Part 4: The Mirror That Remembers
Salvaria pulsed like a living heart.
The silver sky above the city dimmed into a soft lavender haze, while the ground shimmered beneath Kael's boots as if the stones themselves remembered every footstep taken within their walls. Lireen walked beside him in silence, though her hand had grown cold in his.
Since they left the altar chamber, something had shifted.
Not in the world.
In her.
Kael noticed it in her eyes they no longer reflected the world around her, but something deeper, darker.
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They passed under the Bridge of Echoes, its arches carved with ancient names. Kael paused when he saw his name there not just once, but three times. Each time spelled differently, but all undeniably his.
He reached out to touch the stone.
Lireen grabbed his wrist, harder than necessary. "Don't."
Her voice was not hers.
He turned slowly. "Lireen…?"
She blinked, and the moment passed.
"I'm fine. Just tired."
But Kael wasn't convinced.
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The Warden had vanished without a trace.
Left to their own path, Kael and Lireen wandered into the west wing of Salvaria, where few buildings still stood unbroken. Vines wrapped crystalline walls. Trees grew upside-down from archways. The city had no heartbeat now it had entered a dream.
That's when Kael heard the whisper.
"Find the Archive."
It wasn't spoken aloud.
It came from the Crown of Echoes glowing faintly now, humming against his chest.
He turned toward a stairwell choked in vines.
"I think it's this way," he said.
Lireen followed, wordless.
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The Archive lay beneath the city a spiral chamber of floating scrolls, shelves suspended midair, and glowing pages that turned themselves.
At the center stood a stone pedestal.
Upon it, a single tome bound in black velvet.
Kael approached slowly. "This… doesn't feel like it belongs here."
Lireen didn't move.
He opened the book.
It was blank.
Then words bled onto the page.
"To Kael Althir."
"If you are reading this, then I failed to stop the awakening."
Kael's breath caught.
The next line read:
"I am you."
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The voice continued not spoken, but echoing through Kael's mind.
"I saw the world burn. I saw Lireen fall. I broke the seal, thinking I could fix what others had destroyed. But we were wrong. The crown is not a gift it is a map. A lock. A warning."
Kael flipped the pages faster.
Diagrams of Salvaria. Sketches of the Sleeper. A map of a land Kael had never seen one wrapped in chains of starlight.
Then
A drawing of Lireen.
Eyes hollow. Veins glowing. Wings.
Kael recoiled.
He looked at Lireen.
Her head was lowered. Her hands trembling.
"I've been dreaming of this place since I was a child," she whispered. "I always thought it was just fantasy. But now… I think I was called here."
Kael closed the book.
"Lireen, you're not "
She looked up. Her eyes flickered gold.
"I remember now," she said.
Then she collapsed.
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Kael rushed forward, catching her.
Her body convulsed in his arms. She whispered names. None he recognized. Her hands grasped for something invisible.
Then the chamber shook.
Someone else was there.
A figure in red.
The mask was porcelain. The cloak tattered. The dagger held low.
Kael stepped between them and Lireen.
"Who are you?"
The figure tilted its head.
"I'm the one who watched you fail before," it said. The voice was warped his voice, distorted. "And this time, I'm here to finish it."
The figure moved forward.
Kael raised the crown.
It pulsed.
The Archive lit up.
The masked figure froze.
"You're not ready," it hissed.
And vanished.
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Lireen stirred.
"Kael… I think I've been someone else before."
Kael held her close.
"So have I."
They sat there, surrounded by forgotten memories.
And the book the message from the future closed itself.
A final line burned into the cover:
"The world cannot be saved by one life alone."
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📣 Chapter 15 – Part 5 Teaser:
Lireen awakens… but she's not the same
The truth of her origin begins to surface connected to Salvaria's fall
Kael must choose between saving her or sealing the city once more
The Crown shows him the future he fears most: a world where Lireen becomes the new Architect
📢 Don't forget to leave a vote ♥, a comment 💬, and follow the journey because the next step isn't just theirs... it might be yours too 🕯️✨
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📌 English Highlight :
Lireen starts hearing voices and loses control something ancient stirs inside her
Kael finds the Archive and receives a message… from a future version of himself
A masked figure appears bearing Kael's voice but hostile intent
The Crown reveals a future where Lireen might become the new Architect
Kael realizes the true cost of being chosen is not power, but sacrifice
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