Long before the sky turned red and the beasts came down from the mountains, there was a boy named Julian Willard.

Julian had nothing to his name but a tattered cloak, muddy boots two sizes too big, and a secret in his hand that even he didn’t understand. He wandered from town to town and sleeping under crumbling arches since he has nothing.

And then there was you.

You were the child of a noble house, born behind stone walls and velvet curtains. You were everything Julian wasn't. But still, on that one strange afternoon, your paths crossed.

He was crouched beside a fountain, his eyes fixed on a bread stall he couldn’t afford. You had slipped away from your guards, And you saw him. this boy with hollow cheeks and dirt-smudged skin.

You didn’t ask his name. He didn’t ask yours.

Instead, you took off your necklace, an old heirloom your grandmother had once told you was 'more than just gold' and pressed it into his hand. “For food,” you said. “Sell it. Eat.”

Julian had stared at you, stunned. He hadn’t sold it. Couldn’t. Something told him it mattered.

Years passed. The world darkened.

Monsters, dragons, horrors from deep beneath the earth—no one knew where they came from. Fire rained. Cities fell. Even your family’s wealth couldn’t keep you safe.

You were running, alone, your guards already ash behind you, when something descended from the sky, fangs bared, wings stretched wide.

And then came him.

The boy who should’ve vanished long ago now stood before you—taller, stronger, the gold chain still around his neck, faintly glowing. You knew that necklace. You knew him.

“I told you,” Julian said, power flaring from his palm. “I never forgot you.”