MASTERS OF THE ETERNITY
CHAPTER 15: FUTURE
Silence reigned in the Vault.
A silence so deep it had weight — pressing against their skin, threading into their lungs, demanding reverence. The glowing hilt before them pulsed faintly, each beat echoing through the stone chamber like a buried heart still trying to be remembered.
Raian stepped forward slowly.
The shard in his hand hummed, the resonance growing sharper, more insistent. The pull was no longer just a sensation — it was a whisper in the marrow of his bones.
"This is where it begins," he said quietly.
Izek frowned, scanning the chamber's curved walls. "Or where it ends. Look at the etchings."
Dozens of names were carved into the stone. Worn by time, but not erased. And beneath each, a single rune — split down the middle.
Lira reached out and touched one.
"Bearers," she whispered. "All of them."
"Failed?" Raian asked.
"No." Her voice was hollow. "Finished."
---
They moved deeper into the Vault.
As they did, light kindled across the walls — illuminating murals of battles, cities falling, skies split by impossible blades. But at the center of it all was one constant:
The Blade of Eternity.
Sometimes it glowed gold, sometimes bled black. In one image, it was held by a crowned king with no face. In another, by a girl of fire with a crown of chains. Each bearer seemed both savior and destroyer.
"The blade reflects the bearer," Izek said. "Or reshapes them."
Raian's jaw clenched. "Then we have to make sure it reflects the right choice."
Behind him, Lira was silent.
---
They reached the far side of the chamber.
The sword — or rather, its hilt — was embedded in crystal. A thin sheet of prismatic flow-ice encased it, humming softly, resisting time itself.
Raian raised his hand.
But before he could touch it—
A voice echoed from above. Calm. Clear. Young.
"Funny. I expected more hesitation."
A figure dropped from a ledge above — landing with effortless grace between them and the blade. She was tall and wiry, with short-cropped silver hair and a half-cloak of scavenged flow-threads. A single gauntlet covered her right arm — and at her hip was a jagged blade carved from crystal bone.
She grinned.
"I'm Kaien," she said. "And you're about to ruin everything."
---
Raian stepped protectively in front of Lira. "Who are you?"
Kaien gave a dramatic bow. "Caretaker of the Vault. Thief of ancient relics. Once-proclaimed 'Flow's Favorite Mistake.' But currently… the one trying to stop you from waking something that shouldn't wake."
Izek's blade was halfway drawn. "You were waiting for us?"
"No. I was hoping you wouldn't come." Her tone sobered. "This place is a seal, not a gift. That blade? It doesn't just remember. It chooses. And once chosen, there's no turning back."
Lira stepped forward. "What do you know about the Blade?"
Kaien gave her a long look. "Enough to have watched my sister die for it."
---
Raian lowered his hand slightly. "You lost someone."
Kaien nodded once. "She touched the blade before she was ready. It showed her everything she could be — and demanded she become all of it at once. She didn't survive the weight."
"The shard brought us here," Lira said. "There's something it wants us to see."
Kaien looked at the shard, then at Lira. Her gaze lingered on the red mark pulsing on Lira's chest.
"She's infected," Kaien said softly.
Raian bristled. "She's stronger than anything it's trying to turn her into."
"I don't doubt that." Kaien's expression softened. "Which is exactly why it might choose her."
---
A distant boom shook the Vault.
Dust rained from above. Cracks spidered along the far wall.
Kaien swore under her breath. "They're close. Too close."
"The Eclipse?" Izek asked.
Kaien nodded. "I slowed them. Rewrote the entry-path. But it won't last. You want to argue over destiny, do it later. Right now we get that shard locked, or wielded."
Raian looked at Lira.
Her eyes burned with memory. With visions she hadn't chosen.
Raian turned to Kaien. "Then help us. We don't need to die here. We need to understand."
Kaien hesitated. Then nodded.
"I'll show you the Blade's test."
---
Kaien placed her gauntlet over the crystal casing.
The flow-ice rippled, shimmered — then began to dissolve, revealing the sword hilt in full: elegant, ancient, humming with threads of golden light woven into silver fractures.
"It's not whole," Izek murmured.
"It never is," Kaien replied. "Not until a bearer finishes it."
Raian reached for it.
The shard in his hand dissolved — merging with the hilt.
The Blade awakened.
A pulse tore through the Vault — light, sound, memory. Time bent. The runes on the walls ignited. Visions flashed in each of their minds:
Raian atop a mountain of ash, blade in hand, bleeding but unbent.
Lira, eyes glowing white, floating above a burning sea.
Izek, alone, staring at a ruined moon.
Kaien, weeping beside a grave carved with Raian's name.
Then—
Silence.
---
Raian stood, now gripping the full blade.
The room dimmed. The Blade of Eternity was whole — for now.
Kaien looked at him, something between fear and hope in her eyes.
"You've just changed the end," she whispered. "Let's hope you survive to reach it."
TO BE CONTINUED…