Kai had been trying to tease her, but the look in Reva’s eyes stopped him cold. Tears had begun to gather at the edges, trembling in the fading sunlight.

He softened.

“Reva… what is this really about?”

Reva took a slow, shaking breath. “I lied about what I was building earlier.”

Kai raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t even seen the sunset yet and you’re leading with this? Reva, you’re the most honest person I know. You don’t lie.”

“I knew if I told you the truth, you’d be angry.”

“So you waited until now to make me angry?” he muttered, but the irritation in his voice was half-hearted. He wasn’t truly upset—he just needed to give her a little bit of a hard time. That was their way.

“No, Kai, just—just listen.”

He took a step back toward the door. “If this is really that serious, we can talk inside.”

“KAI.”

Her voice cracked, raw and sharp.

“I know where we’re from.”

The words hung between them, suspended in the cool air. Kai froze. The fields around them stretched quiet and endless. He searched her expression, seeing no mischief, no exaggeration—only trembling conviction.

“Reva… you what? How? That’s not something you can just know.”

“I need you to listen,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “The machine I was building wasn’t an engine. It was a communication device.”

Shock jolted through him.

“Last time we were in Briarfield,” she continued, “I saw some men by the docks. Dressed in all black, faces covered. Suspicious. They dropped something when their boat shoved off. I fished it out of the water.”

Kai felt his pulse quicken. “Reva…”

“It was a crystal. Like a holo-crystal. Only this one wasn’t for news—it was active. Live. I could hear people as they were speaking, wherever they were.” Her voice quickened, words spilling over themselves. “I never talked. I was too scared. But I listened. For weeks.”

Kai swallowed. Hard.

“Most of it was boring boat chatter,” she said, “until one ship—one coming from Cendial—asked about a fugitive. A woman with medium-toned skin… emerald hair… and bright green eyes that glow in the dark.”

Reva lifted her gaze to him, breath trembling.

“Eyes that make people say she isn’t human.”

Read the Full Story

This excerpt is from Tide of Ash — the pilot novella of The Resonant Saga, a character-driven science-fantasy story of mystery, identity, and the power that awakens between siblings bound by fate.

📘 Available SOON on Kindle & Kindle Unlimited

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— Brock Tyler