Two Days Later – Beneath the Ruins of Aeon Prime
The wind howled over shattered stone and broken towers—once the crown city of the Isu, now a graveyard of silence and snow.
Kaelen stood at the edge of the chasm, eyes fixed on the spiral descent carved into the rock. This place wasn't marked on any rebel map. It didn't exist in the records. It was called to him.
Not by name.
By memory.
"The sanctuary lies beneath the old council chamber," he told Lysara and Rynn as they followed behind. "Vael built it in secret… even Isara didn't know."
They descended slowly, torches flickering against the carved spirals etched into the walls—old glyphs of the Isu Language, but different. Not commands. Not power.
Philosophy.
"Where power blinds, freedom restores.""Let no one rule unopposed—not even gods."
"This is… like scripture," Rynn whispered. "Did Vael write these?"
"No," Kaelen replied. "He carved them. Himself."
At the base of the spiral path stood a doorway of obsidian and gold. At its center was a lock—shaped like a handprint, framed in glowing white lines.
Kaelen stepped forward and placed his palm to it.
The doorway shuddered. Then opened.
The Sanctuary of the First
It was vast.
Columns rose from the earth, spiraling into arches that stretched beyond vision. Light hummed from the walls—not torches, not technology, but something in between. Crystalline windows revealed layered rings of memory projections, waiting to be accessed.
It felt alive. Watching. Waiting.
"This place…" Lysara whispered. "It's not just a vault. It's a mind."
Kaelen moved slowly through the chamber, stopping at a central pedestal. It bore the symbol of the Eye, but broken—split into two, curved and jagged.
He touched the pedestal.
The air shimmered—and a figure emerged.
Vael'Ruun.
Or rather, a construct of him. Not flesh, but thought made form.
"You who bear my legacy," the projection said, voice calm, timeless. "You have awakened what the Council tried to erase. If you stand here, you have chosen freedom—not only for yourself, but for all."
Kaelen froze, heart pounding.
Vael continued.
"This sanctuary holds more than memories. It holds the foundation of a truth that must survive even when we do not. It is not a weapon. It is a promise."
Glyphs burst to life on the walls—maps, symbols, battle plans, writings in human and Isu language.
"Nothing is true…"
Kaelen gasped.
"…everything is permitted."
The words felt ancient and new all at once.
He fell to one knee as visions surged—of hidden blades forged in secrecy, of scrolls passed in silence, of resistance built not through armies but through ideas. He saw humans learning to think for themselves. To question. To choose.
He saw the birth of rebellion not as war—but as a philosophy.
Lysara approached, eyes wide.
"This is it," she whispered. "This is the Creed. Not as law… but as belief."
Kaelen rose slowly. "Vael didn't just fight to win. He fought to teach."
Rynn circled one of the walls, stopping at an altar where a dark cloak hung beside a pair of strange gauntlets.
"Are these his?" he asked.
Kaelen approached. The cloth was light, flexible. The gauntlets bore tiny sockets for hidden mechanisms. Not weapons—tools.
He slipped them on.
They fit perfectly.
Outside the Sanctuary – Dusk
As they emerged into the fading light, Kaelen felt the world differently.
The rebellion wasn't just about destroying the Isu.
It was about giving humanity something the Isu never would:
Choice.
Lysara stood beside him. "You've seen the truth, haven't you?"
Kaelen nodded. "And now we make sure it doesn't die with us."
Behind them, the Sanctuary sealed itself, awaiting the next to awaken it.
Kaelen looked to the horizon, where the Isu citadels still shimmered in the distance.
"We're not just fighting for survival anymore," he said.
"We're fighting for freedom."