THE BRONZE PLATE
Season 5 — Bronze Quest of the Twelve Relics
The Seven Defenders were gone.
Their departure had left more questions than answers, and the stolen memory cylinder had become the most urgent of them all.
It was no ordinary container. Within it were memory holograms containing inscriptions in the ancient Nihyran language. The Seven Defenders had recognized the writing and understood enough to realize that the cylinder held information connected to their forgotten origins.
Seralyth had failed to prevent the theft.
She had underestimated them. She had also failed to recognize how much they could understand from the holographic inscriptions.
Now the Questors were following the trail they had left behind, moving farther into the dangerous outskirts of Crystallion Prime.
The region had remained hidden from much of Orinthal for generations. Its name carried a reputation built on extraordinary wealth, advanced technology, and a resource no other region could produce in the same purity.
Crystallion Prime.
At its heart stood Nihyra, the great city of two brothers.
But before the Questors could reach it, they needed to understand what had happened there.
The story of Nihyra was not merely the history of a powerful civilization. It was the history of the first city to experience the Omnission, the first great confrontation with Oblivion, and the guardian who saved his people only to become the architect of their isolation.
Historical Backstory: The City of Two Brothers
Long before the Omnission spread across Orinthal, Crystallion Prime was considered one of the greatest achievements of civilization.
Its primary city, Nihyra, was a magnificent metropolis built upon enormous deposits of Technomagik Crystal.
Its towers rose above the landscape in layers of polished stone, crystal, and advanced metalwork. Elevated avenues connected residential districts, research sanctums, commercial halls, and government chambers. Crystal bridges crossed between buildings, while automated transport systems moved people and goods through the city.
The foundations extended deep beneath the surface, where enormous crystal formations supplied energy to the city's machinery.
At night, Nihyra became a spectacle of light. Its towers glowed in shades of blue, violet, and silver. Crystal panels reflected the stars across the avenues, while the central energy spire illuminated the surrounding districts.
It was not simply a wealthy city.
It was the center of an industry that connected the entire Orinthal civilization.
Crystallion Prime was the only known region capable of producing Technomagik Crystals with the purity and resonance required to power the Veil Gates. These crystals supplied the energy needed to maintain passages between distant cities.
Without them, the Veil Gate network throughout Orinthal would gradually lose its ability to function.
Every major city depended on the supply. Every trade alliance needed access to it. Even distant kingdoms that had never seen Nihyra understood the importance of its crystal markets.
The merchants of Crystallion Prime knew their position.
They sold their crystals at exceptionally high prices, and their bargaining practices reflected the confidence of a civilization that believed its knowledge and resources were unmatched.
Visitors were welcomed, but rarely treated as equals. Foreign traders who arrived without understanding crystal refinement were often dismissed as inexperienced. Scholars from other regions were challenged to prove their knowledge before being granted access to the more advanced research halls.
The people of Nihyra were proud of what they had built.
Sometimes, that pride became arrogance.
Their wealth attracted honest traders, inventors, and scholars. It also attracted smugglers, spies, corrupt officials, mercenary groups, and powerful interests seeking control of the crystal supply.
The city had become indispensable to Orinthal.
It had also become a prize worth fighting over.
Its citizens believed their technology and defenses could protect them from almost anything.
They had two brothers to thank for much of that security.
Zython and Nihyros Nullis.
They were among Nihyra's most celebrated guardians, but their approaches to protection were different.
Zython believed protection required action. He trusted discipline, courage, and the willingness to stand between danger and those who could not defend themselves. He understood that a civilization could not survive by hiding from every threat.
Nihyros was more contemplative. He studied memory, resonance, and the relationship between identity and experience. He believed that a civilization's greatest strength was the knowledge and memories passed from one generation to another.
Together, they helped defend Nihyra and strengthen its systems.
Zython became a symbol of its physical protection.
Nihyros became one of its greatest guardians of memory and resonance.
The people admired them. Their names appeared in the city's halls, monuments, and historical records. Children learned about their achievements, and scholars studied the brothers' contributions to the city's defenses.
Yet the brothers understood something the citizens often overlooked.
A city could be wealthy and still be vulnerable.
Its defenses could be powerful and still fail.
And no amount of technology could guarantee that its people would remain safe.
That lesson came when the first signs of Oblivion appeared.
The Memory Orb was initially treated as an extraordinary discovery.
