Chapter 78
The stairwell curved down for what felt like hours.
No torches.No flame.Yet everything shimmered with a soft, living glow—like the walls breathed alongside them.
Kael could feel it—not the fire in his veins, but something deeper.A hum.A heartbeat.A memory trying to be born.
At the end of the descent, the stone opened into a vast cavern.
But it wasn't dark.
It was green.
Lush vines crawled along the walls. Flowers bloomed without sunlight. Water trickled from roots that never stopped growing.
And at the center—
A tree.
Not the fig above.Not ancient.Not young.
Just… present.
Kael approached it slowly.
There was no power radiating from it.
No threat.No divinity.
Only peace.
It didn't know his name.
It didn't know anything.
Eliendara stepped beside him, whispering, "Where are we?"
Kael touched the bark, warm like skin.
"I think… we're in a place where memory never bloomed."
A low chime rang through the air. Not metal. Not magic.Like laughter that had forgotten its purpose.
From behind the tree, something stirred.
A figure emerged.
Human-shaped. Barefoot. Covered in moss and soft light. Eyes wide as moons.
They tilted their head at Kael.
"You have… names."
Kael blinked. "Yes?"
"We don't."
Eliendara stepped forward. "Who are you?"
The figure smiled faintly.
"We are the first garden.Not the first life.Just the first place that chose to grow."
Kael's voice dropped. "You remember nothing?"
The figure nodded. "That's why we're safe."
Behind them, the stairwell sealed.
The air grew warmer.
And the garden began to react to Kael's presence—flowers blooming near his feet, vines curling around his arms without harm.
"You carry a flame that chose not to burn," said the figure."We remember that, even if we remember nothing else."
But then…
The garden stilled.
Something shifted near the roots of the central tree.
A second figure stepped out—taller, cloaked in trailing leaves, its face hidden in shadow.
It didn't look at Kael.
It looked at Eliendara.
And said in a voice like falling petals:
"You've been here before."
Eliendara froze.
Kael turned sharply. "What?"
The figure stepped closer.
"Not in this life. Not with this face.But long ago… when your fire first fell from the sky."
The vines began to stir again—gentle but fast.
And Kael understood:
This garden didn't just exist outside of memory.
It ate memory.
And Eliendara… had left something here long, long ago.
🔮 Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 79: The Memory That Was Buried Alive
As the garden awakens around Eliendara,Kael must face the truth that not all forgotten things stay gone.
Something she once chose to forget is clawing its way back…
And it remembers him, too.