The Eve of Enlightenment is the only night of the year that everyone stands equal, bound under a unified spell of anticipation. It is the night of which every young Balaiin boy and girl dreams. It is the night we realize our destiny.

The Eve is a ritual passed through the centuries, a rite of passage for every child, at the age of fifteen, to venture beyond the dense thickets that shelter our village to find their Incarnate. Until this point, we have received strict instructions never to explore the woods alone, but tonight we will do so with Elder Pachal's blessing.

The only problem is that I am not a Balaiin.

Truth be told, I don't know who or even what I am.

I was found by a ragtag bunch of wanderers on their passage through Corvis Crossing at an age too young to recall. The rogues, unable or unwilling to care for a toddler, left me in the nearest village: Balai. A village widower and his daughter Corsa stepped forward to raise me, and, after a decade and a half passed within this town, I almost fit in here.

The difference is subtle from a distance, but the slight arrangement of my features, the brilliant shade of emerald in my eyes, keeps me from being mistaken for anything but a foreigner. An outsider. A stranger.

The Balaiins are a warm and wonderful people (some more than others, granted), but if there is one thing they distrust more than the darkened wood beyond their borders, it is a stranger.

My name is Kalyn. I am fifteen. And tonight, I will realize my destiny.