Charter: Those Who Gave Their Lives

Lian slowly leaned towards her.

Calcium pressed her lips together. The only idea is to get to the tablet.

–Distract them. –She whispered: – I'm going to try to grab her.

Lian looked at her for a second, then nodded.

– Someone has to do all the dirty work.

He abruptly stepped forward and, without hesitation, threw the dagger. The weapon flashed in flight, aiming at the nearest figure. At the same moment, Lian took off, walking away.

The figures instantly began to move. Their cloaks flew up, they rushed after Lian like a pack of predators.

Calcium didn't wait.

She took off running towards the tablet. Every step echoed in his chest.

There were only a few meters left.

But when her fingers almost touched the runes on the ancient stone surface, another figure appeared in front of her. Not like the others.

And there was a tattoo on her palm.Calcium froze, her heart pounding.

Tattoo Stories.

Like hers.

Calcium froze. A chill ran through her skin, but not from fear, but from the realization that another Story Tattooist was standing in front of her.

The figure slowly raised its head. Under the hood, sharp facial features flashed – the skin was pale, the lips were compressed into a thin line. But most of all, the eyes attracted Calcium's attention. Empty, colorless, as if devoid of life.

The figure held out her hand, and her tattoo flashed, just like Calcium's.

[A carrier of a similar ability has been detected.]

[Warning! Anomaly!]

[No data available on this object.]

[Caution is recommended.]

For the first time, the system didn't know who it was facing.

Calcium swallowed, forcing herself to breathe evenly.

–Who are you? – Her voice sounded firmer than she expected.

The figure did not respond, but instead, faded silver hair emerged from the hood, and the space around it trembled. The dust on the floor swirled like a whirlwind, as if time itself had begun to change.

Calcium felt something inside her respond. The tattoo on her palm seemed to catch fire, and images flashed before her eyes—other people's memories, fragments of stories that she could not make out.

But one thing became clear: this man was here for a reason.

The Tablet, the Temple, the Council of Shadows… Everything was connected.

The figure stepped closer.

–You shouldn't have come here. – The voice was quiet, but there was a threat in it: –I made a mistake, and I won't let you do the same!

Calcium clenched her fists: – It was a mistake?

The figure waved his hand, and the ancient writings on the walls flashed, turning into moving symbols. The space trembled.

It wasn't an illusion.It was a battle.

Behind her, Lian shouted something, but Calcium had already made her choice.

She activated the Echoes of Stories, and her consciousness surged forward, whirling through time. The world around her darkened, and images began to flash before her eyes.

———

...A temple, but not destroyed, but majestic, full of light. People in long robes bent over tablets, writing stories on stone. In the center stood a woman with the same tattoo on her palm as Calcium. She raised her hand, and the words themselves fell on the surface of the tablet.…

"The Tattoo Artist of Stories. The last of us."

... Scene change. The same woman, but now her face is distorted with pain. There are dark figures around her, similar to the ones Lian fought with. They surrounded her, demanding something. The tablet cracks in her hands, but she continues to write....

"The story must be completed, even if the price is my life."

...Another leap in time. The same figure that was now standing in front of Calcium. But then this man was alive, full of energy. He was holding a tablet, and symbols were scattered around him.…

–You're just part of someone's story.

"Echoes of Stories" has reached its limit. Completion of recording…

Calcium woke up with a sharp intake of breath. The space around her was still shaking, and her palm was burning with heat. She understood what she had just seen—the past. The history of this temple, the tablet... and the man who stood in front of it.

"...In front of me is the one who agreed to the Temple's terms... if it weren't for the system... I would have become the same..."

–You were here. A long time ago. Calcium whispered.

The figure didn't move, but there was something... like recognition in its empty eyes.

– History does not repeat itself. It just keeps going on. – The girl who once gave her life replied softly.

There was a crash behind them. Lian cursed, fighting off the remaining shadows. They couldn't afford to waste time.

Calcium glanced at the tablet.

She had to complete this story.

–If I'm just part of a story. –She said: – Then I'll finish it as I see fit.

Calcium stepped forward, and now, knowing what she had seen in the past, she realized that this tablet was much more than just a stone with writing. She carried the end of a story that was being erased.

The figure in front of her didn't move, but the space around her was still shaking.

[An abnormal tablet has been detected.]

[Warning: Activating it may change the course of events.]

The system warned her, but there was no choice.

Calcium raised her hand, letting the tattoo's magic flow through her fingers. At the same moment, the symbols on the stone flashed. Her palm touched the surface of the tablet, and the world shattered again.

***

She stood in the same library, but now it was not destroyed, but filled with light. People were moving between the shelves, and in the center of the room stood a woman with silver hair. Her clothes were antique, embroidered with gold patterns. She had a pen in her hand, but her face expressed deep weariness.

Calcium realized that this was the one she had seen in her visions.

–You found me after all.– Her voice was low, hollow, like the echo of distant thunder.

She tensed: – Who are you?

– The story that they tried to erase.

The woman raised her hand, and Calcium noticed that she had a tattoo. It's the same as hers.

Another Tattoo Artist of Stories.

–You didn't come here by accident. She continued: – But now you have to make a choice.

Silhouettes began to appear around them. Those dark figures, but they weren't attacking now. They stood in the distance, watching.

Calcium clenched her hand into a fist.

–What's the choice?

– End the story... or let it continue.

At that moment, the space around them trembled again. She knew that her time here was limited.

The Tablet was waiting. She had to decide.

Calcium swallowed, looking at the groom. Her heart was pounding, but she knew she really had no choice.

She cautiously approached the tablet, her palm still glowing with magic. The symbols on the stone continued to glow, and it seemed as if the tablet itself was breathing, waiting for her decision.

– If I finish this story, what will happen? – she asked, without taking her eyes off the patterns intertwining on the stone.

The woman looked at her, and her eyes resembled pools full of ancient secrets.

– You will enter the final line. – She said: - And it will become unchangeable. No one can erase it.

Calcium tensed up.

–And if I let the story continue?

She tilted her head slightly.

– Then fate will change. But you can't go back anymore.

It was a test.

She suddenly remembered Lian. He was still fighting the shadows, probably unaware that Calcium was in this strange space.

In her visions, it was said that he was an "object with an unstable fate." What if his story could have changed too?

Her fingers clenched, her nails dug into her palm.

"I came here for a reason. I won't let anyone control me."

She made a decision.

//To be continued, please like and save…