CHAPTER 186: The Eclipse-Born Child Develops into a Gentle, Astute Leader

CHAPTER 186: The Eclipse-Born Child Develops into a Gentle, Astute Leader

 The youngster from Eclipse had grown up.

The fortresses and sanctums were restored throughout the peaceful post-war seasons, and life resumed in the three worlds' veins.  Where ash had covered the earth, grass came again.  Mirrored moons glittered in the rivers.  Above all, the uncommon astronomical occurrence known as the Balanced Eclipse came to represent harmony and optimism.

Its light helped the youngster, who was only called Lioren, grow.

Lioren was born into two lineages, one black as the emptiness of space and one heavenly. He had always been under constant observation.  Maybe too near.  Some were afraid of what the youngster will grow up to be.  Others adored the infant for what they believed it to be.

However, Kael himself reared Lioren in the woodland groves, away from the palace and the scrutiny of royal courts, surrounded by the sounds of birdsong, wolf rhythms, and the murmuring whispers of the moon and wind.

Formerly a warrior, Kael is now a guardian of peace and the defender of the Eclipse Sanctum.  He prayed that his days of bleeding were over.  Kael had decided to live in silence, with Rowan and Selene in charge of the unity council.

He taught Lioren to listen instead than to give orders.

To comprehend, not to conquer.

To balance, not to destroy.

The elder trees taught Lioren their languages.  The paths of spirits and beasts.  The rituals that bound existence together across the worlds.  Lioren was the one who sat quietly and spoke last among the elders, but her remarks were the most significant.

By their sixteenth cycle, even the most tumultuous meeting was calmed by Lioren's presence.  When they entered, the warriors halted their quarrel.  Factions submitted out of respect rather than obedience.

However, power always brings danger, even when it is not requested.

Kael woke up one night to the smell of burnt leaves beneath a crimson moon.

Lioren vanished.

As if holding its breath, the woodland had become quiet.  As he raced through the underbrush, Kael's wolf sprang to the surface, his paws discovering routes that only the ancient blood was familiar with.

Here he discovered a broken branch, there a drop of blood smeared with silver.  Not Lioren's blood.  Another stuff.  There's a problem.

Beyond the Sanctum, Kael followed the track until it vanished into the rocks.  There, engraved into the stone, was a symbol he hadn't seen in decades: a snake eating a star.

The Forgotten's insignia.

An old sect long thought to be exterminated.

Even worse, there was where Lioren's fragrance stopped.  It was as if the youngster had just disappeared.

Lioren stirred somewhere far below the realm's curtain.

They woke up in a tunnel filled with crystals that glowed strangely.  They were encircled by a circle of masked people who were chanting in a language that was more ancient than the stars.

One took a step forward.  "Eclipse-born," said the figure.  "The key is you.  The ship.  "The Seed."

With calm focus, Lioren's eyes blazed as she slowly sat up.  "You made a mistake taking me."

The figure chuckled.  Conversely,  You arrived just when we needed you to.

The cave trembled.

The crystal walls are broken by cracks.

And a voice bellowed from the darkness outside.  It was a familiar voice.

Kael.

He had located them.

However, Kael wasn't alone.

Restricted by their ritual, Rowan and Selene had felt the upheaval in the worlds' fundamental fabric.  They arrived with elegance and rage, moonlight and gloom.

Together, they defeated the gatekeepers of the cult, breaking spells and illusions.  However, Kael was about to grab Lioren when they were separated by an explosion of force.

Stepping forward, the masked leader pushed back their hood.

It wasn't an unfamiliar face.

It was the twin of Kael.

Kael lost his train of thinking.  The one who had disappeared eons before into the Hollow.

Living, but twisted.

The twin responded, "Hello, brother," with eclipse fire blazing in its eyes.  "Did you really think your child belonged to you?"

"He's the one from the visions," Lioren muttered, turning to Kael with startled eyes.  "The Third Shadow."

Kael pulled out his sword.

Rowan held up his staff.

With her wolf hardly contained, Selene flashed her fangs.

However, the twin just lifted a hand and grinned.

And the ground parted underneath them.

Beyond the crystal tunnel, the five of them plunged into a nothingness where time stood still and stars had lost their ability to shine.