The Lake That Isn't Water
Cael stood at the shore of something that should not exist.
A lake with no ripples. No scent. No wind.
The surface was perfectly still, like obsidian glass stretched across a crater. The stars above did not reflect. His shard pulsed harder now—syncing with something deep below.
"This isn't water," Cael whispered.
"It's… memory."
He tossed a pebble.
It didn't splash.
It vanished—erased.
Descent Into the Seal
He found a path carved into the cliffside—a forgotten stair spiraling down beneath the lake's edge. The deeper he went, the colder it became, though not physically. The cold was mental. Conceptual.
At the lowest step, a stone arch glowed faintly. Void glyphs flickered across it. The broken seal's remains.
Spell activated: Void Sight Tier 2
Result: Glyphs partially reconstructed
Through the arch, Cael stepped into…
A cathedral of silence.
Temple of Echoes
Inside: a vast, underwater ruin suspended in stasis. Walls etched with shifting runes. An altar at the center, cracked in half. Seven pillars ringed the space—one had shattered.
The air tasted of static. The shard in Cael's chest throbbed in sync with the altar.
"This was once a prison," he whispered.
"But now it's just… open."
From the shadows, a shape stirred.
A humanoid figure, cloaked in spectral light, walked forward. Its form glitched—flickering between flesh, ice, and shadow.
Its face?
His own.
Confronting the Echo
The echo spoke in broken tones.
"You broke it.
You came.
You carry it.
You are… too early."
Cael raised his hands defensively. "Who are you?"
"I am what you'll be if you fail.
I am the cost.
The hunger you'll become."
It lunged—no sword, just intent shaped into Void energy. Cael blocked with Tseron: Reflect, but it shattered on contact.
The fight was mental and magical—not just spells, but memory attacks:
The echo invoked Earth memories Cael thought he'd buried.
Projected visions of him devouring Varuun, corrupted by Void.
Showed a false future where he destroyed the world to save one person.
Cael collapsed, mind unraveling—
Until he focused on a single anchor:
The Loop of Unraveling, humming at his side.
"I'm not you," he growled.
"And I won't let you become me."
Sealing the Echo
With willpower alone, Cael reversed the spell.
New spell forged: [Null Brand]
Void-Essentia inversion seal, Tier 2
He branded the echo, and it froze mid-lunge. The seal glyphs reignited across the cracked altar, stabilizing slightly.
The echo vanished in a swirl of black frost.
From the altar's core, a fragment rose—another Relic of the Fracture: a thin, star-forged dagger that vibrated when near lies or paradoxes.
He sheathed it at his belt. Another piece. Another burden.
The shard's glow dimmed. For now.
-
As Cael left the underwater ruin, the map etched in his mind changed.
Two more seals pulsed faintly.
One was dim. The other… was missing entirely.
"Someone already has one," Cael muttered.
"Or worse—they already used it."
As he stepped back into the lightless cold, a flock of mana-birds scattered overhead.
From the trees beyond the lake… he was being watched.