Chapter 7. Echo of a Past Life

Inside, the temple looked nothing like Liara had expected. In her fragmentary memories, this place shone with the whiteness of marble and the gold of decorations, filled with light streaming through tall stained-glass windows. But reality proved different.

The wide corridors, once majestic and bright, were now covered in cracks. The golden trim had dulled or disappeared entirely. Many stained-glass windows were broken, and instead of colorful patterns, sharp shards lay on the floor, reflecting Veyrin's reddish light. Signs of desolation were everywhere—abandoned rooms, half-destroyed statues, dust swirling in the air as they passed.

And yet the temple wasn't dead. Surprisingly, life persisted in some parts. Crystalline plants with thin, almost transparent leaves grew from cracks in the walls, glowing from within with a soft silvery light. Small creatures resembling fireflies the size of a palm had settled in niches where statues or relics likely once stood, emitting a pulsating bluish glow.

"Little guardians," Korun remarked, intercepting Liara's gaze. "They appeared after... the incident. They're attracted to the residual energy still circulating in the temple."

He led them through winding corridors, tapping his staff on the floor with a rhythm that seemed to set the pace of their steps. Daren remained vigilant, his eyes constantly scanning their surroundings like someone expecting danger from any corner. Liara, however... Liara felt strange. Each hall, each turn of the corridor resonated with vague memories—not clear images, but rather sensations, as if her body remembered what her mind had not yet recalled.

"This temple was a center for studying the boundaries between worlds," Korun spoke, breaking the silence. "The ancient builders erected it in a place where the fabric of reality is particularly thin. For centuries, the priestesses of Veyrin guarded knowledge about the Veil and the worlds beyond it."

He cast a quick glance at Liara.

"You were the last High Priestess," he added more quietly. "Before the catastrophe."

Liara slowed her pace, trying to process this information. High Priestess. In her visions and fragmentary memories, she had seen herself in the temple but hadn't realized her status.

"What... what happened after I disappeared?" she asked, looking at the devastation around them. "To the temple, to the priests, to..."

"To everything," Korun finished for her, and his voice carried an old but unforgotten pain. "The catastrophe destroyed not only physical structures, Liara. It tore the very fabric of our reality."

They entered a circular hall with a high dome, partially collapsed, through which beams of reddish sunlight penetrated. In the center of the hall was a pool—the same one Liara had seen in her visions. But instead of glowing liquid, it now contained only a dark substance resembling mercury, which slowly shifted, forming strange patterns.

"The Halls of Reflection," Liara whispered, recognizing this place from her visions. "This is where the ritual took place."

Korun nodded, his face hardening.

"This is where you disappeared," he said, and his gaze shifted to Daren. "After he convinced you to attempt the impossible."

Daren didn't avert his eyes, but his shoulders tensed slightly.

"I didn't force her," he said quietly. "It was her decision."

"Was it?" Korun raised an eyebrow. "I wonder how free that decision was, considering you appeared after so many years of absence, with stories about other worlds and other parts of her soul hidden beyond the Veil."

The tension between the men was almost palpable. Liara stepped forward, positioning herself between them.

"What happened afterward?" she asked Korun. "After the ritual?"

The temple guardian turned his gaze from Daren and looked at her with an expression softened by the pain of memories.

"Chaos," he answered. "The energy of the portal that was supposed to transport you to another world spiraled out of control. You... dissolved into light, your body breaking into particles of energy. Most disappeared into the portal, carried somewhere beyond our world. But some fragments remained here, scattered throughout the temple."

He waved his hand, pointing to the small glowing creatures Liara had noticed earlier.

"They appeared afterward, attracted by the residual energy. Many priests left the temple, frightened by what had happened. Others... others died trying to stabilize the rifts in reality that began appearing everywhere."

His gaze moved back to Daren, clearly reproachful.

"And he left. As soon as he could stand after the catastrophe, he left Veyrin, leaving us to deal with the consequences."

Daren stepped forward, his eyes flashing with emerald fire.

"I searched for her," he said, with barely contained rage in his voice. "For five centuries, I searched for fragments of her soul across the multiverse. What did you want me to do? Stay here mourning the ruins?"

"You could have helped stabilize the rifts," Korun replied, not backing down. "You were a Magister of Resonance. Your knowledge of energy flows could have saved dozens of lives."

"And delayed the search for years," Daren countered. "By then, her traces in other worlds would have already begun to fade."

Liara stood between them again, raising her hands in a calming gesture.

"Please," she said. "What happened five centuries ago cannot be changed. I... we came here to find the part of me that remained in Veyrin. Help me with this."

