Location: Deep beneath the mountain spine, in a cavern carved by leyline currentsTime: Twilight — the boundary between day and night
The air grew heavy, thick with a hum that pressed against their minds like a whispered warning.
The scholar and Kael entered the cavern's mouth — a jagged maw lined with veins of glowing crystal pulsing softly.
"This place," the scholar murmured, "is where the leyline ceases… where it listens."
The Chamber of Echoes
Inside, the cavern opened into a vast hollow.
The walls shimmered with ancient runes, constantly shifting — a living script impossible to read fully.
In the center stood a towering monolith of black stone, smooth and cold.
Etched into its face was a sigil — the very symbol from Thaleon's final writings: a circle with an eye scratched out.
The Silent Watcher
As they approached, the monolith began to pulse with light, and a figure emerged — not fully corporeal, but a spectral form shimmering with leyline energy.
The Silent Watcher.
Its presence was overwhelming — both guardian and prisoner.
The Truth Revealed
The Watcher's voice echoed, layered and ethereal:
"I am the echo of the traitor's choice — the binding that holds and the hunger that remains."
It showed them visions — the original betrayal, the Crown's creation, and the fractures still bleeding into the present.
"The Crown is a wound on the world.To heal it, one must sever the root — the traitor's soul, entwined with my own."
A Choice Given
The Watcher's gaze pierced them.
"You seek to bind or break?To wield or destroy?Your answer will shape the leyline's fate."
The scholar and Kael exchanged looks — knowing the path ahead was no longer just survival.
It was a reckoning.