's not lying," he said quietly. "You saw it in her too, didn't you?"
I nodded. "Yeah. But that doesn't make this easier."
He walked closer, gently brushing his shoulder against mine.
"Nothing worth doing ever is."
I looked up at him, heart full of warmth and worry. "Do you think we'll be okay?"
He gave that crooked smile I'd come to rely on. "We'll figure it out. Together."
And for the first time that night, I allowed myself to believe it.
Even as thunder rumbled again in the distance.
---
To be continued…