Episode 18
Night fell like a shadowed veil over the scorched horizon as Kael, Lira, and Seris continued their march toward the northern peaks. The fire-scarred ruins of Ashrial now lay behind them, but none of them could shake the feeling that something ancient had been disturbed—something watching.
Even Kael's blade, Vael'Tharion, pulsed uneasily in its scabbard, a faint warmth thrumming through his arm with every step. It had absorbed the power of Seris' flame, yes, but in doing so, it had awakened more than just the memories of a forgotten oath.
It had called out to something far darker.
---
A Change in the Wind
Lira's cloak fluttered as an icy breeze pushed against them, strange for a region once drowned in unending heat. She pressed a hand to her temple, wincing.
"Something's wrong," she muttered. "The air… it's whispering again."
Kael halted. "You hear it too?"
Taron, who had scouted ahead, reappeared from a bluff above, his brow furrowed. "There's movement in the rocks. But no footprints. Just… shadows."
Seris' golden eyes shimmered faintly as she looked to the east.
"It has begun," she said.
"What has?" Kael asked.
Seris turned to him solemnly. "The Curse of the Hollow Tongue. The Whisper Sisters' last revenge."
---
Memories That Don't Belong
That night, as they made camp, Kael dreamt again.
Only this time, it wasn't his memory.
He stood in a great marble hall, flames licking the stained glass windows. Dozens of robed figures chanted in a circle around a crying child—her lips sewn shut with gold wire.
> "Burn the name. Bury the tongue. Let her words rot in silence."
Kael moved to stop them.
But in the dream, he had no body. No hands.
He was just… watching.
---
He woke in a cold sweat, heart pounding, sword already drawn. Seris sat across from him, calm.
"You saw her," she said.
Kael nodded. "Who was she?"
"Not a who," Seris said. "A what. The Whispering Curse is not a spell. It is a being—born from silence. Fed by secrets."
Kael's breath hitched. "She's coming, isn't she?"
Seris gave a grim smile.
"She never stopped."
---
Blood on the Wind
At dawn, the mountains echoed with a shriek not made by any living beast. It rippled through stone and sky alike, scattering flocks and shaking loose icicles from cliffside ledges.
Taron drew steel. "That… was not natural."
"It's her," Seris said.
Lira's skin prickled. "How do we fight something that's already inside our minds?"
"You don't fight her," Seris replied. "You bind her."
"But only one of Flame and Sky can do it."
Kael and Lira locked eyes.
"The Skyfire Mark," Lira said.
Kael nodded. "Then we do it together."
---
The Hollow Prophet
They reached an ancient ruin buried in the snow, its stones scorched black and carved with strange spirals. At its heart stood a figure cloaked in frost and ash—tall, elegant, and utterly still.
As Kael stepped forward, the figure turned.
Her mouth was sewn shut with silver threads, but her eyes—black as a void—burned with fire and hate.
Seris hissed. "The Hollow Prophet. She was once one of us. A priestess of flame who turned to silence."
The Prophet raised a hand, and the snow screamed.
Literally.
Thousands of voices—children, men, women—all crying, whispering, shouting from beneath the snow.
Lira clutched her head. "They're inside me—screaming!"
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A Battle of Wills
Kael raised Vael'Tharion, but it flickered uncertainly.
"No," Seris said. "Not with the blade. With your mind. You must lock her inside."
"How?" Kael asked through gritted teeth, the voices gnawing at his skull.
Seris and Lira joined hands and stepped forward.
"By making her remember her own name," Seris whispered.
The Prophet recoiled, writhing in place.
Kael closed his eyes, channeling every whisper, every memory, every dream. They coalesced into a single voice—not his—but hers.
> "Aralya."
The Prophet froze.
And then screamed.
---
Silence Falls
The scream shattered the spiral stones around them. Kael stumbled back as the Prophet collapsed, her mouth now open—but empty.
The voices stopped.
Silence returned.
Lira fell to her knees, breath shallow.
Taron ran to her side. "You okay?"
"I heard them all," she whispered. "Every soul she took. She was trying to warn us…"
"Warn us of what?" Kael asked.
Lira turned to him, her expression hollow.
> "The Gate of Night has cracked."
---
A New Threat
Far away, in the darkest reaches of the Veiled Realm, a figure stood upon a spire of bone.
Cloaked in midnight, crowned in shadow, he watched the crack spread through the sky—thin, jagged, pulsing with otherworldly light.
A voice beside him whispered, "The Oathbearer lives."
The figure smiled.
"Then it's time we meet."