Echoes of Arderyn

The wind tasted like ash.

Michael tightened the cloak around his shoulders, the twin blades sheathed across his back. Days had passed since he left the Kalem ruins. Since Gian’s blood stained the floor. Since the Seer whispered truths that haunted his dreams.

> “The last time someone like you awakened… a continent burned.”

Now he stood before the shattered bones of a civilization long lost — the Ruins of Arderyn.

Black stone towers leaned into the fog like crooked fingers. Ancient glyphs pulsed beneath his feet, glowing faintly in blue and red — the same colors as the scar on his back. The air buzzed with power… and memory.

Michael stepped inside the archway, and the world hushed.

---

⛓️ Inside the Ruins

He wandered cautiously through the crumbling halls, torch in one hand, fire blade in the other. Broken murals covered the walls — dragons flying above men in silver armor, cities built in the clouds, symbols he didn’t understand but felt in his bones.

Then he heard it.

A voice. Distant, soft. Familiar.

> “You’re late, flame boy.”

Michael spun.

Out stepped Elisa — dirty boots, leather jacket, fire in her eyes.

“Elisa?” he breathed.

“You didn’t think I’d let you go on some world-ending quest without backup, did you?” she smirked. “I followed your trail after the… incident.”

He stared, speechless. “How did you even find this place?”

“I’ve been here before,” she said, tone quiet. “With my mother. She was… studying this ruin before she disappeared.”

Michael stepped closer. “You think these ruins are connected to your family?”

She met his gaze. “I know they are.”

---

🧬 The Bond Deepens

They walked deeper together. As they passed one of the carvings, Michael stopped. A symbol on the wall glowed beneath his hand — a perfect match to the one on his back.

Suddenly the room pulsed, and the wall began to shift. A secret chamber opened, revealing a crystal basin filled with black water, humming with energy.

“The Seer showed me something like this,” Michael said.

He touched it.

A vision slammed into his mind.

---

🌀 FLASHBACK: The World Before

Fire. Screams. A city burning.

Dragons soared overhead, not beasts — but beings of divine intelligence, bound to humans through blade and blood. Michael saw himself, or someone who looked like him — taller, older, eyes glowing, standing atop a cliff wielding the twin blades.

> “Custos duorum elementorum,” a voice echoed.

(The guardian of two elements.)

A woman beside him — crimson hair, fierce — stood holding a blade of her own.

Elisa?

Then darkness. Betrayal. A blade through the back.

The vision shattered.

---

🌌 Back to Reality

Michael gasped, falling backward. Elisa caught him.

“You saw it too?” she asked quietly.

“I saw you,” he said.

She pulled away, eyes hard. “I’ve been having dreams. Visions. I thought they were just—nightmares. But it’s like I was there. With you. In another time.”

Michael’s voice shook. “Maybe we knew each other before we were born.”

The glyphs on the wall pulsed again — brighter now.

Suddenly the ground trembled.

A roar echoed through the halls.

---

🐉 The Guardian of Arderyn

From the shadows emerged a beast — skeletal wings, molten eyes, a body made of stone and steam. A Sentinel of the Old Blood. Bound to protect the ruin.

It didn’t ask questions.

It charged.

Michael drew both blades, shouting, “Stay back!”

“No chance,” Elisa growled, flames igniting around her fists. “I’ve got your back.”

The sentinel attacked, massive claws slashing the floor apart.

Michael rolled, slashing with fire. Elisa hurled bursts of flame from both hands. But the creature healed fast — stone growing back over its wounds.

“Hit the core!” Elisa shouted. “In its chest!”

Michael’s ice blade met the beast’s chest — but it wasn’t enough.

Elisa leapt behind it, creating a distraction.

“Now!” she yelled.

Michael raised both blades, fire and frost spiraling around him, and drove them down in an X-slash straight through the guardian’s heart.

A burst of light exploded.