Chapter 13 – The Names of the Forgotten
The Seer's voice was not loud or soft, young or old. It felt like a memory come to life, resonating through Aurther's bones. It bypassed his ears and whispered straight into his blood.
"You've finally arrived," she repeated.
Aurther's legs stiffened. The tree's chamber was impossibly vast inside. The walls flowed with runes, roots arched like the ribs of an ancient beast, and faint, melodic hums echoed with every heartbeat.
Lysaria stepped forward, cautious. "Are you the Seer of Mossglass?"
The woman's face shimmered, distorting slightly, like a reflection on stirred water.
"Yes."
Aurther's voice cracked as he asked, "You knew I would come?"
"I've seen your shadow since before you cast it."
Silence stretched.
Then Aurther forced the words out. "What am I?"
The Seer smiled, not with comfort but with sorrow.
"You are the Result. Not the cause. Not the prophecy. The result of what the gods feared most."
Lysaria's hand tightened on her blade. "The gods? Who were they?"
The Seer raised a hand, palm open. The walls of the Singing Tree pulsed once, then peeled away like smoke.
The room dissolved into stars.
Aurther gasped.
They were in a vision, not physical but also not a dream.
They stood before twelve thrones, each as vast as a mountain, orbiting a radiant sphere of light and shadow.
The Seer's voice echoed all around.
"These were the Twelve. The Ancient Gods. The Bringers of Power. The First Pact."
Each throne flared with light as she spoke their names:
1. Yù Lóng (玉龙) – Jade Dragon, god of spirit and eternal form.
2. Tiān Mù (天目) – Heaven's Eye, goddess of foresight and celestial law.
3. Yīn Lián (阴莲) – Dark Lotus, goddess of illusions, dreams, and hidden beauty.
4. Líng Huǒ (灵火) – Spirit Flame, god of rebirth, inner fire, and judgment.
5. Hǔn Miè (混灭) – Oblivion of Chaos, god of entropy, endings, and collapse.
6. Bīng Xīn (冰心) – Heart of Ice, goddess of stillness, clarity, and memory.
7. Tǔ Lìng (土灵) – Earth Spirit, god of roots, stone, and heritage.
8. Lán Hǎi (蓝海) – Azure Sea, goddess of tides, cycles, and cleansing.
9. Wú Jì (无极) – Limitless Void, god of silence, non-existence, and beyond.
10. Léi Diàn (雷电) – Thunder and Lightning, god of wrath, action, and truth.
11. Tài Xuán (太玄) – Great Mystery, god of the unknown and unseen.
12. Cāng Diān (苍殿) – Ancient Palace, god of structure, memory, and divine order.
"These," said the Seer, "were the Twelve who shaped this world."
"These are the gods?"
The Seer nodded. "The Twelve."
Lysaria stepped back, breath catching.
"I've never heard their names. Not once."
"Because it was forbidden,child,"the seer whispered."whipped from history itself!"
"Why?"
"That I will not reveal just yet my boy."
"You have questions," she said.
Aurther nodded,throat dry."w-well my first question is what are the bloodborn?"
the air changed.
Dark.
Wet.
The Singing Tree trembled.
A new vision formed.
The Seer's voice dropped.
"Now, the Bloodborn."
They stood on a battlefield of ash.
Corpses stretched as far as they could see. Elves. Dwarves. Men. Monsters. All dead.
In the distance, a rift opened, a wound in the air.
And from it…
blood fell upward.
It poured into the sky like rain going in reverse. From it emerged things made of nothing but pain and memory.
The Bloodborn.
"Born from the blood of the fallen," the Seer said.
The land beneath the battlefield cracked.
The sea rushed in.
The continent tore apart.
Aurther gasped.
"You mean—?"
"Yes," she said. "The continent was once whole. The gods had made a pact they were to never interfere with the people of this world but that all changed when they came, they didn't come from the gods they were just made, the people of this world tryed they tryed very hard but in the end they were over powered, we were at the brink of extinction that's when the gods came they weren't allowed to help us so they decided to split the land it half,yes that is right the other piece of land is this out there but no one knows where it is."
The vision ended.
They were back in the Seer's hall.
No walls. No stars.
Just silence.
Aurther fell to his knees.
"So everything is a lie."
"No," said the Seer. "It's worse. It's a forgotten truth."
Lysaria was in shock unable to move.
The Seer turned to Aurther.
"You are not a chosen one," she said. "You are an interruption in a story long buried. And if you survive, you may become the final chapter."
[End of chapter 13]