The truth? The alter of the echoes

Chapter 6: The Alter of the echoes

The cabin was quiet, save for the gentle creak of the wooden beams overhead and the soft hum of wind brushing past the windows. A fire crackled low in the hearth, casting flickers of amber across the walls.

Seraphine leaned against the table, arms crossed, watching Elsa closely. Her usual smirk was absent. In its place, a cool seriousness settled across her face like a veil.

"You want the truth," she said finally. "Are you sure you're ready for it?"

Elsa sat on the edge of a chair, Aurora nestled quietly in her lap. "No. But I need it anyway."

Lumi, who had been standing near the window, turned around. Her eyes were shadowed, wary, but she didn't interrupt.

Seraphine studied Elsa for a long moment, then gave a small nod.

"Very well. This village Eldergrove it's not what it seems. Beneath its charm and quiet faces is a history soaked in blood and forgotten magic. Long ago, before the war, a child was born to Queen Elara. A girl, wrapped in prophecy and cloaked in secrecy. Her power was... unsettling, even then."

Elsa's breath caught in her throat. "You mean me."

Seraphine stepped closer. "They thought the child was lost during the war. Stolen, maybe killed. But not everyone believed that. Some believed she had been hidden spirited away before the worst came."

Lumi spoke then, her voice low. "Elara loved her child fiercely. Enough to risk everything. She gave her daughter to a witch sworn to protect her, binding magic over the girl's soul to keep her hidden, even from herself."

Seraphine gestured toward Elsa. "You are that girl. The dreams? The trembling earth? The way magic moves around you? It's all pieces of your truth calling back to you."

Elsa shook her head, stunned. "But... I'm just me. I don't feel powerful. I don't feel royal."

"Power doesn't always feel like lightning," Seraphine said. "Sometimes it feels like a whisper inside your bones. Like waking up and realizing you've been dreaming your whole life."

Elsa clutched Aurora closer, tears stinging the corners of her eyes. "So what now? What am I supposed to do with this?"

Seraphine knelt beside her, voice soft. "First, you remember who you are. Then you decide who you want to be."

Lumi walked over and gently placed a hand on Elsa's shoulder. "No matter what your past holds, you're not alone in this."

A silence followed, heavy but no longer suffocating.

How do I know who I am how do I awake my powers how to do i walk through this? Elsa asked "How do I know who I am? How do I awaken my powers? How do I walk through this?" Elsa asked, her voice trembling beneath the weight of it all.

Seraphine rose slowly to her feet. "Not by force. Not by fear. But by facing the pieces of yourself you've been running from. Your magic isn't lost, Elsa it's buried. Hidden under years of forgetting, sealed away to protect you."

Lumi nodded. "And now, that seal is breaking. Your dreams are memories, trying to return. The more you embrace them the more you allow yourself to feel, to remember the clearer your path will become."

"But how?" Elsa whispered. "I don't know where to begin."

Seraphine walked to the hearth and picked up a small, silver-framed mirror from the mantel. She held it out to Elsa.

"Start by seeing yourself."

Elsa hesitated, then took the mirror. In its glass, she didn't just see her reflection she saw flickers of something older. Her own eyes glowing faintly gold. A crown of light fading in and out behind her. She blinked, and it vanished.

"I saw something," she whispered.

Seraphine smiled faintly. "Then the veil is thinning. You're waking up."

Aurora stirred in her arms again, letting out a soft coo as if to remind her that she wasn't just someone's lost daughter she was a mother now, too.

"I'm afraid," Elsa admitted.

"That's normal," Lumi said gently. "The truth always feels heavier than the lie. But you don't have to carry it alone."

Seraphine added, softer this time, "You were never meant to."

Elsa looked between them Lumi, steady and grounded; Seraphine, wild and unreadable but both there. For her.

She took a slow, deep breath. For the first time, it didn't shake.

"Then teach me. Whatever comes next i want to face it."

The wind outside howled softly, like something ancient had heard her promise.

The wind outside shifted, brushing against the walls like a whisper. It no longer felt like a stranger. It felt like a call.

Seraphine's eyes narrowed slightly, as if hearing something the others could not. "Then we begin tonight."

"Tonight?" Elsa asked.

Lumi crossed her arms. "Why not give her a moment to breathe?"

"There's no time for breathing," Seraphine said, turning toward the door. "The dream you had last night what was it?"

Elsa blinked. "A shadow. A woman in white, standing in the middle of a battlefield. Her hands were bloodied… but she was smiling. And then there were flames. Screams."

Seraphine's expression darkened. "It's beginning, then."

"What's beginning?" Lumi asked, tension coiling in her voice.

"The unraveling," Seraphine answered. "The dream wasn't just memory it was a warning."

Elsa stood slowly. "You said we'd begin tonight. What are we doing?"

Seraphine glanced at Lumi, then back to Elsa. "There's a place deep in the forest. An altar older than this village. It was built by the first witches, meant for awakening and memory. If the seal on your magic is weakening, that place can open it fully."

Lumi's face paled. "You're taking her there? That altar is protected by binding spirits. If she's not ready—"

"She is," Seraphine said firmly. "The forest knows her. It always has."

