Chapter 4: Echoes of the Past
The dense forest loomed ahead, its towering pines swaying beneath the silver moon. Lior’s breath came in ragged gasps as he trudged through the underbrush, his legs aching from hours of travel. Sera moved ahead of him, her steps silent despite the thick roots and tangled foliage. Though they had escaped the city, danger still clung to them like a shadow.
“We’re not safe yet,” Sera whispered, glancing over her shoulder. “The Enforcers won’t stop hunting you.”
Lior wiped the sweat from his brow. “Where are we going?”
She pointed toward a narrow path winding deeper into the forest. “There’s an old sanctuary—abandoned, forgotten by the kingdom. It holds answers.”
Lior frowned. “Answers to what?”
Sera hesitated before speaking. “To the past. To why the king fears the truth you now carry.”
They pressed on in silence, the wind rustling the leaves above. Despite his exhaustion, Lior’s mind swirled with questions. What was this sanctuary? What secrets did it hold?
As they moved forward, the atmosphere changed. The air grew cooler, and the trees seemed older, their gnarled roots twisting over the ground like the fingers of ancient sentinels. The scent of damp earth and moss filled the air, and strange markings began appearing on the trunks of the trees. Some were mere scratches, others elaborate carvings, forming symbols Lior had only ever seen in books.
“This place feels… different,” Lior murmured.
Sera nodded. “Because it is. This land was once sacred, long before the kingdom claimed it.”
After what felt like hours, the trees thinned, revealing a ruin bathed in moonlight. Crumbling stone pillars reached toward the sky, their surfaces carved with ancient symbols. At the center stood a massive stone door, half-buried beneath the creeping vines of time. The sight filled Lior with an eerie sense of familiarity, as if he had seen it before in a dream.
Sera approached the entrance, running her fingers along the carvings. “This place was once a temple,” she murmured. “Before the king’s rise, before the gods’ deception.”
Lior’s heart pounded as he stepped forward. The weight of history pressed upon him. He traced his fingers over the worn symbols, feeling a strange pull in his chest.
“This language…” he whispered. “I’ve seen it before.”
Sera turned to him, her eyes sharp. “Then you already know more than you realize.”
Lior knelt beside the door, studying the inscriptions. A familiar pattern emerged, a sequence he had seen in the forbidden texts hidden in the archives. It told of an ancient civilization, one that had vanished long before the kingdom’s founding.
“This civilization… They were the ones who built this?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Sera nodded. “They were the first people of this land. Before the kingdom, before the so-called gods. They knew the truth.”
Lior exhaled, his pulse quickening. “Then why are they gone?”
A heavy silence fell between them. Sera hesitated before answering, her voice laced with sorrow. “Because the king’s ancestors erased them.”
Lior felt a chill crawl up his spine. The kingdom he had once admired, the history he had devoted his life to studying—it had all been built upon blood and lies. His fingers trembled as he brushed away the last of the vines, revealing a phrase etched into the stone: The echoes of the past shall guide the worthy.
Sera stepped beside him. “This is more than just a ruin, Lior. It’s a vault.”
Lior stared at the inscription, realization dawning upon him. “And inside, we may find the truth the king has tried to erase.”
Taking a deep breath, Lior pressed his hand against the markings. The stone trembled beneath his touch, and with a low rumble, the door slowly began to open.
Dust and time-worn air rushed from the chamber beyond, carrying whispers of the past. The flickering moonlight barely reached inside, illuminating only the first few steps of the ancient staircase that spiraled downward into the darkness. Lior’s heart pounded in his chest. The truth lay below, waiting to be unearthed.
“Are you ready?” Sera asked, her voice softer now, tinged with both caution and anticipation.
Lior clenched his fists, steeling himself for what was to come. The past had been hidden for too long. It was time to uncover what had been lost.
With one final glance at the night sky, he stepped forward and descended into the depths of history.
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