Its surface contained unusual resonance patterns, and its internal structure seemed to hold fragments of memories that did not belong to any known individual.
Nihyra's scholars believed it might unlock knowledge from civilizations long forgotten. The artifact became the subject of intense research.
But the Memory Orb was not a passive archive.
It was Oblivion.
And it was already corrupting the resonance around it.
The first incidents were subtle.
A researcher forgot the purpose of an experiment he had spent years developing. A security officer failed to recognize a colleague. Families argued over memories that each member remembered differently.
At first, these events were blamed on exhaustion, faulty equipment, or interference from the crystal network.
Then entire sections of Nihyra began experiencing disturbances.
Memory records disappeared. Communication systems returned incomplete identities. Defensive machines received contradictory instructions.
Some citizens remembered events that had never happened. Others lost memories of people they had known for decades.
The brothers realized that the corruption was spreading.
Nihyra's greatest strength had become its greatest danger.
Its crystal network connected nearly everything. The same resonance that powered the city could carry corruption through its systems.
Zython ordered the defensive sectors sealed while Nihyros studied the source.
But the corruption was already moving beyond the central districts.
Oblivion had entered the resonance flowing through the city.
The brothers confronted it together.
The first battle against Oblivion shook Nihyra.
Defensive towers discharged waves of energy into the central chamber. Crystal conduits shattered. The city's protective systems turned against the very people they had been built to defend.
Zython fought through the collapsing structures, protecting the citizens and preventing the defensive barriers from failing.
Nihyros approached the source.
He understood that destroying the surrounding machinery would not stop the corruption. Oblivion had already entered the city's resonance structure.
The only way to contain it was to draw the corrupted resonance away from the network.
He began absorbing it.
At first, the process worked.
The corrupted signals disappeared from the defensive systems. The crystal conduits stabilized. The memory disturbances slowed.
Zython saw the city recovering and believed his brother had found the answer.
But Nihyros continued.
He absorbed more.
And more.
The corruption that had once threatened the city began gathering inside him.
His body endured the strain. His mind fought to preserve the memories he had spent his life protecting.
For a time, he succeeded.
The Memory Orb's immediate attack was contained, and Nihyra survived.
But Nihyros had absorbed far too much corrupted resonance.
The battle was over.
The damage was not.
The citizens noticed the change gradually.
Nihyros returned to the city, but he was no longer the guardian they remembered.
He still possessed his intelligence. He still understood Nihyra's systems. He still believed he was protecting its people.
Yet his interpretation of memory had begun to change.
He saw how easily memories could be damaged. He saw families torn apart by contradictory recollections. He saw citizens unable to distinguish their own experiences from false ones.
He began asking questions that frightened the scholars.
"Must every memory be restored?" he asked during a council gathering.
One of the senior archivists answered carefully.
"Memory is the foundation of identity. Without it, people lose the knowledge of who they are."
Nihyros looked toward the holographic records surrounding the chamber.
"And what if those memories bring suffering? What if restoring them only restores the pain?"
"Then we help them understand what happened."
"And if they cannot?"
The archivist had no immediate answer.
Nihyros continued.
"Not every memory must be restored. Some are bound for erasure. Some divisions must remain permanent if they are to prevent greater harm."
Zython, standing near the chamber entrance, watched his brother.
"Memory can be damaged," he said. "That does not mean we should abandon it."
Nihyros turned toward him.
"You saw what happened. You saw families turn against one another. You saw the city nearly destroy itself."
"We survived because we fought together."
"And how long before it happens again?"
"Then we strengthen our defenses."
Nihyros shook his head.
"Defenses cannot protect a mind from everything it remembers."
The argument ended without agreement.
But the idea had already taken root.
Oblivion had corrupted Nihyros, yet its philosophy did not feel entirely foreign to him. Beneath his devotion to memory was a fear he had never admitted: that preserving every memory could also preserve every wound.
He had spent his life protecting the city.
Now he believed the only way to protect it was to prevent the world from reaching it.
The corruption did not create that fear.
It gave the fear a voice.
Nihyros began changing the systems under his authority.
At first, the measures seemed reasonable.
Access to certain memory archives was restricted. Damaged records were isolated. Some districts were separated from the wider network while their systems were examined.
Then the restrictions expanded.
The cities connected to Crystallion Prime were isolated from one another. Their communication channels were severed. Their Veil Gate routes were restricted or closed.
