[Scene Opens – On the Path to the Southern Gate]
The wind has a different feel now — dry, metallic. The trees thin out and the horizon turns gold.
In the distance stands a towering arch — The Southern Gate, carved entirely of amber stone, glowing under a dusk-lit sky. No guards. No signs of life. Only stillness.
Arav and Elara approach slowly.
Elara (whispers):
"This is the last mark on the map."
Arav:
"And the name… Naerys… it hasn't left my ears since I heard it."
Suddenly, a strange warmth pulses from within his ribs — the Eye Shard reacting.
A symbol glows on the gate: a circle of flame surrounding a golden mouth.
The gate opens on its own.
---
[Scene: Inside the Golden Kingdom – Sol'Enra]
They enter into a hidden city of gold and glass — Sol'Enra.
The streets shimmer, the buildings carved with words in a lost tongue. Statues of faceless guardians line the paths, each one holding a sealed book.
People walk silently — not out of fear, but by sacred rule.
No one speaks here.
Narrator:
"In Sol'Enra, silence is the law, truth is forbidden, and oaths are everything."
Arav walks through the city and feels the pressure of eyes. Watching. Judging.
A young boy runs past him, drops a stone with a symbol — a sword through a sun.
Elara picks it up. Frowns.
Elara (quiet):
"That's… the Crest of the Forgotten Prince."
Arav's heart pounds.
"Then that means…"
---
[Scene: The Throne of Silence]
At the city's center stands a throne room, but no throne.
Instead, there is a mirror — tall, ancient, and made of blackened glass. Before it, a girl in a gold-and-white robe sits cross-legged, eyes closed.
She opens them slowly.
Naerys.
Her eyes are the same as Arav's. Her face… nearly a reflection of his mother.
She stands, barefoot, and walks to him.
Naerys (softly, but her voice echoes directly in his mind):
"You're real."
Arav:
"You're alive."
Naerys:
"I was never meant to be. Not after the Vow."
Narrator:
"She had taken the Golden Oath — an ancient magic that replaces memory with silence, life with sacrifice."
---
[Scene: The Memory Exchange]
Naerys walks to the Mirror of Binding and places her palm on it.
She shows Arav the truth.
> Two children born under the Blood Moon.
Only one allowed to live by the Oath Keepers.
Naerys, taken and sealed away.
Arav, left behind — unknowing. Unaware.
The Elders of Sol'Enra believed only one child could carry the curse without destruction.
So they split the soul… and swore everyone around to silence.
Arav (tears in his eyes):
"You… remembered me all this time?"
Naerys (soft smile):
"I forgot myself before I forgot you."
Elara watches in silence — her fists clenched.
She had known. She had read it in the Eye Shard. But this truth… was unbearable.
---
[Scene: The Oathkeepers Intervene]
Suddenly, the walls shimmer.
Figures in golden armor appear — The Oathkeepers, guardians of Sol'Enra.
Their leader, Vareth, steps forward.
Vareth (booming, without sound):
"She has broken the Vow. She has spoken the name. The silence must return."
He draws a blade forged of melted gold and soulfire.
Elara (draws her flame):
"No one touches her."
Arav (steps forward):
"You kept her from me. You hid my blood. Now you want to erase her again?"
Vareth:
"She chose this. The moment she remembered, the punishment awakened."
Naerys steps between them.
Naerys:
"No more silence. Not for me. Not for this city."
---
[Scene: The Battle of the Golden Throne]
A massive battle erupts.
Flames clash with gold-light spears.
Elara spins and launches a circle of heat.
Arav, sword blazing with the Eye's energy, cuts down Oathkeepers left and right.
But Vareth… is no ordinary guardian.
He pierces the floor, summoning a Gilded Wyrm — a serpent made of gold and memory.
It coils through the hall, roaring with the voices of every oath ever spoken in Sol'Enra.
Narrator:
"A creature of unbroken promises. A beast that feeds on betrayal."
Elara is struck and thrown against a pillar.
Arav is bitten — his arm turns to gold.
Naerys steps forward and places her palm on the Wyrm's head.
Naerys (whispers):
"I take back my vow."
The Wyrm freezes.
And then — crumbles into golden ash.
---
[Scene: Aftermath]
The Oathkeepers drop their weapons.
The Mirror shatters.
And a voice echoes across Sol'Enra — the first in centuries.
Naerys (firmly):
"Let truth be spoken again."
The city holds its breath… then erupts into soft, broken whispers. Children begin to speak. Old ones cry.
Arav (to Naerys):
"What happens now?"
Naerys:
"The Eye is no longer just yours. The soul they split… is waking again. In both of us."
Elara (weary, bleeding):
"That means double the danger… and double the power."
---
[Scene: Final Vision]
As night falls, Arav dreams.
He sees a man with no face, seated on a throne made of tongues.
He speaks in a voice of many — male, female, child, old.
> "You've broken silence…
Now break fate."
The dream ends with a vision of a black sun rising over a red sea.
Arav wakes up, heart pounding.
He looks at Naerys.
> "We're not done."
---
End of Chapter 36
Next: Chapter 37 – The Red Sea of Prophecy
> Arav, Elara, and Naerys now share one fate — and one curse. The next destination: The Red Sea, where prophecy is written not in ink… but blood. There, the truth about the Final Gate awaits.