The entrance pulsed.Stone breathing.Metal humming.
Vael stepped inside first.The air was hot.But not fire.It was… will.
The Forge was alive.
Walls shimmered with molten veins.Sparks drifted in the air,but never burned.
At the center stood a massive anvil.Blackened.Cracked.But still whole.
Above it—A suspended relic.
Not a crown.A core.
Raw essence.Unshaped power.
Elira pointed to it."That is the First Echo.The seed of all relics."
Nyra stepped closer."It's beautiful…and wrong."
Reylen kept his distance.His hand never left his blade.
Eron studied the forge marks."These symbols…They're older than the language of gods."
Vael touched the shard in his pocket.It glowed.
The core pulsed in return.
"You feel it," Elira said."It knows you."
Vael nodded."It wants me to choose."Three paths unfolded behind the anvil.
One burned red.One glowed white.One sank into darkness.
Elira's voice turned quiet.
"Each path ends with a truth."
Reylen frowned."What kind of truth?"
Elira looked at Vael.
"One where he ends this.Or becomes something worse."
Vael stepped forward.The others started to follow.
Elira stopped them.
"He walks this alone."
Vael turned once.Met their eyes.And then entered the center path—The white one.
It closed behind him.
Inside, the world shifted.
He stood in a place of stillness.No time.No sound.Only memories.
Reya smiled at him.Then faded.
The warlord bled.Then vanished.
The crown hovered in front of him.But now,It waited.
A voice spoke.Not the whisper.
"Forge me again…or unmake me forever."
Vael closed his eyes.
And reached forward.