Nihyros argued that isolation would prevent another corruption from spreading.
But the separation did not stop at city boundaries.
It reached into the people themselves.
He began removing memories.
Some citizens lost their recollections of dangerous events. Others forgot people they had once known. In some places, families could no longer recognize one another as they had before.
A parent could look at a child and remember the responsibility of caring for them, but not the years of love that had created that bond.
A husband could recognize the face of his wife without remembering their life together.
Friends became strangers.
Communities lost the memories that connected them.
Nihyros called it protection.
Zython called it a violation.
The brothers finally stood against one another.
"You are not protecting them," Zython said. "You are taking away the very things that make them who they are."
Nihyros's expression remained controlled.
"I am preventing the next disaster."
"By separating everyone from the world?"
"By keeping the corruption from reaching them again."
"And their families? Their homes? Their lives?"
Nihyros looked away.
For a moment, something familiar appeared in his face.
Then it disappeared.
"Those memories are not worth another city falling."
Zython understood then that the corruption had reached farther than the machines.
It had entered the beliefs of the brother he once trusted.
The first city in Crystallion Prime to experience the Omnission had become the first great city to turn against the world.
Its isolation was no longer merely a defensive measure.
It had become Nihyros's vision of the future.
Present Day: The Pursuit into Crystallion Prime
The historical records were far behind them.
Now the Questors were approaching the same region.
The Seven Defenders had left a guiding mark along the route. It was faint, but deliberate—an indication that they had passed through the dangerous outskirts rather than taking a concealed route.
Orryx's markings were unmistakable.
"They wanted us to find this path," Dorion observed.
"Or they wanted us to believe we were following them," Seralyth replied.
She examined the ground.
There were signs of movement, but no obvious evidence of an ambush.
"Either way, they know this region better than we do."
Valek looked toward the distant landscape.
The Ashen Expanse had gradually changed. The broken ground gave way to strange formations of crystal. Some rose from the earth like enormous blades. Others stretched across the horizon in transparent ridges, reflecting the surrounding landscape until it became difficult to tell where the ground ended and the sky began.
Bardin adjusted the display on his Frog Exo-Suit.
"My instruments are receiving reflections from several directions. I cannot determine which ones are natural and which ones are hiding something."
Lirion examined his Oscillator.
"The signals are being redirected. There is a network beneath these formations, but I cannot identify its full structure."
Sorion took out his Compass.
Its pointer moved, then settled toward a distant crystal formation.
"The path continues."
Kaedron looked at the formation.
"Is that the entrance?"
Seralyth studied it carefully.
"No. Not yet."
She moved ahead, examining a series of marks carved into a low stone surface.
The markings were old, but she recognized the language.
"Nihyran."
Dorion glanced at her.
"You can read it?"
"Enough to recognize a route designation."
She traced a symbol with her finger.
"This does not point toward the city. It points toward an open passage."
Tharvek examined the surrounding formations.
"Then where is it?"
Seralyth looked toward the crystal ridge.
"Hidden in plain sight."
The passage was not a doorway.
It was a break between two enormous crystal walls, almost invisible from the approach. The surrounding formations reflected the landscape so perfectly that the opening appeared to be part of the solid ridge.
As the Questors moved closer, the reflections shifted.
A narrow path appeared.
Then vanished.
Then reappeared several meters to the left.
Bardin stared at it.
"That entrance is moving."
"Not the entrance itself," Seralyth explained. "The crystal camouflage is changing the way we perceive its position."
Lirion examined the surrounding structure.
"An optical system?"
"More than that. The crystals respond to resonance. The passage changes its visible position according to the signals moving through the formation."
Maelkor studied the ground.
"Then we need to find a stable approach."
Seralyth shook her head.
"Following the visible opening is exactly what we must not do."
She stepped toward a smaller crystal formation beside the ridge.
"Watch the reflections, not the passage."
The others gathered behind her.
Seralyth pointed to the distant skyline reflected on the crystal surface.
"That tower appears on the left side of the reflection, but the real tower is on the right. The image is being displaced. When the reflection shifts, the passage follows the same pattern."
Orryx adjusted his mechanical sight.
"I can track the displacement."
"Do not try to predict every movement," Seralyth said. "The pattern changes when someone approaches. We need to follow the sequence of the crystal signals."
She moved toward the first marker.
A soft blue light appeared beneath her feet.
The crystal wall responded.
A section of the ridge became transparent, revealing a narrow corridor beyond it.
