Chapter 11
Part 3: Echoes in the Blood
The moment Kael stepped into the Council Chamber, the temperature dropped. The doors sealed behind him with an echo like thunder. Lireen stood just beyond the threshold, refused entry. The eyes of the three Council Elders bore into Kael like ancient spears cold, judgmental, unmoved.
"Kael Rivenhart," Elder Serrian spoke first, his voice brittle with age, "you are summoned not as a student, nor a citizen, but as a threat."
Kael met his gaze. "I haven't done anything wrong."
Elder Maros, the middle one, flicked a hand, and the runes on Kael's right arm glowed. "Then why does the seal of duality burn beneath your skin? Why does the Vault recognize your blood?"
Kael said nothing.
Elder Nyra leaned forward. Her crimson robe shimmered with glyphs unseen by common eyes. "Your silence condemns you."
The room dimmed. A mirror rose from the floor, framed in black steel, surface rippling like water.
"The Mirror of Anamnesis," Maros announced. "Show us what he is."
A drop of Kael's blood floated to the mirror.
The air twisted.
In a rush of light and shadow, the room filled with visions not just of Kael's past, but of another life entirely. He stood upon a burning world, eyes aglow, wielding light and darkness. Armies bowed. Gods wept. And beside him stood a woman of fire... and a man without a face.
Lireen, watching from outside the glass walls, gasped. "That can't be him..."
Inside the chamber, Kael trembled. "What am I?"
Nyra's eyes widened. "You're not a reincarnation. You're a fragment. A piece of something greater."
A voice not from the Council boomed:
"He is the Reclaimant."
The chamber trembled. Walls cracked. The mirror shattered into dust.
Kael fell to one knee, clutching his chest. From within his veins, red and gold light burst outward. Twin sigils hovered in the air behind him one feather white, one feather black.
Lireen screamed. Guards rushed in, but were blown back by a pulse of raw mana.
Elder Serrian raised his staff. "Seal him before the Third Feather awakens!"
Too late.
The ground split beneath Kael. A third sigil emerged from the depths neither black nor white, but void. It whispered in an ancient tongue.
> "He who bore the Architect's Breath... shall unmake the lie of fate."
Kael stood, eyes glowing white. "I don't want this. I never asked for this."
Lireen broke through the shield, running to him. "Then let me carry it with you. Whatever you are... you're still Kael."
A moment of silence.
And then the chamber exploded in light.
When the smoke cleared, Kael and Lireen were gone.
Only the feathers remained.
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Teaser for Next Chapter:
> As Kael and Lireen escape Arcanhelm, the world begins to stir. The Third Feather has chosen its vessel. The Architect whispers once more.
What awaits beyond the shattered chamber is not safety but war.
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