Korun looked at her for a long moment, then slowly nodded.

"Yes, of course," he said more quietly. "Forgive my anger, Liara. Seeing you again, even in this strange body... It awakens old memories."

He approached the pool and dipped the tip of his staff into the dark liquid. Ripples spread across the surface, and the liquid began to glow from within with a soft silvery light.

"After your disappearance, I vowed to protect what remained of you in the temple," he said. "I stayed when everyone left. I studied the energy flows, tried to understand what happened and whether it could be reversed."

He lifted his staff, and a drop of glowing liquid fell back into the pool, forming a perfect circle of expanding waves.

"And I discovered something amazing. Part of you did remain here, Liara. But not as a physical object or even as an energy imprint. Rather as... an echo. A reflection of your essence, imprinted in the very fabric of the temple's reality."

Liara moved closer to the pool, strangely drawn to the glowing liquid.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "How can an echo of essence exist?"

Korun smiled—for the first time since their meeting, and this smile transformed his face, momentarily revealing the young priest he once was.

"Let me show you," he said and again lowered his staff into the liquid, this time tracing a complex symbol resembling a spiral with branches on the surface. "Look."

The liquid in the pool began to move faster, swirling around the center in a vortex that gradually rose upward, forming a column of glowing substance. The column began to bend, transform, taking shape...

"Oh gods," Daren breathed.

Before them stood a woman—or rather, the ghost of a woman, woven from glowing liquid. She was tall, with long hair flowing like living silver. Her facial features were blurred but still recognizable—the same high cheekbones, the same curve of lips as Liara in her current golem form. The figure was dressed in flowing garments that seemed to be part of her.

The ghostly priestess slowly turned her head, her gaze—silvery glowing eyes without pupils—resting on Liara. And although her face showed no emotion, Liara felt a wave of recognition wash through her entire being.

"Is that... me?" she whispered, unable to take her eyes off this strange reflection of her past self.

"This is the echo of your priestess," Korun answered. "An imprint of her consciousness and energy preserved in the temple. She's not quite alive, but not quite dead either. Rather... a frozen moment of your existence, caught between states."

The ghostly priestess took a step forward, and Liara noticed she didn't touch the floor—her figure hovered a few centimeters above the surface. A slender hand rose in a greeting gesture.

"Can she... speak?" Daren asked, not taking his eyes off the apparition.

"Not with words," Korun replied. "But she can communicate through images and sensations if she wishes. Usually, she just... exists. Moves around the temple, sometimes stopping in certain places, as if performing ghostly rituals or remembering something."

He turned to Liara.

"But she's more active now than ever before. Your presence has awakened her."

The ghostly priestess approached Liara, stopping at arm's length. The air between them seemed to thicken, sparkling with invisible particles. The silver pendant on Liara's neck began to glow brighter, resonating with the ghost's energy.

"She wants to establish a connection," Korun said quietly. "Show you something."

Liara hesitantly raised her hand as if to touch the ghostly figure. Daren took a cautionary step forward.

"Liara, be careful," he said tensely. "We don't know how this might affect your current state."

But Liara already felt a strange attraction—not physical, but rather at the level of essence. Part of her, the one that was a shard of the Aeon, was drawn to this echo of her past self, like a plant reaching for light.

"It will be alright," she said, not taking her eyes off the ghostly priestess. "I feel... she won't harm me. She is me. Or I am her. We are... connected."

And with these words, she reached out further until her fingers touched the glowing silhouette.

At the moment of contact, the world around her disappeared.

She stood in the same hall, but completely different—radiant, majestic, full of life and light. The pool in the center was filled with liquid light that shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow. Around her moved figures in white robes—priests and priestesses of the temple, performing their duties.

She saw herself—not the golem body, not the ghostly figure, but a real, living woman in the long robes of the High Priestess, with a constellation symbol on her forehead. The priestess stood by the pool, her hands moving above the surface in a complex ritual gesture, forming patterns of light.

The vision changed. Now she—the priestess—sat in a small room lit only by the light of a crystal lamp. On her lap lay an ancient book with symbols similar to those Liara had seen in Daren's refuge in the Borderlands. The priestess was reading, her fingers carefully turning the fragile pages, her expression both concentrated and troubled.

Another scene change. The priestess stood on a temple balcony, looking at Veyrin's red sky. Next to her was Daren—younger, with fewer scars, but with the same green eyes full of determination and passion.

"It has already begun," he was saying, pointing to the horizon where a strange distortion was visible, as if the air was trembling and melting. "The Withering is spreading faster than we anticipated. If we don't find a way to stop it, Veyrin will be lost within a year."

