Kael awoke to a dense, cold fog.
The ground beneath him felt damp, like ashes soaked in sorrow. The air was thick with silence — not the peaceful kind, but the kind that presses against your ears, as if even sound had forgotten how to exist.
Around him, shadows wandered without direction. Some whispered fragments of memories. Others wept without tears. A few just stood there, empty, staring at something only they could see.
"Where… am I?" Kael muttered, but even his voice seemed swallowed by the mist.
A figure approached — tall, thin, and hollow-eyed. His name was Elias. He had been there for so long that even time had stopped trying to count.
"This is the Valley of the Forgotten," Elias said with a heavy voice. "Where those who linger are neither living nor dead. We wait here. For meaning. For clarity. For nothing."
Another presence emerged from the mist — a woman, Cléa. Quiet, almost translucent, as if she were becoming part of the fog itself.
"Not everyone who arrives stays," she whispered. "Some are chosen."
Before Kael could speak again, the mist shifted — not like smoke, but like something breathing.
From within it stepped a man. Or something beyond a man.
He wore a grey cloak. His gaze was like ancient starlight — distant, calm, and terrifyingly aware.
"My name is Otrho," the being said, his voice entering Kael's mind like a quiet wave. "And you are not meant to remain here."
Kael blinked. "Why me?"
"Because you are different. You are capable of becoming what others can't. You are being offered a second existence — one with purpose."
Otrho's hand lifted, and light surrounded them. Not a burning light — a guiding one.
"You will return to Earth," he said. "But not the one you knew. You will walk in a different dimension… a different timeline. The year is 3473 B.C."
"What do I have to do?"
Otrho smiled — not warmly, but knowingly.
"You will live. Observe. Intervene. Guide. You will complete missions set by the LIGA — a silent force devoted to balancing the paths of humanity. You will be based in a hidden facility. And from there… you will begin."
And just like that, the fog thinned, and the Valley faded.
Kael was no longer a forgotten soul.
He was now an Epochwalker.