Page 1:
Panel 1: A frozen forest stretches endlessly. Ice clings to the dead trees. Kael, Lira, and Nyra ride cloaked horses, breath misting in the air.
Lira (shivering):
“I didn’t know a place could feel this... silent.”
Nyra:
“It’s not silence. It's listening.”
---
Page 2:
Panel 1: They pass a half-buried statue of a weeping angel, eyes covered, wings broken.
Kael (quietly):
“This was a battlefield once.”
Nyra (nods):
“When the last Veil Queen fell, her power scorched this forest. Nothing dares sing here anymore.”
---
Page 3:
Panel 1: Night. Campfire flickers. Lira and Kael sit close under a shared blanket, Nyra keeping watch nearby.
Lira:
“Do you ever wonder... who we’d be without all this?”
Kael:
“Sometimes. I think I’d still have found you.
Even if we were just strangers passing in a marketplace... I’d look back.”
Panel 2: Lira looks at him with soft eyes.
Lira:
“Do you think this—us—is real, or just fate playing tricks?”
Kael:
“Both.
And I don’t care.
Because when I’m near you, the voices stop.”
---
Page 4:
Panel 1: She kisses him. Finally. Gently, but full of quiet ache and shared pain.
Narration:
“In the cold, they found warmth.
In the dark, they found each other.”
---
Page 5:
Panel 1: The next morning, Nyra kneels at a frozen stream, whispering into her sleeve.
*Revealed: She’s speaking into a shadow crystal, which glows faint purple.
Nyra (whispers):
“They’ve reached the Vale of Echoes.
Phase two may proceed.”
Panel 2: Behind her, Kael silently watches — suspicion rising.
---
Page 6:
Panel 1: As they move on, they reach an old stone bridge — cracked and moss-covered — spanning a chasm of frozen fog.
Nyra:
“We’re close now.
The Crimson Flame keeps their fire beneath this mountain.”
*Panel 2: Midway across the bridge — sudden tremors. Cracks spread. A shadow beast rises from the ice fog below, dozens of glowing red eyes.
---
Page 7:
Panel 1: Kael draws his black sword. Nyra throws Lira a dagger.
Kael (to Lira):
“Stay behind me!”
Lira:
“I’m not hiding anymore!”
Panel 2: Together, they fight. The beast’s skin is made of writhing shadows and forgotten faces.
Beast (echoing voice):
“Moon-born child… return… return…”
---
Page 8:
Panel 1: Lira stabs the gem on her necklace into the creature’s eye — the beast shrieks and vanishes into a cloud of memory fragments.
*Panel 2: In the aftermath, Kael clutches his side — wounded.
Lira (desperate):
“You’re bleeding—!”
Kael (smiling faintly):
“It’s fine. You’re safe.”
---
Page 9:
Panel 1: They reach the entrance to a cave fortress glowing faint red from within. Crimson banners flap above.
Nyra (coldly):
“Welcome to the Ember Vault.
The last spark of your kingdom.”
Narration:
“But not all flames offer warmth.
And not all allies walk in light.”
---
[End of Chapter 8]