"And the ritual?" the priestess asked. "Are you sure it will work?"

Daren hesitated—just for a moment, but she noticed it.

"I've studied these formulas for five years," he replied. "Theoretically, if we can open a stable portal, we can find other worlds where the Withering hasn't begun or has been stopped. We can save at least some of our people."

The priestess looked at him with a long gaze full of emotions—love, trust, fear, determination.

"But you're not telling me everything," she said quietly. "There's something else you're hiding."

Daren turned away, his shoulders tensing.

"There is... a risk," he finally said. "For you. The ritual requires a special type of energy to activate the portal. Energy that only the High Priestesses of Veyrin possess."

"My life force," she finished for him, and it wasn't a question.

He turned sharply toward her, alarm flashing in his eyes.

"No! Not life force. Just... energy resonance. You'll be a conduit, not a sacrifice."

But in his gaze, she saw uncertainty that he tried to hide. He himself didn't know for sure how the ritual would end for her.

The vision changed again. Now they were in the Halls of Reflection. Around the pool, crystals were arranged in a complex geometric pattern. Daren stood opposite her, holding a silver key—the same one he now used to open portals between worlds.

"Ready?" he asked, and his voice trembled with tension and, possibly, fear.

The priestess nodded, her face calm, almost detached. But inside her raged a hurricane of emotions—fear, doubt, hope, and deeper, beneath it all—a strange sense of inevitability, as if everything happening had been predetermined long ago.

"One question," she said. "If the ritual works and the portal opens... where will we go?"

Daren smiled—a warm, genuine smile that rarely appeared on his face.

"I sense a world very similar to ours, but alive, full of energy and life. A place where the boundaries between life forms are blurred. The inhabitants call it..."

"Verdantis," the priestess whispered, recognition flashing in her eyes.

Daren looked at her in surprise.

"You know of it?"

She shook her head, not understanding where this knowledge came from.

"The name just... appeared in my head. Like a memory of a place I've never been."

Daren frowned momentarily, then nodded.

"Perhaps it's a sign we're on the right path." He raised the silver key. "Shall we begin?"

The priestess took a deep breath and extended her hands over the pool. Her fingers began to glow, light flowing from them into the liquid, making it bubble and glow brighter.

"I'm ready," she said. "Open the portal, Daren Vultar. And may the gods have mercy on us if we are wrong."

Daren raised the key, which flashed with bright light. A beam connected with the center of the pool, forming a link. The liquid began to rotate, forming a whirlpool that rose upward, taking the shape of a portal.

Everything was going well... until the moment when the earth suddenly shuddered, as if from an impact of colossal force. The temple walls shook, dust falling from the ceiling. The whirlpool in the pool began to destabilize, its shape distorted, edges becoming jagged.

"What's happening?" cried the priestess, trying to maintain control over the energy flows.

Daren looked at the portal with horror as it began to pulse and change color from silver to an alarming red.

"I don't know! Something is affecting the portal, destabilizing its structure!"

A figure appeared in the doorway of the hall—a young priest with frightened eyes. Korun, much younger, without the scars and gray hair that would appear later.

"High Priestess!" he shouted. "The temple has activated its defense mechanisms! It perceives the portal as a threat!"

The priestess felt something inside her respond to his words—a deep connection to the temple she didn't even know existed. She literally sensed how the ancient structures of the temple resisted the ritual, trying to close the rift in reality they were creating.

"Daren!" she cried. "We must stop! The temple won't allow us to complete the ritual!"

But it was too late. The portal was already forming, albeit unstable and distorted. The silver key in Daren's hand vibrated with such force that it seemed about to shatter into pieces.

"I can't stop it!" he shouted. "The process has gone too far!"

The priestess felt the portal's energy beginning to pull her, like a whirlpool. But not her physical body—something deeper, more fundamental. Her essence. Her soul.

In the last moment, she looked at Daren—genuine horror filled his eyes as he realized what was happening.

"Liara! No!" he lunged toward her, but the distance between them seemed to increase with each step.

She felt a tear—not physical pain, but a sense of fundamental separation, as if she was being torn apart at the very foundation of her existence. Her vision was clouded by silvery light, and the last thing she saw was Daren's face, contorted with agony and despair...

The vision ended as abruptly as it had begun. Liara recoiled from the ghostly priestess, gasping for air, though her golem body didn't need to breathe. She felt Daren supporting her, preventing her from falling.

"Liara!" his voice sounded distant, through the noise in her ears. "Are you alright?"

