Chapter 53: The Door That Remembers

Chapter 53: The Door That Remembers

The doorway beneath Mount Voresh pulsed like a living wound.

Elira's flame hovered over her palm, but it didn't push back the dark. Mihai readied his blade, though they all knew it wouldn't matter if what lay beyond the gate was hostile.

"Once we go in," Mihai said, "we don't come back the same."

Andrew nodded, hand on Ashren's hilt.

"We haven't been the same since Norvangar."

He stepped forward. The gate opened without a sound—like it had been waiting for him all along.

- Inside the Vault -

The path spiraled down into a black cavern laced with glowing script—ancient, celestial, and broken.

"It's not just old," Elira murmured, "it's forbidden."

Mihai traced a sigil with his eyes.

"This is pre-Godfall language. These are… names."

"Prisoners?" Andrew asked.

"No," Mihai said darkly. "Weapons."

The chamber opened into a coliseum of sorts—massive, circular, with shadow-etched thrones lining the outer walls. At the center stood a sarcophagus… cracked open.

Inside lay nothing.

But a trail of dark footprints led away.

- A Voice in the Dark -

As they followed the trail, a deep voice rang out, ancient and sad.

"You left me behind."

Andrew stopped. The others didn't hear it—but Ashren trembled.

A small shadow stood before them, a child no older than ten, wrapped in broken chains. His eyes were black stars.

"You fed me to the blade to wake it," the boy whispered. "You made me forget my name."

Andrew's pulse pounded. The First Vessel.

"I didn't know," he said quietly.

"But you do now. And the debt will be paid."

The shadow lunged. Ashren pulsed, shielding Andrew, but the collision sent him sprawling.

Elira launched fire—but it passed through the shadow harmlessly. Mihai stepped between them, sword drawn, but hesitated.

"It's… not real," he said. "It's guilt."

- Trial of the Mind -

They each saw their own shadows—Mihai saw himself as a deserter, Elira saw herself dying in Andrew's name again.

Andrew's voice cut through the illusions.

"You're not my past," he said, stepping toward the shadow-child. "You're my shame. But I'll carry you."

The shadow stopped.

For a heartbeat, its eyes softened. Then the form crumbled into dust, and the chamber grew quiet.

A small fragment of light remained in the dust—a shard of starlight, still pulsing faintly.

Andrew picked it up. Ashren absorbed it, and a glyph lit up on the blade's hilt.

- The Gods Watch -

Far above the world, in the High Realm, the gods looked down.

"He found the First Fragment," one said.

"And did not lose himself," said another.

"Then it begins. The Reforging."

- Chapter End Hook -

As they left the chamber, Elira looked at Andrew, eyes heavy.

"Whatever you were before… I think you're becoming someone else now."

"Someone better?" he asked.

She smiled faintly.

"Someone worth following."

But behind them, in the dust of the sarcophagus, the broken chains began to slither.