Andrew_Nickene

This is the journey of another young swordsman that was raised in a commoner family until a young age Andrew discovered that the had excellent skills to wield a sword.
The story starts when Andrew joins the biggest competition on his continet of swordsmanship 
were he is given the opportunity to get an artifact rarity of a sword called Ashren that has the power to show the past lifes of whoever wields it. 
The sword gave Andrew the power of his past life to forge his own new journey.

Ashren: The Shadow Within

Chapter 52: Echoes Beneath the Mountain

The mist rolled in thick and cold as Andrew and Elira approached the black slopes of Mount Voresh. Mihai trailed behind, wary of the sudden drop in temperature.

"You said the gods spoke to you," Andrew said to Elira, his voice low. "Do you mean literally?"

"Not voices. Visions. Warnings. Nightmares."

She stopped suddenly. Her golden eyes flicked toward the peak hidden in fog.

Beneath the mountain lay an ancient ruin—cracked obsidian pillars, broken altars, and a circular chamber that pulsed with faint divine energy.

"This was a temple," Mihai murmured. "To whom?"

"Not a god," Elira whispered. "A… challenger."

In the center of the chamber stood a pedestal—crumbling, yet intact. Upon it, a small mirror, framed in shadowsteel. It hummed with the same eerie aura as Ashren.

"It's reacting to your sword," Mihai said.

Ashren vibrated against Andrew's back. He stepped forward and placed a hand on the mirror.

Black tendrils surged from the shards, wrapping around Andrew's arms and head. His knees hit the stone. The world twisted.

His past self—towering over an army, Elira at his side.

Cities burning beneath his command.

A child, small and wrapped in chains, standing inside a crystal coffin. Shadow leaking from his eyes.

"The First Vessel," whispered a voice. "The one you sacrificed to awaken the Blade."

Andrew jolted upright, gasping. Elira knelt beside him, face pale.

"A mistake," he said. "One I didn't know I made."

That night, the fire they built couldn't warm Andrew.

"You think I'm still him," he said to Elira.

"I don't know," she answered. "But I know this—he would never hesitate."

"Maybe that's why he needed to be stopped."

They shared a silence—not angry, not cold. Just uncertain.

And then a deep rumble came from within the mountain. Something old had been stirred.

- Cliffhanger: Beneath the Stone -

As they looked back, the broken mirror's pedestal was gone.

In its place… a doorway had opened.

Black stone twisted upward like ribs from a forgotten beast, pulsing with a heartbeat not their own.

"Something was waiting for you here," Mihai said. "Something that remembers."

"Not just me," Andrew replied, standing. "Us."