The ruins of the Old Temple weren't on any map.
Not anymore.
After the Godfire War, the Dominion had declared the site cursed. The records were erased. The paths to it magically sealed. Anyone who sought it either disappeared… or came back without a mind.
But Aedric Valtoris wasn't anyone.
He remembered this place — not from books, not from teachers…
> From dreams.
---
The Temple lay beyond the western cliffs of Arcanum Valley, where the ground cracked open into a black ravine called the Devil's Maw.
No roads led there. The wind screamed constantly through jagged rock. And the skies above it remained forever clouded, as if the stars refused to shine on what lay below.
Aedric stood at the edge now, his cloak flaring in the cold wind.
Behind him, Lyara and Selene waited, uneasy.
"This place…" Selene whispered, clutching her cloak. "It hates the light."
"It remembers," Lyara said. "And it knows Aedric has returned."
He stepped forward.
And jumped.
---
⛓️ Descent into the Maw
Most would have fallen to death.
But Aedric called upon the flame — the black wind carried him gently down through the vertical maze of shattered stone and twisted roots.
The air grew colder with every meter.
Then, finally, he landed — on cracked obsidian steps covered in old runes, glowing faintly red.
The entrance to the Temple loomed before him.
A massive stone archway… shaped like the open mouth of a chained god.
As he stepped through, the air shifted.
And a voice whispered:
> "You took my name, little flame…"
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🔥 Inside the Temple of Forgotten Names
The moment Aedric crossed the threshold, he felt it:
Reality bent.
Gravity pulled wrong. Sound echoed twice. Shadows moved where no light should be.
The walls were carved with symbols that pulsed under his gaze — glyphs older than flame.
> This place is alive.
And it's waiting.
---
Aedric moved deeper through the maze-like halls, past giant statues of gods without faces, pools of black liquid that shimmered with screaming reflections, and staircases that defied physics.
At the heart of the ruin, he found it.
A circular chamber with one thing at its center:
A blade.
Floating above a pedestal of bone.
Black as night. Edges glowing faintly crimson. And bound in chains made of light.
He stepped closer.
The blade thrummed.
And the voice returned.
> "I remember you…"
> "You left me… in the dark."
---
Suddenly — visions exploded behind his eyes.
He stood in a war-torn field.
Bodies of gods and mortals littered the ground.
And in his hands — this same blade.
Bloodied.
Crying.
> The Flameborn was not the first bearer...
He was the last survivor of something older.
---
⚔️ The Soulblade: Vyrmath
As Aedric reached out, the chains holding the blade shattered.
A wave of heat erupted through the chamber.
Selene and Lyara, high above, felt it — the pulse of ancient fire.
And the stars above the Maw flickered.
Aedric gripped the hilt.
And the flame screamed inside him.
> It knows the blade.
> It fears it.
---
Then came the Warden's whisper:
> "You hold the key to my cage, little prince."
> "Use it… and become me."
Aedric staggered.
Pain lanced through his skull. Visions of fire, screaming, gods dying, chains snapping—
And then silence.
The blade rested in his hand.
And its name carved itself into his palm:
VYRMATH.
---
🌌 Echoes and Oaths
When Aedric emerged from the Temple, the sky had changed.
Storm clouds rolled in unnatural spirals.
Lightning struck distant mountains.
The world felt thinner.
Selene ran to him. "What happened?"
He looked up.
Eyes burning.
"I found my memory."
Lyara stepped back. "The Warden is awake, isn't he?"
Aedric didn't speak.
But the mark on her palm bled again.
And in the distance, a pillar of shadow rose on the horizon.
---
🏛️ Back in the Palace: Caelen Reacts
In his sanctum beneath the throne, Caelen Valtoris stared into his blood-mirror.
He saw the blade. Felt the shift.
A single droplet of sweat trailed down his neck.
> He's awakening too fast…
He turned to the chained girl behind the veil — a prisoner bound in runes, her mouth sealed shut with divine silk.
"Tell me," he whispered. "Is this the one the stars feared?"
The girl trembled.
And her tears burned silver.
---