She blinked, trying to focus her vision. The ghostly priestess still stood before her, but now her figure was clearer, more defined, as if contact with Liara had given her more substance.

"I... saw," Liara whispered. "The ritual. What happened. The temple resisted."

She looked at Korun, who was watching them with tense attention.

"You tried to warn us," she said. "At the last minute. But it was too late."

Korun slowly nodded, his face softened by memories.

"I felt the activation of the temple's defense systems," he said. "Every temple of Veyrin has built-in mechanisms to protect against disruptions in the fabric of reality. They are older than the priesthood itself, possibly created by those who built the first temples millennia ago."

He came closer, carefully, as if afraid of startling the ghostly priestess.

"When I realized what was happening, I tried to intervene. But the ritual had already reached the point of no return. The portal opened, though unstable, distorted by the action of the protective mechanisms."

His gaze shifted to Daren, and this time there was less accusation, more weary understanding.

"And then something happened that none of us expected. Instead of simply conducting you through the portal, it... tore Liara apart. Her essence split, most of it disappearing into the portal, but some fragments remained here, in the temple."

Daren let go of Liara, making sure she was standing firmly, and took a step toward the ghostly priestess, who watched them with her pupil-less silvery eyes.

"This is one of those fragments," he said. "Isn't it? A part of Liara's essence that remained in the temple."

Korun nodded.

"Yes. I call her the Phantom Priestess. She appeared a few days after the catastrophe. At first, it was just a vague light wandering through the halls of the temple. But over time, she took form, became more... aware."

He looked at Liara.

"I vowed to protect her," he said quietly. "After you disappeared and Daren left, I remained the only one who remembered you as you were. I vowed to guard the temple and your echo remaining in it until your return."

Liara felt a wave of gratitude to this man who had sacrificed five centuries of his life for a vow given to a ghost.

"How... how have you lived all this time?" she asked. "Five centuries..."

"Time in Veyrin flows differently for those connected to the temple," Korun replied with a slight smile. "Especially after the catastrophe, when the boundaries of reality were violated. Sometimes it seems to me that only a few decades have passed. And sometimes... sometimes I feel the weight of each day lived."

The ghostly priestess stepped forward, drawing their attention. She raised her hand, pointing to Liara, then to herself, and then somewhere to the side, deeper into the temple.

"She wants to show us something," Daren said. "Something important."

Korun frowned.

"Usually she doesn't leave this hall," he said. "This is the focus of her energy, the place where she feels most... whole."

The ghostly priestess repeated the gesture, more insistently this time. Then she turned and floated toward one of the exits from the hall—an arch leading into a dark corridor that seemed to go deeper into the bowels of the temple.

Liara, without hesitation, followed her. Something about this ghostly image of her past self drew her like a magnet. She felt a strange certainty that the ghost wouldn't lead her into danger.

Daren and Korun exchanged quick glances, then hurried after them.

The ghostly priestess led them through corridors of the temple that became less ruined as they proceeded deeper. Here there was no sunlight—only the soft glow of crystals growing from the walls and the light of the ghostly figure itself illuminated their path.

Finally, they reached a small circular room without windows. In the center stood a pedestal, on which rested a strange object—something like a crystalline sphere encased in a metal frame with thin lines extending from it across the floor to the walls.

"This is..." Korun stopped in the doorway, his face expressing a mixture of surprise and awe. "I didn't know this room still existed. I thought it was destroyed during the catastrophe."

"What is this place?" asked Liara, feeling a strange attraction to the sphere on the pedestal.

"The Heart of the Temple," Korun answered. "The center of all energy flows passing through this place. The artifact on the pedestal—the Eye of Veyrin, a relic created by the first builders."

The ghostly priestess floated to the pedestal and stopped beside it, looking at Liara with an expectant gaze.

"She wants you to approach," Daren said quietly. "But be careful. Such ancient artifacts can be... unpredictable."

Liara slowly approached the pedestal. Now she could better examine the sphere. Inside the crystal swirled a mist resembling the one she had seen in the Eye of Memory in Alkarion's temple. But here the mist was not gray but silvery, with flecks of golden sparks.

"What should I do?" she asked, looking at the ghostly priestess.

She did not answer—at least not with words. Instead, she raised her hand and touched the sphere. At the moment of contact, her figure seemed to dissolve, being drawn into the crystal. In an instant, she disappeared completely, and the mist inside the sphere became brighter, taking on a more definite shape—the form of a spiral with rays extending from it.

"She... she entered the artifact," Korun breathed. "I've never seen her do anything like this."