Elsa swallowed hard, feeling the weight of every word. "Will it hurt?"

"Yes," Seraphine said without blinking. "But truth always does."

Lumi touched Elsa's hand. "We'll be with you. No matter what you see… no matter what you remember… we won't let you go through it alone."

Elsa looked down at Aurora, who had fallen asleep against her chest, peaceful and unaware. "Then let's go. If I was meant to find this truth… I won't run from it anymore."

Seraphine gave a quiet nod. "Good. Meet me at the edge of the forest at moonrise."

As the fire in the hearth crackled one last time before burning low, Elsa rose with the weight of a new beginning on her shoulders.

Not just a lost daughter.

Not just a forgotten queen.

But something more.

And the forest was waiting.

Seraphine rose to her feet, brushing a hand down her cloak. "To awaken your powers, Elsa, you must go where the veil between the worlds is thinnest. There is a place deep in the forest called the Altar of Echoes."

Lumi stiffened. "That place hasn't been touched in years. It's dangerous. The forest guards it like a secret."

"And yet it calls to her," Seraphine replied, eyes never leaving Elsa. "She must go."

Elsa's voice trembled. "What if I fail?"

"You won't," Lumi said gently. "Because you're not just walking into your past you're stepping into your truth."

Aurora shifted in her arms, and Elsa looked down at her daughter. A quiet strength stirred in her chest.

"Then take me there," Elsa said at last.

Seraphine gave a satisfied nod. "At first light, we leave. The forest doesn't take kindly to night visitors."

Lumi walked to the hearth and added wood to the fire. "Rest now. Tomorrow, the forest will test you. But so will your heart."

Elsa stared into the flames, knowing her life would never be the same again. And yet, for the first time, she didn't feel lost.

She felt ready.

----

Morning came dressed in silver mist and the scent of damp earth. Dew clung to every leaf, and the forest hummed with a quiet breath as if it, too, was waiting.

Elsa stood outside the cabin, Aurora wrapped snugly on her back. Her heart pounded with a mix of fear and determination. She didn't know what the altar looked like or what it would demand of her. Only that it had called, and now she was answering.

Lumi emerged first, a cloak draped around her shoulders, her staff in hand. Seraphine followed soon after, whispering something to the wind that made the trees rustle in reply.

"This way," Lumi said. "The path won't show itself unless it senses your intent."

They walked in silence, weaving through tall oaks and tangled roots. The deeper they went, the older the forest felt timeless and watching.

"This is the same forest with the one I dreamt about. Is the ground gonna crack is it gogoing to swallow us all" Elsa said with her scary voice

Lumi replied Calmly trying to comfort the scared Elsa by the side of her "c'mon it wont, we are here"

Eventually, they reached a clearing ringed by stones, each carved with worn symbols. At the center stood an altar made of dark crystal, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat beneath the surface.

Elsa stepped forward, drawn to it. Her fingers brushed the cold stone.

Visions erupted behind her eyes flashes of a palace cloaked in fire, a woman screaming her name, hands wrapped in light.

She staggered back, gasping.

Seraphine caught her. "Good. It remembers you."

"What... what do I do?" Elsa asked, trembling.

"Place your hand upon it," Lumi instructed. "But this time, open yourself. Let it see everything."

Elsa nodded. Her hand touched the crystal once more this time, she didn't pull away.

The altar flared with light, and the ground shivered.

A wind swept through the clearing, and a voice not quite hers whispered in her mind:

You are not what they told you. You are what you choose to become.

And suddenly, Elsa remembered her mother's lullaby.

carried on memory and magic.

"In shadows born and starlight sworn,

The flame within shall rise,

The crown of light, in heart kept tight,

Shall never wear disguise…"

Each word seemed to awaken something ancient within the altar. The symbols on the surrounding stones shimmered, and the trees leaned inward, listening.

Aurora cooed softly, as if she knew the lullaby too.

The dark crystal beneath Elsa's palm warmed, glowing with a light that bled from gold into silver, then to a quiet violet. The colors danced in her eyes, reflecting the power now stirring deep inside her.

A surge of energy rushed through Elsa's chest not painful, but heavy. Her knees buckled, but Seraphine steadied her.

"You've touched the truth," Seraphine whispered. "Now let it shape you."

Elsa's vision blurred again not with visions this time, but with clarity. She saw her own face in a mirror of still water. Saw the same face as a child, crowned in white flowers. She felt the warm arms of her mother. Heard her voice not in song now, but in speech.

"If you ever find this place… know that you were never lost. Only hidden. And never forgotten."

The altar dimmed slowly, its pulse quieting.

When Elsa pulled her hand back, a golden sigil now glowed faintly on her skin a symbol shaped like a rose with a thorn spiraling through its stem.

Lumi approached reverently. "Your crest. The true mark of Elara's bloodline."

Elsa stood, the wind tugging gently at her cloak. Something inside her had shifted. Not just memory but belief.

"I remember her," Elsa said, voice steady. "And I remember the fire. But I'm still here. I'm still me."

Seraphine smiled, proud for once without mocking. "And soon, the realm will remember you too."