[Midnight – Eastern Edge of the Whispering Range]
The wind whispered in tongues the group didn't understand.
It wasn't just the cold that crawled across their skin—it was something older, something watching.
Coker wiped sweat from his brow. "We're close, right?"
Elira didn't answer at first. Her eyes were locked on the massive, vine-covered structure rising from the rocks ahead.
A ruin—or at least it used to be.
Now it looked like a temple swallowed by the mountain itself.
Stone walls bent into the cliffs. Obsidian lanterns hung in midair, unlit. And at the center was a circular door, sealed with a mark shaped like an eye… with fire in its pupil.
Elira nodded slowly.
"We're here."
Naia stepped beside her, spear humming with faint energy. "You sure this place won't try to eat us?"
Elira let out a breath. "It might."
Lira tilted her head. "You said it was sealed."
"By Kael himself," Elira replied. "After what happened here… no one wanted this place found again."
Coker stared at the temple.
The closer he got, the louder the whispers in his head became.
Not words.
Just... echoes.
Pain. Fire. Screams. Grief.
They stepped closer to the shrine.
The ground changed beneath their feet—from dirt to polished black stone, untouched by weather or time.
Coker's mark burned slightly as they approached the sealed door.
"Should we knock?"
Elira raised her blade. "No need. If the shrine remembers Kael…"
She looked at Coker.
"…then it remembers you."
Coker stepped up.
He hesitated.
Then touched the center of the eye.
His mark flared—gold and red—and the door split open with a hiss of heat.
Light poured out.
Not blinding.
Not warm.
Just... ancient.
[Inside the Shrine]
The air was thick.
Not musty or dusty—just heavy, like stepping into memory.
Flames floated above empty braziers.
Stone walls pulsed faintly with red veins—like the place was alive.
The room ahead was circular, with a raised platform in the center.
And around it... statues.
Seven.
Each carved in different styles.
Each representing one of the known gods.
Lira spoke first. "These are the Vessels."
Naia counted. "Seven."
Coker looked around.
Then slowly turned.
Behind the others… was an eighth statue.
Hidden in shadow.
It was smaller.
Unfinished.
The figure's face had no features—only a mirror-smooth surface. Its hands were open. Its mark was uncarved.
But when Coker stepped closer, his mark began to glow.
The statue responded.
Suddenly—
The entire room lit up in flame.
But not from the walls.
From the air itself.
And then—
"You came back."
Everyone froze.
A voice echoed across the chamber. Not loud. Not deep. But familiar.
And it was speaking to Coker.
"You're not him," the voice said. "But the fire remembers your bones."
Lira whispered, "Is that... Kael?"
Elira drew her blade. "No. This is the memory of Kael. What he left behind."
The fire twisted upward into the form of a man.
He stood tall, with wild hair and sharp eyes.
A red cloak billowed around him, made entirely of embers.
Kael's memory turned to face them fully.
"You carry more than my power," it said. "You carry my sin."
Coker stepped forward, heart pounding.
"What happened here?"
The flame-being stared at him.
"This shrine was meant to protect people. A place where Vessels could train, learn control. But I broke that promise."
[Flashback – Memory Playback]
The room shifted.
The walls melted away.
Suddenly, they were inside Kael's memory.
The shrine looked different—alive, glowing with life. Dozens of young Vessels trained, laughed, sparred in the courtyard.
Kael stood among them, powerful and proud.
But his eyes… were already tired.
Lira's mother—Selya—stood beside him.
They looked at each other with both love and fear.
Then the sky cracked.
The Demon King's army arrived.
The shrine became a battlefield.
Vessels screamed. Fire roared. Blood ran like rivers.
Kael burned the sky just to keep the demons out.
And in doing so—
"I burned them too," his memory whispered.
[Present – Shrine Core]
The memory faded.
The room returned.
Kael's flame-body stood dimmer now.
"Everyone thinks I fell to darkness," he said.
"But the truth is worse. I fell… to fear."
He looked directly at Coker.
"I couldn't stop it. The god inside me… it was never evil. But it couldn't handle doubt."
He touched his own chest.
"I wanted to save everyone. But I wasn't meant to be free."
Lira stepped forward.
Tears welled in