Episode 26
The wind had changed.
Lira felt it before the others. It wasn't natural wind—it was scentless, soundless, and yet it brushed against her skin like a shadow slipping through the world. As they walked away from the ruined heart of Ashrial, she looked over her shoulder.
Ashrial was crumbling. The spires were folding into themselves, the streets swallowed by a slow, unnatural fog. The city had risen—and now it was sinking again.
But it wasn't truly gone.
It had left its mark on her. On all of them.
Kael supported her with a firm grip as they crossed the last stone bridge leading out of the cursed ruins. "You're shaking."
"I'm fine," she muttered, though her fingers trembled and her heartbeat stuttered.
Behind them, the throne of ash and bone had turned to dust, and the figure of Varek was gone—but his final words still echoed in her mind:
"The fire will not be enough. The Veil weakens. They are coming."
---
The Edge of Silence
They camped at the edge of the Blackroot Forest, just beyond Ashrial's boundary. Taron set up wards while Kael tended to Lira's wounds—superficial burns, mostly. The Ember Crown lay beside her wrapped in cloth, still warm despite the cold night.
She stared into the fire, the flames dancing with her thoughts.
"Do you hear it?" she asked suddenly.
Kael looked up. "Hear what?"
"The whispering. It hasn't stopped since we left Ashrial."
Kael frowned. "No. I don't hear anything."
Taron stiffened. "I do."
That caught both Kael and Lira off guard.
"You do?" Lira leaned forward.
Taron didn't meet her gaze. "Just faintly. Like… a woman calling from far away. I thought it was a memory."
"It's not," Lira said. "It's the Veil."
The Veil—a mystical boundary separating Eltherion from the Realm Beyond. It was where the souls of the dead drifted. Where ancient horrors slept.
And now, something within it was stirring.
---
The Mirror of Thorns
At dawn, Taron insisted they change course.
"We can't return to the High Arcanum yet," he said. "If what we faced in Ashrial was just the beginning, then we need answers before we go back. Real ones."
Kael crossed his arms. "And where exactly do you suggest we find them? The Academy archives are—"
"Too slow," Taron interrupted. "We'll go to the Mirror of Thorns."
Both Kael and Lira went still.
"You're joking," Kael said.
"I'm not."
"The Mirror is forbidden," Lira said. "It was sealed by the Moonwardens after it started reflecting more than just futures—it showed alternate fates. Some say it drove the last Seer mad."
Taron's eyes narrowed. "It's the only place that might show us what's coming."
Lira hesitated, then nodded. "Let's go."
---
Journey to the Mirror
They rode fast and silent. The land around them had changed in ways they couldn't explain.
Rivers flowed backward. Trees grew in twisted patterns. They passed a village where all the people were frozen in place—alive, but unmoving, as if time itself had paused.
"We're already in the edge of a rift," Taron murmured. "The Veil is thinning faster than we thought."
Three days later, they arrived.
The Mirror of Thorns stood alone atop a grey hill, surrounded by a spiral of dead roses that never bloomed. An ancient shrine of moonstone and obsidian cradled the mirror, which was suspended in the air like a floating shard of black glass.
Even from a distance, Lira could feel it pulsing.
They approached slowly.
Kael kept his blade drawn. "This thing doesn't feel like a mirror."
Taron stepped forward, raising a hand. "It's alive. A relic from the age before the Flameborn."
Lira touched it.
The world shattered.
---
Visions of What Could Be
She was falling.
Then rising.
Then everywhere at once.
Lira stood in a version of Eltherion she did not recognize. Towers of white light shimmered in the distance. Cities floated in the sky. People wore robes of starlight and spoke in forgotten tongues.
But then the light cracked—and through it poured darkness.
Not flame. Not shadow. Void.
She saw the Whisper Sisters—tall, pale figures with mouths stitched shut and eyes that bled silver. They stood at the edge of the world, unweaving the sky thread by thread.
She saw herself—older, hardened, the Ember Crown fused to her head, her eyes glowing gold. She stood atop a battlefield, fire swirling around her, facing an army of monstrous creatures—faceless, formless, shifting with every breath.
Then she saw Kael—falling.
She screamed.
And then—
Silence.
---
Back to Reality
Lira stumbled backward, gasping.
Kael caught her.
"What did you see?" he asked, urgency in his voice.
She looked at him, pale and shaking. "The end. Or something close to it. The Whisper Sisters are real. And they're coming."
Taron's face darkened. "We have to warn the Council."
"No," Lira said slowly, eyes distant. "There's more."
She turned back to the mirror.
There, etched faintly into its obsidian surface, was a mark—a crescent wrapped in thorns.
She traced it with her finger.
A single word etched itself into the air in glowing runes:
"Vaelorian."
Taron inhaled sharply. "That's a forbidden name."
"What does it mean?" Kael asked.
"It was the name of a god—or a dragon—or something older," Taron whispered. "Something even the Wyrms feared. It was said to be the first dreamer. The one who shaped realities before the world was born."
Lira's voice trembled. "Then why is its name returning now?"
---
Waking the Dreamer
They left the Mirror that night.
Behind them, the spiral of roses began to bloom black petals.
Lira kept hearing the word in her head—Vaelorian—over and over, like a drumbeat from beyond time. It echoed through her blood, through her flame, through her soul.
The Ember Crown pulsed in response.
As they reached the ridge overlooking the southern forests, Lira stopped and looked to the east.
Something was rising there.
A tower—black and smooth as glass—had appeared where nothing had stood before.
Kael followed her gaze. "That wasn't there yesterday."
Taron swore under his breath. "We're not just dealing with relics or corrupted souls anymore."
"No," Lira whispered.
She closed her eyes—and saw fire falling from the sky.
Vaelorian was waking.
And Eltherion would never be the same again.