Chapter 14: Echoes of Yesterday
404 Words
Morning arrived over Moonvale.
Golden sunlight spilled across the rooftops.
Merchants opened their stalls.
Children laughed through the streets.
To everyone else...
It was another peaceful day.
But to Lyra...
Nothing felt the same.
She stood upon one of the Sanctuary's balconies, her eyes fixed on the distant kingdom below.
The little girl's words echoed inside her mind.
"You're too late."
Too late for what?
Before she could gather her thoughts, hurried footsteps echoed behind her.
It was the elderly Guardian.
"Lady Lyra."
She turned.
His expression was unusually serious.
"Commander Orion has not returned."
Lyra frowned.
"He should have reached Moonvale before sunrise."
"So we believed."
A strange uneasiness settled in her chest.
Something was delaying Orion.
And she doubted it was by chance.
---
At that very moment...
Orion stood deep within the Silver Forest.
He had stopped again.
Not because an enemy blocked his path...
But because the forest itself had changed.
The same stone he had passed only moments earlier...
Was gone.
Instead...
An ancient oak stood in its place.
Orion slowly looked around.
The path behind him no longer matched the one he had walked.
His hand rested on the hilt of his sword.
"...Reality is shifting."
For the first time in years...
The Commander of the Wraith Guardians felt uncertain.
---
Back in Moonvale...
Cassian walked through the marketplace.
Something caught his attention.
An elderly woman sat beside a flower stall.
She smiled warmly as he approached.
"My boy."
"It's been too long."
Cassian smiled politely.
"I'm sorry..."
"Have we met?"
The woman's smile slowly faded.
"Cassian..."
"I used to babysit you."
Confusion filled his eyes.
"I'm afraid you're mistaken."
He bowed apologetically before walking away.
The woman remained frozen.
Tears gathered in her eyes.
"He remembered..."
She whispered.
"...until yesterday."
---
Far away in the Sanctuary...
Lyra suddenly staggered.
Fragments of memories rushed through her mind.
The old woman.
Cassian as a child.
The same flower stall.
Laughter.
Warm afternoons.
Memories she knew were real.
Yet...
Cassian had looked at the woman as though she were a complete stranger.
"No..."
Lyra whispered.
"It has started."
---
High above the world...
The hands of the Sacred Clock trembled.
Not enough for anyone to notice.
But enough...
For another tiny crack to spread across its surface.
And somewhere beneath the Moon Temple...
The ancient darkness smiled.
Without a face.
Without a voice.
It simply...
Waited.
---
To Be Continued...
- Writer
