The tremors faded, but their echoes remained in Kael's bones.
He stared at the black mask in his hand—its surface warm, pulsing like skin. The red script along the edge shifted subtly, as if reacting to his heartbeat. Seris stood a few steps behind him, her breath uneven. Deyric was already examining the cracks in the altar, trying to figure out what had just happened.
Kael lifted the mask.
And it spoke.
Not aloud—but inside his skull.
"Do not fear the silence, Kael. Within it lies the truth."
Without thinking, he brought it to his face.
The moment the mask touched his skin, the world shifted.
---
He stood in a field of ash. The sky was gray and still. Towering black monoliths stretched into the heavens, each one etched with names in languages long forgotten.
He wasn't alone.
A boy stood ahead of him—no older than ten. White hair, crimson eyes, and a soulmark shaped like a burning sun on his palm.
"You're late," the boy said. "But at least you made it."
Kael opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.
The boy sighed. "This isn't real, not exactly. It's a memory. A sliver. From the mask. You'll forget most of it when you wake up, but… maybe one thing will stay."
He stepped closer, eyes locked with Kael's.
"Someone's rewriting the laws of the world. Of memory. Of gods. When the stars start whispering, you must choose. Between what was… and what should have been."
---
Kael gasped awake, the mask lying at his side.
Seris knelt beside him. "What did you see?"
He couldn't explain it. Not completely.
Just a name echoed in his mind.
"N'varis."
He didn't know who—or what—it was. But the name felt important.
Too important.
Deyric stood nearby, eyes narrowed. "You blacked out for a full minute. That mask—whatever it is—it's not just an artifact."
Kael nodded. "It's a doorway."
Seris bit her lip. "To what?"
Kael looked at the altar behind them.
"To the truth the gods buried."
---
Later, they began the trek back to Emberlight Village. The deeper mines had collapsed behind them, sealing off the mask chamber for now.
Kael carried the mask wrapped in cloth, unsure if he should even touch it again.
As they exited the cave system, the midday sun stung Kael's eyes. But the weight of the vision remained.
The boy. The name. The warning.
"When the stars start whispering…"
He didn't know what it meant.
But he knew this:
The gods were not gone.
They were only hiding.
And someone… someone was starting to pull their strings again.