C10 Echoes of the Past

The voice disappeared.

Yet its words remained.

You will remember who you truly are.

Kael stood frozen beside the ruined mural.

The battle raging above the valley suddenly felt distant.

Unreal.

His mind replayed the words again and again.

Remember.

Not learn.

Remember.

As though some part of him already knew the truth.

As though something had been forgotten.

Or hidden.

“Kael.”

Seraphine’s voice sounded far away.

“Kael!”

He blinked.

The world rushed back into focus.

“What?”

She pointed upward.

The battle had grown worse.

Much worse.

Nyxara and the Shadowborn collided again high above the mountains.

Golden fire and black darkness exploded across the sky.

The tear in reality widened with every impact.

And beyond it—

More eyes appeared.

Watching.

Waiting.

The Shadowborn were gathering.

⸻

A deafening roar shook the valley.

Nyxara plummeted from the clouds.

The Dragon Queen crashed into a mountainside.

Stone shattered.

Entire sections of cliff collapsed.

The dragons below cried out in alarm.

The Shadowborn floated above the battlefield.

Untouched.

Unharmed.

Its many eyes glowed brighter than before.

“You are weaker than I remember.”

The words echoed through every mind.

Pain flashed across Nyxara’s ancient face as she struggled to stand.

Still, she lifted her head proudly.

And you are uglier.

For a moment, the entire battlefield went silent.

Then Seraphine laughed.

Actually laughed.

Kael stared at her.

“What?”

She shrugged.

“It was a good insult.”

Despite everything, Kael smiled.

Only for a second.

Then the Shadowborn attacked again.

⸻

Dark energy erupted from the breach.

Thousands of black tendrils spread across the sky.

Like roots.

Like veins.

Like a disease infecting the world.

Everywhere they touched, reality distorted.

Mountains warped.

Trees twisted unnaturally.

The air itself seemed to scream.

“What is happening?” Kael asked.

A familiar voice answered.

The wounded dragon.

Though weak, it still lived.

The Veil is failing.

The dragon’s thoughts were faint.

Like distant thunder.

If the breach grows any larger, the barriers between worlds will collapse.

Kael swallowed.

“And then?”

The dragon hesitated.

Then there will be no stopping what comes through.

⸻

Suddenly the mark on Kael’s palm began to burn.

He gasped.

Pain shot through his arm.

Golden light spread beneath his skin.

The ancient symbol appeared again.

Brighter than ever.

Seraphine immediately noticed.

“Kael…”

“I know.”

The mark pulsed.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then the world vanished.

⸻

He stood somewhere else.

A different time.

A different age.

A different world.

Kael found himself inside a vast stone chamber.

Dragons surrounded him.

Hundreds of them.

Ancient.

Powerful.

Magnificent.

Yet they were not alone.

Humans stood among them.

Not as enemies.

As equals.

As friends.

Laughter echoed through the chamber.

Conversations filled the air.

A golden dragon lowered her head.

Nyxara.

Younger.

Stronger.

Beside her stood a young man.

Perhaps eighteen.

Dark-haired.

Determined.

Familiar.

Kael’s breath caught.

The young man looked exactly like him.

No.

Not exactly.

Close enough to be family.

The figure turned.

Golden eyes met Kael’s.

Impossible.

Humans didn’t have golden eyes.

Yet somehow this one did.

The young man smiled.

“You’re early.”

Kael froze.

The man could see him.

“Who are you?”

The smile widened.

“I think you already know.”

Fear crawled through Kael’s chest.

The answer formed before the man spoke.

“The first Dragon Speaker.”

The figure nodded.

“Among other things.”

⸻

The vision shifted.

Fire consumed the chamber.

Screams echoed through darkness.

Humans and dragons fought one another.

The alliance was collapsing.

Something terrible had happened.

The first Dragon Speaker stood in the center of the chaos.

Blood stained his clothes.

Tears filled his eyes.

“No…”

His voice broke.

“This isn’t how it was supposed to happen.”

Behind him stood a massive gateway made of light.

A gateway identical to the breach in the sky.

The Veil.

Kael realized.

The first Dragon Speaker had been there when it was created.

Then the man turned.

Directly toward him.

And whispered:

“Find the Broken Crown.”

The vision shattered.

⸻

Kael collapsed onto the ground.

Reality returned all at once.

The ruined valley.

The dragons.

The war.

The breach.

Seraphine knelt beside him.

“What happened?”

Kael struggled to breathe.

“I saw him.”

“Who?”

“The first Dragon Speaker.”

Her eyes widened.

Above them, Nyxara suddenly looked down.

Straight at Kael.

As though she knew exactly what he had seen.

The Dragon Queen’s voice echoed inside his thoughts.

The memories have begun.

Kael stared.

“What memories?”

Nyxara’s expression became unexpectedly sad.

Ancient sadness.

The kind earned through centuries of loss.

Those do not belong to someone else.

Cold spread through his body.

A terrible realization formed.

“No.”

Nyxara lowered her head.

They belong to you.

The world seemed to stop.

Kael couldn’t breathe.

Couldn’t think.

Couldn’t move.

The first Dragon Speaker.

The visions.

The Echo.

The memories.

They weren’t connected to him.

They were him.

Somehow.

Some way.

The impossible truth was beginning to emerge.

And far above, beyond the broken Veil, the Shadowborn smiled.

As though this revelation was exactly what it had been waiting for.