The fire behind Riven's eyes was immediate.
Twin blades glinted in moonlight as he stepped in front of Kael, shielding him from the crimson-robed stranger.
"Say one more word and you'll be coughing out teeth."
But Kael raised a hand. "Don't."
The masked man stopped only a few feet away, head slightly bowed. The mask he wore was made from the skull of a Ysir beast, polished smooth and painted with silver veins.
"I mean no harm, heir of ash," the stranger said softly. "My name is Mareth, Oracle of the Faceless Path. And I have waited for you… through lifetimes."
Kael's voice was steady. "You knew Ren Verradin?"
"No one truly knew him," Mareth replied. "Not even Ren himself. But his echoes remain, especially here. In Del'mor, memory is a god — and your return has stirred the old priests from their slumber."
Kael stepped closer. "Then tell me. What do the dead say of me?"
Mareth lowered his hood, revealing a collar etched with runes that bled softly in blue light.
"They say the Ashen Prince walks again. But the one you seek — the Impostor King who stole your name — is not idle. He prepares his throne from the corpses of truth. If you truly wish to reclaim what is yours, you must descend… into the Vault of Forgotten Echoes."
---
🌑 Beneath the Bell Tower – A Hidden Passage
Using the blood-mark from Kael's sigil, Mareth revealed a sealed door hidden under the stone altar. The wall hissed open, revealing a staircase of bone and obsidian spiraling downward.
Riven stared. "Why is it always stairs?"
Kael entered first. The walls whispered. Literally.
Fragments of thoughts, old memories, names carved in breath.
> [Shadow System Notification:
Shadow Affinity Increased. Aura Resonance Detected.]
> [Passive Skill Unlocked: "Ashen Recollection" – Access partial memories sealed within legacy items.]
Lyra touched the wall and flinched. "These aren't just voices. They're regrets. Remnants of all who died carrying your name."
Kael pressed forward, deeper, until the tunnel opened into a vast chamber lit by ghostly blue flame.
In the center stood a statue.
Not of a god.
Of Kael.
Or… of Ren Verradin, cast in black marble, holding a broken sword in one hand and a crown in the other.
Mareth bowed low. "This is where your legacy ends… or begins again."
---
🩸 The Blood Trial
The statue shifted — stone cracking, revealing a glyph beneath its base.
A voice echoed from nowhere and everywhere:
"To reclaim your name, bleed truth into shadow."
Kael stepped forward. "What does it mean?"
Mareth handed him a dagger made of obsidian glass. "If you are truly Ren Verradin… your blood will open the gate. If you are not… you will die."
Riven growled. "This is madness—"
Kael took the blade without hesitation.
He sliced his palm.
Blood dripped onto the glyph.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—
FWOOM!
The chamber trembled as black fire ignited in a ring around the statue. The glyph glowed — not red, but deep violet, and a low rumble echoed like the heartbeat of a forgotten god.
> [System Alert: Blood Resonance Confirmed.
Hidden Class Unlock Initiated…]
> [Legacy Title Awakened: "Ashen Sovereign – The Shadow That Remembers."]
---
⚔️ End of Chapter 23
Kael fell to one knee, chest heaving — not in pain, but in recognition.
He wasn't just reclaiming his legacy.
He was awakening it.
And far above, in a tower overlooking Del'mor, a man in gold and black smiled through a cracked mirror.
"Come find me, Ren. I've prepared your throne."
---