Chapter 7
1075 Words
The Sanctuary pulsed with a quiet energy, a harmonious blend of celestial resonance and earthy vitality.
Elena spent the next few days immersed in the knowledge shared by the exiles. The fading starlight in some constellations, a celestial echo of the blight on the mortal realm, was mentioned by the night-born Lyra (a different Lyra than the earth spirit who had initially guided her, Elena noted with a curious coincidence).
Similar to the disrupted Ley Lines, the fire elemental Ignis described volatile shifts in the earth's core. Maeve, the old mortal, told broken tales of a time before the present order of heaven, rumors of strong creatures who molded the very fabric of life.
Rhys took Elena one night to a secret room in the middle of the valley. Intricate carvings adorned the walls, moving and writhing in the gentle, ethereal light that seemed to come from invisible sources.
A sense of ancient power was evident in the hum of the atmosphere.
“The Ancient Ones’ echoes are contained in this chamber,” Rhys said in a reverently hushed voice.
The cosmos was shaped by these incredibly powerful beings before the current celestial age. Despite their fragmented knowledge, it might be the key to figuring out where the imbalance really originated.
He pointed to a big, crystalline building in the middle of the room.
Elena, concentrate on your senses here. Give yourself permission to hear the echoes. Because of your special link to both worlds, you might be able to see things that others cannot.
Elena moved closer to the cool-to-the-touch crystal. She focused her breathing, closed her eyes, and used her senses to tap into the echoes of her past in the heavens and her growing bond with the earth.
The images flashed behind her eyelids: landscapes changing and reforming at will, swirling nebula forming into giant beings of pure energy, and then a darkness, a creeping void that seemed to devour the light.
Despite their chaos and fragmentation, the images conveyed a sense of ancient conflict and great power.
There was a voice in her head that she could feel but not hear. It was vast, old, and teeming with an eon-long sorrow. "The void stirs, the chains weaken, the sleep is disturbed."
Elena's eyes snapped open as she gasped. The images she had seen appeared to be reflected in the faint light that pulsed through the carvings on the walls.
"What did you observe?" With eager eyes, Rhys posed the question.
The fragmented visions and the overwhelming sense of ancient power and encroaching darkness were difficult for Elena to describe.She described the creeping emptiness, the changing landscapes, and the enormous creatures.
After following them into the room, Maeve took a sharp breath. Legends tell of the Voidborn. Entropy-pure beings trapped in the beginning of creation. Their chains were thought to be impenetrable.
With alarm, Lyra's bright eyes widened. "It could have disastrous effects on both realms if their sleep is disrupted and their chains deteriorate."
Ignis's blazing eyes wavered in worry. "Could the corrupted energy and the instability we've been feeling be connected to these Voidborn?”
Things started to come together, creating a picture that was much more horrifying than Elena had anticipated.
The tainted celestial energy, Zephyr's deeds, and the plague on the mortal world could all be signs of a much bigger, older danger that is brewing in the universe's depths.
Rhys looked intently at Elena. "Ellena, your link to both worlds is vital right now. The Ancient Ones' echoes have been contacted by you.
Before it eats up everything, you need to go deeper, comprehend the nature of this threat, and figure out how to contain it.
Elena devoted the next few days to discovering the mysteries that lie within the chamber of echoes.
She learned to concentrate her senses, to sort through the broken visions and the faint whispers of the Ancient Ones, under the guidance of Rhys and Maeve. She learned that the Voidborn were creatures of pure entropy, and that creation was negated by their very existence.
Even though the Ancient Ones had imprisoned them in a cosmic dawn, their influence could still permeate reality and corrupt and destroy it.
By using corrupted energies that resonated with the Voidborn's dormant power, Zephyr may have unintentionally weakened those ancient chains in his misguided quest for order.
The obsidian spire may have served as a conduit, inadvertently amplifying their impact with its twisted celestial emblems.
In order to piece together shards of folklore and lost knowledge, the exiles shared their own perspectives.
They found that the voidborn were vulnerable to the untamed vitality of the earth, the pure essence of starlight, and the primordial forces of creation.
A plan began to take shape, a last-ditch effort to avert the impending doom.
In order to fortify them with the combined power of earthly and celestial magic, they had to locate the last anchors of the Voidborn's prison, the places where the fabric of reality was even thinner.
The whispers indicated that the first anchor point was located in an area of the mortal realm where the veil between worlds was naturally thin and shrouded in perpetual twilight.
The trip would be lengthy and dangerous, passing through areas that were still affected by the blight and possibly exposing them to other operatives of the encroaching evil.
The exiles assembled to support them as they were ready to leave.
A pendant made from a living starpetal, a channel for unadulterated celestial energy, was given to Elena by Lyra.
Ignis gave her staff an elemental fire core, a wellspring of unadulterated, uncontrolled strength. Maeve led them along abandoned paths, sharing her ancient knowledge of the land.
Putting a hand on Elena's shoulder, Rhys's eyes were full of serious hope.
"Star-fallen, the fate of both our worlds rests on your shoulders. But you're not by yourself. In spirit and intent, we are by your side.
Elena felt a fresh sense of purpose as she stood at the edge of the Sanctuary with Kaelen and Bram by her side and the blessings of the exiles reverberating in her heart.
Though the Ancient Ones' whispers had exposed a much bigger threat than she had anticipated, they had also shed light on a way forward—one that was forged in the hope of a future free from the encroaching void and the unity of two worlds.
They had started their journey into the twilight.
- Writer
