The Vale of Thorns lived up to its name.
The air grew colder as Eren and Elira moved deeper into the canyon, where the earth split and rose like teeth. Thorned vines wrapped around ancient stone arches, some thick as a man's arm, tipped with barbs that glistened like obsidian. Mist hung low, disturbed only by the occasional flutter of unseen wings.
Elira moved with the caution of someone who had walked this path before. Eren followed close, Akreth slung across his back, its weight a constant reminder. Though the sword remained silent, its runes pulsed slowly steadily as if drawn to something buried beneath the thorns.
"Not many come this way," Elira murmured, ducking beneath a vine that swayed unnaturally despite the still air.
"Because of the Covenant?" Eren asked.
She nodded. "They built the temple here to keep others out. Or to keep something in."
The ground underfoot began to change dirt and moss giving way to old stone. Faded tiles emerged beneath layers of ash and leaves. Runes some still intact lined the path in spirals, leading toward a structure half-consumed by the earth.
The Temple in Thorns.
It wasn't beautiful.
It was buried.
Three archways stood like broken ribs, vines growing from them in wild snarls. Pillars leaned at angles unnatural to time. The walls were cracked and bleeding dark sap where the roots of the vale had forced their way through.
And at its heart: a sealed door. Blackened metal. No handles. Only a symbol in the center Akreth's rune, carved deep and stained red.
Eren stepped forward.
The runes on his sword flared in response.
"This is it," Elira said. "The archive should be beneath the main sanctum. If the prophecy's still intact, it'll be in there."
Eren studied the door. "How do we open it?"
"Blood," she said simply. "The Covenant doesn't believe in keys."
He didn't hesitate. Drawing a shallow line across his palm, he pressed his hand to the rune.
The metal hissed. Then groaned.
The door split down the center with a sound like breaking bone. A wave of cold air poured out, thick with the scent of old stone, damp earth and something else. Magic. Ancient. Watching.
They stepped inside.
The corridor beyond sloped downward into darkness. Elira lit a lantern, its light barely touching the walls, where murals stretched in muted tones of red and gold. Images of flame, of chained beasts, of eyes watching from behind veils.
Eren's steps echoed.
Then stopped.
He turned his head sharply.
"Elira," he said. "Do you hear that?"
She froze.
From somewhere ahead, a sound. A hum. Not mechanical. Not spoken.
Alive.
They followed it deeper.
The corridor ended in a massive, circular chamber. Dozens of pillars rose to a domed ceiling carved with a great spiral. At the center of the floor stood a pool of still water black, undisturbed.
And behind it, carved into the stone: a wall of glyphs.
Elira approached the wall, brushing her fingers over it. "The prophecy," she whispered.
Eren walked to the edge of the pool. His reflection looked back clear and perfect. But something was off. His reflection's eyes glowed.
"Elira," he said, not turning. "This water… it's not just water."
"No," she said. "It's memory. Liquid binding magic. The Covenant used it to store visions, truths too dangerous to record in stone."
As he stared, the water began to shift.
Images surfaced.
A burning tower. A crown of broken light. A figure holding Akreth aloft, not in victory but in surrender. Behind him, a rift tore the sky, pouring flame into the world.
Then words appeared in glowing glyphs along the edge of the pool.
Elira read them aloud.
"When bearer and blade are whole, and the wound of the world breathes once more then shall the Flame of Endings rise. Not as conqueror. Not as savior. But as mirror."
She turned to Eren. "The prophecy isn't about saving the world."
"It's about revealing it," he finished.
The chamber shook.
From deep within the stone, something growled.
Elira stepped back. "We woke it."
"What is it?" Eren asked, backing toward her.
She drew her dagger. "A guardian. Bound to the truth. It won't let us leave unless we survive."
The ground cracked.
From beneath the pool, a form emerged.
It wasn't beast. It wasn't man.
It was memory, given shape. Smoke and flame molded into a towering silhouette its face a twisted reflection of Eren's, eyes burning white.
It spoke with his voice.
"Show me who you are."
And then it attacked.