"There."
Dorion looked through the opening.
"That is our way inside?"
"That is the entrance. What comes after it is another matter."
The Questors entered the crystal corridor.
The opening closed behind them.
For a moment, the world outside disappeared.
They stood inside a vast chamber surrounded by translucent walls. Light moved through the crystals in long, flowing patterns, creating reflections of corridors that did not exist.
At the far end stood three separate paths.
Each appeared identical.
Maelkor approached the nearest one.
"These passages are connected to the same structure."
"Not necessarily," Lirion replied. "Their signals are overlapping."
Sorion examined the floor.
There were no footprints.
No dust.
No sign that the Seven Defenders had passed through.
Seralyth stepped forward and studied the walls.
"This is the entrance trial."
Valek looked at the three paths.
"What are we being tested for?"
"Whether we can distinguish the true passage from the false ones."
Bardin examined his display.
"Can the system be bypassed?"
Seralyth shook her head.
"If we force the wrong path, the crystal network will close around us. The passage is designed to prevent anyone from entering without understanding its sequence."
Dorion looked at the three openings.
"Then show us the sequence."
Seralyth approached the first wall.
A hologram appeared.
It displayed several figures standing before a great city. Their forms were difficult to distinguish, but the inscription beneath them was clear enough for her to read.
She translated it slowly.
"Memory preserves the path. Resonance reveals the truth. Pride blinds the traveler."
The inscription faded.
A second hologram appeared on the opposite wall.
This time, it showed a crystal spire surrounded by three circles. The circles moved in different directions, each reflecting a different image of the same structure.
Seralyth examined them.
"This is not a test of strength. It is a test of recognition."
"Recognition of what?" Kaedron asked.
She looked at the three paths.
"Which one is real."
Orryx studied the reflections.
"They all appear real."
"That is the deception."
Seralyth placed her hand against the wall.
The hologram changed.
A new inscription appeared, written in the ancient Nihyran script.
She read it silently before speaking.
"The first path shows what you expect to see. The second shows what you fear to find. The third shows what remains when both are removed."
Tharvek frowned.
"That sounds like a riddle."
"It is a warning," Sorion replied.
Lirion looked at the crystal structure.
"The system is measuring our responses. It is using our movement and resonance to alter the reflections."
Seralyth nodded.
"The old Nihyran trials were designed to prevent outsiders from entering the region without understanding its principles. This passage does not simply hide the city. It judges those who approach it."
Dorion looked at the three openings again.
"Then which path do we take?"
Seralyth did not answer immediately.
She examined the light moving through the walls.
The first path reflected the city as a magnificent place, its towers shining and its crystal bridges intact.
The second showed the same city in ruins, surrounded by darkness.
The third showed nothing but a faint outline of the passage.
She moved toward the third.
"This one."
A low vibration traveled through the floor.
The other two paths disappeared.
The remaining corridor opened.
But before anyone could move, a series of crystal panels descended from the ceiling.
The chamber changed.
Light flooded the walls, and the floor beneath them separated into several moving platforms.
Bardin stepped back.
"That was not part of the first test."
Seralyth stared at the new arrangement.
"No."
Her expression tightened.
"This is the second trial."
A deep sound echoed through the chamber.
The crystal walls began displaying fragments of memories.
A city under attack.
Two brothers standing before a great energy spire.
A glowing orb surrounded by corrupted resonance.
A figure absorbing waves of dark energy until the light around him changed.
Then the images vanished.
Sorion looked at the empty wall.
"That was not a warning about the passage."
Lirion's Oscillator began detecting a new signal.
"It is showing us something from the city's history."
Seralyth examined the inscription that appeared beneath the vanished images.
Her voice became quieter as she translated it.
"Before entering the city of two brothers, understand the first sacrifice."
Dorion looked toward the corridor ahead.
"Nihyra."
Seralyth nodded.
"Yes. It is showing us the beginning of what happened here."
The name seemed to linger in the chamber.
Beyond the trial lay a civilization that had once powered the Veil Gates of Orinthal. A city of immense wealth and knowledge, whose guardian had saved it from Oblivion only to become the architect of its isolation.
And somewhere within the dangerous outskirts, the Seven Defenders were carrying a stolen memory cylinder that might reveal more than they understood.
The Questors had found the entrance.
But Crystallion Prime had not yet allowed them to enter.
The second trial was beginning.