Echoes of Prophecy

Chapter 8: Echoes of Prophecy

Story:

The cold winds of Mount Elareth bite at Ryo’s skin as he makes the long, lonely ascent. Snow blinds the path, and the only sounds are his ragged breaths and the whisper of long-forgotten spirits. Each step stirs more visions—glimpses of burning cities, Aiko lying still beneath shattered stone, and Raiden standing atop a throne of bones. Ryo presses on, knowing these may be more than dreams.

At the summit, he finds a crumbling stone temple carved into the mountain. Inside sits Kael the Seer, a pale, ageless man with silver-threaded robes and eyes that shine like crystal. The air is heavy with incense and something far older—time itself seems thinner here.

Kael speaks before Ryo can:

"The past screams through your blood. The future claws at your shadow. You are the fulcrum, child of fire and ruin."

Ryo demands answers—about the Heart, The Void, his family, and what he’s meant to become. Kael offers him a warning instead:

"When the Heart is whole, the kingdom will bleed. The Heart was never meant to be wielded by one soul. The balance was shattered long before your birth."

He reveals that there were once three bloodlines who shared the power of the Heart: the royal blood, the warrior blood, and a third, now forgotten—guardians of equilibrium. Kael believes someone of this third line may still exist. Their return could change everything.

Kael gives Ryo a final vision—a glimpse of a shattered throne room, where Ryo stands not as a savior but as a conqueror, crowned in fire. Before Ryo can ask more, Kael vanishes into mist, leaving behind only a map marked with an ancient symbol—one Ryo saw in his childhood home.

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Meanwhile…

Aiko travels through the wastelands of Valmere, once a great city, now a ruin of twisted stone and haunted winds. Searching for the next fragment, she’s ambushed by Void scouts. Outnumbered, she prepares to fall—but is saved by a flash of thorns and steel.

Enter Sylen of the Thorns, cloaked in vines, her blade dripping poison. With mocking flair, she dispatches the enemies and eyes Aiko with amusement.

"You're lucky I still have a soft spot for your mother," Sylen says.

She reveals she once served the royal court as a shadowblade—until she was betrayed. Now she walks her own path, and she wants something: a piece of the Heart.

Aiko is hesitant, but Sylen offers something in return: knowledge. She knows the location of the second fragment—and the ancient guardian who protects it.

Together, they journey toward the Lake of Whispers, where a being known only as Fen guards the fragment with cruel riddles and deadly traps.

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Elsewhere…

Raiden stands at the edge of a canyon, watching his gathered soldiers train in silence. Among them is Kiro, the silent warrior who appeared at the Void’s gates weeks ago, his past a blank slate. Yet when he fights, the ground trembles and air crackles with unnatural force.

Raiden approaches him and says,

*"You fight like one of us.

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