Liara felt the silver pendant on her neck heating up, pulsing in rhythm with the glow inside the sphere. The echo-stone was also reacting, its surface covered with a network of glowing lines repeating the pattern inside the Eye of Veyrin.

"She's waiting for me," Liara said, certainty coming from somewhere deep within her being. "She wants to show me something else. Something important."

Without waiting for an answer, she reached out and touched the sphere.

The world disappeared again, but this time differently. Instead of a flow of images and scenes from the past, Liara felt her consciousness expanding, encompassing the entire temple, the entire mountain, the entire world of Veyrin. She could feel energy flows permeating reality, see the thin threads of connections between objects and beings.

And she could see the wounds—tears in the fabric of reality left by the catastrophe five centuries ago. Some had healed over time. Others still gaped, allowing energy to leak into nowhere.

The largest rift was right here, in the heart of the temple, hidden from ordinary sight but obvious at the level of energy flows. It pulsed like an open wound, emitting waves of distorted energy.

And inside this rift, Liara saw... herself. Not the ghostly priestess, not her past incarnation, but something more fundamental—a cluster of pure energy, glowing with all the colors of the rainbow. A shard of the Aeon, stuck between worlds, neither here nor there, in a state of eternal transition.

I found you, thought Liara, directing her consciousness to this energy cluster. I've come for you.

The energy cluster reacted, pulsing in response to her presence. But it didn't move, didn't try to join with her. Instead, it seemed to point to something—to the rift itself, to the wound in reality.

And then Liara understood. The shard couldn't free itself while the rift existed. It was bound to it, perhaps even maintaining its stability, preventing it from expanding and engulfing the entire temple, the entire mountain, all of Veyrin.

You stayed to protect this world, she realized. Like Korun. You were both guardians, keepers of a wound that would never fully heal.

In response, the energy cluster pulsed, confirming her guess. And it showed her something else—an image of the temple as it was before, whole and majestic, filled with life and energy. And then—an image of the temple as it could be again if the wound were healed properly.

You want me to help heal the rift, Liara understood. Not just take you, but also restore what was damaged.

The energy cluster pulsed in confirmation, and Liara felt a deep connection with this part of herself—a part that had sacrificed freedom to protect an entire world.

The vision began to fade, reality returning. In the last moment, the energy cluster sent her one more image—troubling, alarming. A figure in dark clothing, with cold blue eyes, approaching the temple. A person whose intentions were far from good.

Danger approaches, Liara understood. And time is running short.

She returned to reality, recoiling from the Eye of Veyrin. The sphere still glowed, but the ghostly priestess did not appear again—she remained inside, merged with the artifact.

"Liara!" Daren was beside her, supporting her. "What did you see?"

She turned to him, then to Korun, her eyes glowing with inner light, reflecting what she had just experienced.

"I found her," she said. "The part of me that remained in Veyrin. She's stuck in a reality rift, right here, in the heart of the temple. She... maintains its stability, preventing the wound from widening and consuming everything around."

Korun nodded, as if this confirmed something he had long suspected.

"So that's why the temple wasn't completely destroyed," he said. "All these years I felt something holding it back from final collapse. I thought it was the defense systems, but..."

"It was her," Liara finished. "A part of me. And you, Korun. You were both guardians of this place."

She turned to the sphere, which pulsed in time with the beating of her heart.

"She showed me that the rift can be healed. The fabric of reality restored. And if we do this..."

"The shard will be freed," Daren finished. "And can reunite with you."

Liara nodded, but then her face became serious.

"But there's something else. She showed me a danger approaching the temple. A person in dark clothes, with blue eyes."

Daren straightened sharply, his hand automatically resting on his weapon's hilt.

"Elric," he hissed. "The Magister of the Guardians. But how did he find us so quickly?"

Korun frowned.

"If he's using artifacts tuned to the energy signature of the shard, then the activation of the Eye of Veyrin could have served as a beacon," he said. "Especially if he was already in Veyrin."

"We must act quickly," Daren said. "Heal the rift and take the shard before his arrival."

Liara nodded, but doubt grew within her. Healing such an ancient wound in the fabric of reality couldn't be a simple matter. And what if the shard was right? What if it was important not just to take it, but to properly close the wound, to prevent further damage to Veyrin?

But there was no time for reflection. Somewhere in the distance, at the edge of her consciousness, she already felt the approach of something cold and calculating, something that sought her with the persistence of a predator tracking prey.

And she knew that the next few hours would determine not only her fate but also the fate of the temple, perhaps even all of Veyrin.