C17 The Sleeping City
The gates of Skyrend closed behind them.
Their thunderous echo rolled through the ancient city.
Then silence returned.
A silence untouched for a thousand years.
Kael stood frozen.
The city was unlike anything he had imagined.
Crystal towers shimmered beneath a sky streaked with silver clouds.
Ancient roads wound through gardens filled with luminous trees.
Streams of glowing water flowed between marble buildings.
Every structure seemed untouched by time.
As if the Fall had happened yesterday.
Seraphine looked ready to faint.
“This…”
She spun slowly.
“…changes everything.”
One of the Veilbreakers nodded.
“No historian will ever believe this exists.”
“Then we’ll have to show them.”
For the first time in days, hope touched Seraphine’s voice.
⸻
As they moved deeper into the city, strange lights flickered to life.
One by one.
Thousands of floating orbs emerged from the shadows.
Illuminating streets.
Bridges.
Courtyards.
The city was waking up.
Responding to Kael’s presence.
The realization made him uneasy.
Everywhere he looked, statues lined the avenues.
Dragons and humans stood together.
Not as rulers and servants.
As equals.
Partners.
Friends.
The world before the Fall.
The world history had forgotten.
Veyrath stared at one particularly large monument.
A dragon stood beside a young man.
Their hands touched a glowing sphere.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
Aurelian.
The First Dragon Speaker.
Kael.
The dragon lowered his head.
I never thought I would see this place again.
There was grief in his voice.
And longing.
⸻
The group eventually reached a vast circular plaza.
At its center stood the Veilspire.
The tower stretched impossibly high into the heavens.
Its silver surface reflected the stars.
Ancient symbols glowed faintly across its walls.
Power radiated from it.
Old power.
The kind that shaped worlds.
Kael felt the mark on his hand pulse.
The Veilspire recognized him.
And it wanted him to enter.
Before anyone could speak, a bright light appeared in the center of the plaza.
Everyone immediately reached for weapons.
The light expanded.
Twisting.
Shifting.
Then condensed into the form of a woman.
A human woman.
Or something close to one.
She appeared made entirely of silver light.
Long robes flowed around her.
Ancient runes drifted across her skin.
Her eyes glowed softly.
Watching.
Calculating.
Remembering.
The apparition looked directly at Kael.
And smiled.
“Welcome home, Aurelian.”
⸻
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
The woman studied him carefully.
Then frowned.
“Interesting.”
Kael swallowed.
“What?”
The apparition circled him slowly.
“You remember less than expected.”
Seraphine stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
The woman turned.
For the first time she seemed surprised someone else could see her.
Then she smiled.
“I am Elyndra.”
The name echoed strangely.
As though it carried immense significance.
“I was the first Keeper of the Veil.”
The Veilbreakers immediately dropped to one knee.
Every one of them.
Even Veyrath lowered his head respectfully.
Kael stared.
“You’re alive?”
Elyndra laughed softly.
“No.”
The answer was disturbingly casual.
“I died one thousand and twelve years ago.”
Silence.
Then she added:
“This is merely an echo.”
The word made Kael tense.
Echo.
Everything seemed connected to that word.
Everything.
⸻
Elyndra’s expression gradually darkened.
The warmth vanished from her face.
“Tell me.”
Her glowing eyes fixed on Kael.
“How large is the breach?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Because everyone knew the answer was bad.
Finally Seraphine spoke.
“It’s growing.”
Elyndra closed her eyes.
A deep sadness crossed her features.
“Then we are running out of time.”
The plaza fell silent.
Kael stepped forward.
“You knew this would happen.”
The apparition nodded.
“Of course.”
“What do you mean?”
Her gaze shifted toward the Veilspire.
Toward the towering structure at the city’s center.
“The Veil was never meant to last forever.”
Those words hit everyone hard.
“What?”
Elyndra sighed.
“The Veil was an emergency solution.”
Ancient grief filled her voice.
“A temporary seal.”
Kael’s stomach tightened.
“No one told us that.”
“Because no one remembered.”
The answer chilled him.
A thousand years of history.
A thousand years of lost knowledge.
A thousand years of mistakes.
All because people forgot.
⸻
Suddenly the city trembled.
The ground shook violently.
A deep rumble echoed beneath the streets.
Everyone froze.
Elyndra’s expression changed instantly.
Fear.
Real fear.
For the first time.
“No.”
Far above the city, storm clouds began to swirl.
Darkness gathered over the Veilspire.
The mark on Kael’s hand erupted with light.
A terrible realization struck him.
Aren.
His brother had found them.
A deafening explosion echoed across Skyrend.
One of the distant towers collapsed.
Stone rained from the sky.
Screams echoed through the city.
Another explosion followed.
Then another.
The attacks were spreading.
The Shadowborn had arrived.
⸻
Dark shapes poured from the skies.
Hundreds of them.
Winged creatures descended through the clouds.
Their glowing eyes illuminated the night.
The invasion had begun.
The Veilspire’s alarms awakened immediately.
Ancient bells rang across Skyrend.
A warning unheard for a thousand years.
Elyndra stared upward.
Horror filled her face.
“They came too soon.”
Kael looked toward the heavens.
Toward the descending army.
Toward the darkness swallowing the city.
Then he saw him.
Standing atop a floating piece of shattered stone.
Watching everything below.
Aren.
His ancient brother.
The Forgotten One.
The Shadowborn raised a hand.
The entire invasion halted.
As if awaiting a command.
Then he looked directly at Kael.
Across the city.
Across a thousand years of separation.
And spoke words heard by everyone.
“Brother.”
The city fell silent.
Aren’s voice carried neither hatred nor anger.
Only sadness.
And something even more dangerous.
Hope.
“I’ve come to bring you home.”
The sky darkened.
The armies gathered.
And at last, the brothers stood face-to-face once more.
The fate of two worlds would depend on what happened next.
