Chapter 22: Chamber of the Forgotten

The cave trembled.

The last flickers of Nytherion's memory had faded, but the energy they left behind lingered — thick, electric, and laced with sorrow. The chamber where the echo of Elira's voice had pierced through the veil now pulsed with a silence so dense, it almost roared.

Liam stood still, fists clenched, heart pounding. "That wasn't just a memory... that was a warning. Or a cry for help."

Aeris placed a hand on his shoulder. "Or both."

They turned toward the path deeper into the mountain — where the symbols on the walls shifted slightly, pulsing like breathing stone. Their path had changed. The chamber had accepted them, revealing the way forward.

Kael narrowed his eyes. "These markings... they're ancient. Not just realm-script. They're bound to guardian blood. Which means whatever lies ahead... only those tied to Elira's protection can reach it."

Nyra stepped up beside him. "And we still only have two fragments. So why is it letting us in?"

No one answered.

They moved deeper.

The narrow corridor opened into a vast underground chamber — nothing like they expected. No ruins. No stone guardians. Instead, it was filled with... mirrors. Hundreds of them. Floating midair. Hanging from invisible threads. Some cracked. Others glowing faintly. They reflected not just the group, but flickers of other lives. Different timelines. Choices never made. Futures that had crumbled.

Liam froze before one mirror — it showed him standing alone in a world consumed by flame. Aeris gone. Kael's blade shattered. Nyra turned to shadow. He looked away.

"This place isn't a vault," Nyra whispered. "It's a memory trap. It feeds on doubt."

A deep hum shook the ground. From the center of the chamber, a monolithic mirror twice the height of a man slowly turned toward them. It was pitch-black, without reflection — a void.

Then it spoke.

"Only one may look. Only one may see what was taken. The price... is truth."

Kael stepped forward. "What does it mean?"

Aeris shook her head. "We're not meant to understand everything. Not yet. But we came for a reason — to find the protector. If this place is truly bound to memory, then maybe... it's not just Elira's past hidden here. Maybe it's theirs too."

Liam stepped closer to the void mirror. "Let me try."

"Wait—" Nyra reached out.

But it was too late.

The second Liam's fingers grazed the surface, the mirror cracked open — not shattered, but unfolding like pages of a book. A storm of images swallowed him whole.

He stood in a vast, white field. Snow without cold. Light without sun.

Before him stood a woman — tall, armored in gold and crimson. Her hair was wild, silver as starlight, and her eyes... they matched Elira's.

"You're not supposed to be here yet," she said.

Liam blinked. "Are you... one of the protectors?"

She smiled faintly. "I was. Until the world forgot me."

"Who are you?"

"My name was Serene. I fought beside Elira. I bled for the last breath of the realm. And when we failed... we scattered. I was sealed in memory. Guarding what little hope remained."

"The fragment?"

She nodded. "But it's not here. Not yet. You must seek the others. Those scattered across your world. The protectors who never returned. They carry fragments not of power... but of sacrifice."

Liam swallowed hard. "What happened to Elira?"

Serene looked away, her voice tightening. "She gave herself to the Veil to stop Nytherion. But she didn't know the Veil had already been corrupted. What came back... wasn't the same."

Liam's voice shook. "So the Elira I hear in my dreams—"

"Is her shadow. Her pain. Her warning. She doesn't want you to fail as she did. But the one who guides your enemies now... is something far worse."

"Who?"

Serene's eyes narrowed. "It wears the face of mercy. But its heart is rot. It will turn your allies. Twist your cause. You've seen it already — in Nytherion's broken soul."

Liam stepped back. The mirror pulsed.

Serene's form began to fade. "Find the others. One waits where the sun never sets. Another where the sea swallows light. And the last... where death never sleeps."

Then her final words echoed: "And Liam... trust the summoner. Her bloodline is older than even she knows."

The mirror slammed shut.

Liam stumbled back into the real world, breath ragged. Aeris and the others caught him.

"What did you see?" Kael demanded.

Liam looked at Nyra first — something had shifted in his eyes. A new trust.

Then he turned to the others. "She was real. Serene. One of the protectors. She told me where to find the others... and something more."

Nyra stepped forward. "What?"

He met her eyes. "You. You're tied to all of this in ways we don't understand yet. Your summoning... it's not just learned. It's inherited. Ancient."

Nyra's lips parted, stunned.

Kael paced. "So where to now?"

Liam stood tall. "Three places. One where the sun never sets. One where the sea swallows light. And the last... where death never sleeps."

Aeris nodded. "The guardians of the human world. The lost protectors. It's time we find them. Before our enemies do."

As they stepped away from the chamber of mirrors, Liam looked back once more.

In the void mirror, a flicker of Elira's face remained — a single tear frozen in glass.

And behind it, in the sky of the memory-realm, a figure cloaked in shadow watched them leave.

The real enemy had begun to move.