Year 217 After the Age of Ruin
21st Day of the Month of Ashes,
Silence reigned. Only Kael’s breath disturbed the stagnant air of the underground chamber. His gaze remained fixed on the spot where the visions had vanished, leaving behind a strange sense of unreality. What he had just witnessed… was not merely a projection.
Cities with fallen glass towers, war machines of inconceivable shapes, a sky darkened by black clouds… A world far different from the one he knew.
A world that once existed.
A shiver ran down his spine. Why did these images seem so familiar?
Lysara, slightly trembling, broke the silence.
— “Kael… We shouldn’t be here.”
Her voice was weak, almost pleading. She, too, had felt something abnormal.
Behind them, Darius, ever pragmatic, paced back and forth, his eyes scanning the walls as if searching for a rational explanation.
— “These ruins… They’re unlike anything we’ve seen before. We were always told that the Ancients disappeared over two centuries ago, that their knowledge was lost with them. But what we saw… It suggests otherwise.”
Kael closed his eyes for a brief moment.
Something was wrong.
These ruins weren’t just a forgotten relic. They spoke. They revealed fragments of a buried past.
He slowly advanced toward the dilapidated throne, where the skeletal remains of an ancient warrior still lay, frozen in death.
The armor, though corroded by time, bore strange engravings—writing he didn’t recognize… yet somehow, he could read it.
At its feet lay a sword.
Black as night, its edge unscathed despite the centuries that had passed.
A weapon untouched by time.
Kael reached out.
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The moment his fingers brushed the hilt, a wave of intense cold coursed through him.
His vision darkened.
A roar echoed in his mind.
— “Heirs of dust… You have awakened what should have remained asleep.”
The voice was deep, powerful. Ancient.
Kael stumbled back, gasping.
— “Did you hear that?!”
Lysara and Darius exchanged a worried look.
— “Hear what?” Lysara asked.
Kael felt his blood turn to ice. He was the only one who had heard it.
He glanced at the sword. It still lay there, inert… yet he knew it was different from any weapon he had ever seen.
It was not just a blade.
It was a key.
Suddenly, the entire chamber began to vibrate.
Dust lifted from the ground, and the symbols carved into the walls glowed with an eerie light.
A deep grinding noise resonated.
Kael, Lysara, and Darius immediately fell into defensive stances.
Then, before their stunned eyes, an entire wall began to vanish.
Not as if it were being dug out. Not like a door opening.
The wall itself was disintegrating, pixel by pixel, as if it was being erased from existence.
Behind it, a dark corridor stretched far beyond what their torches could illuminate.
Kael clenched his teeth.
These were no ordinary ruins.
Someone—or something—was still maintaining this place.
Darius was the first to break the silence.
— “We’re supposed to go in, aren’t we?”
Kael tightened his grip on the black sword.
— “We’ve come too far to turn back now.”
Lysara swallowed hard and nodded, still hesitant.
They cautiously stepped into the corridor.
The floor was… different. It did not crumble beneath their feet like the rest of the ruins. No dust. No signs of collapse.
As if this place had been preserved.
Kael’s heart pounded faster. He felt as if he was being watched.
After several minutes of walking, they arrived before an immense black door.
Engraved symbols pulsed with a faint glow.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
He did not know how, but he could understand the words.
— “Here lies the Ultimate Guardian.”
Silence.
Darius cursed under his breath.
— “I don’t like this.”
Neither did Kael.
He placed his hand on the door.
And pushed.
A deep rumble echoed through the darkness.
And the door slowly opened… revealing the abyss of a forgotten past.
