Chapter 62: The Jadefront's Breath
The morning mist clung to the earth like a shroud as Ashen and his companions stepped out from the withering embrace of the Bloodmoon forest. Behind them, the temple slumbered once more—silent, its blood-drenched whispers now fading echoes. But the weight of memory hung thick around them, especially Ashen, whose steps were slower, his gaze distant.
The Blood-Echo Mantle hummed faintly within him, not a presence but a resonance. He could still hear the dying heartbeat of the long-lost Stellar Chaos Dragon, its final breath tied to his own now. A legacy not of blood, but of remembrance.
Revyn exhaled, breaking the silence. "The Jadefront Mountains… What do we know?"
Kaelis adjusted his cloak. "Historically? It was the site of a major cultivation war three centuries ago. But even that was a facade. Beneath it—ruins. Old ones. Stellar-aligned, if the echoes are right."
Keyven pulled out a tattered map, marked with leyline fractures and crimson seals. "There's a fold in space just south of the third ridge. Not natural. It's been hidden since the last Starfall."
Ashen didn't speak. He simply began walking.
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Their journey to the Jadefronts took two days, through scorched plateaus and sunken vales, lands still healing from the chaos rifts unleashed months prior. They passed abandoned cultivation halls and shattered villages, remnants of a war too swift and brutal for history to properly record.
By the second night, they reached the first ridge.
The wind here carried a different scent—minerals, moon-glass, and an undercurrent of something ancient. The jade stone beneath their feet was smooth and resonated faintly, as though alive.
Ashen placed his palm against the mountain's side.
"It breathes," he said softly.
Kaelis nodded. "The leyline beneath us is active. Something stirs."
Revyn unslung his blade. "Let's wake it up."
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They climbed deeper into the range until the terrain opened into a circular valley—unnaturally perfect in shape, its walls carved smooth as if melted. At its center was a collapsed battlefield: broken weapons, fragmented banners, skeletons locked in eternal combat. The center bore a stone monolith carved with ancient script.
Kaelis crouched to inspect it. "Same script as the Bloodmoon Temple. But this one… older. It predates the Stellar Court's formation."
Keyven stepped back. "We're standing on bones older than kingdoms."
Ashen approached the monolith and let Chaos thread through his hand.
The stone pulsed.
A ripple of energy surged outward, and the battlefield reacted. Bones rose—not as undead, but as replays. Phantoms. Echoes.
Hundreds of cultivators locked in formation began to move.
The sky darkened.
A projection unfolded: a war between factions both unfamiliar and terrifying. One side bore the insignia of the early Stellar Court, the other wore no symbols—just chaos threads etched into their skin.
Kaelis hissed. "They weren't just fighting rebels. They were fighting the Originless. The ones who came before order."
Ashen watched as a singular figure stepped into the battlefield—a tall, horned being cloaked in lunar jade. He moved without a weapon, yet each gesture shattered legions.
The vision focused on his chest.
A sigil of chaos—refined, concentric, and painfully familiar.
Ashen's eyes narrowed. "He wore the early Mantle. A primal version."
Suddenly, the vision froze.
Then the valley trembled.
From beneath the monolith, a pulse echoed, and a crack appeared in the jade. Slowly, the monolith split open, revealing a staircase descending into the mountain's heart.
Kaelis held back a curse. "Why is it always stairs?"
Ashen smirked faintly and descended.
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Inside the mountain, the jade gave way to obsidian and starlight-infused stone. Glyphs lined the walls, telling stories not written but woven—each thread of the stone pulsing with locked memory.
At the bottom was a circular chamber, ten meters wide, with a dais in the center.
Upon it stood a statue—no, a cocoon. The same horned figure from the vision, frozen mid-motion, cast in lunar stone.
As Ashen approached, the room responded. The walls shimmered, revealing ancient scenes:
The figure leading a war against something unseen.
The Stellar Court branding him with the title: "The First Heretic."
His retreat into the Jadefront.
And finally, his sealing.
Ashen stepped up to the dais. The Blood-Echo Mantle awakened, resonating faintly.
The cocoon pulsed once.
Kaelis read the inscription beneath it: "Bound not by chains, but by time and memory. Shall awaken only to one who remembers the cost of order."
Ashen placed a hand against the stone.
A voice filled the room.
"Will you remember, Child of Echoes?"
Ashen's voice was calm. "I already do."
The cocoon cracked.
But not fully. A fragment chipped away, revealing an orb of memory—dense and glowing.
Kaelis gasped. "A Core-Echo. That's not just memory. That's battle experience, condensed."
Ashen touched it. The energy flooded into him.
Techniques not known in any scripture. Movements older than written forms. Chaos shaped into rhythm.
His body absorbed what it could. The rest embedded into his Blood-Echo Mantle.
Kaelis placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're evolving again."
Ashen closed his eyes. "No. I'm remembering deeper."
The chamber began to collapse slowly. The seal had been loosened, but the being—the First Heretic—remained asleep.
"For now," Keyven said as they escaped upward. "But he's watching."
---
Back under the stars, the valley was still. The echoes had faded.
Ashen looked at his hands. They shimmered faintly with jade threadmarks, temporary reminders of what had been given.
Revyn stretched. "So… what now?"
Ashen looked toward the east. "There's a temple beneath the Obsidian Marshes. One built by those who remembered chaos not as a threat—but as origin."
Kaelis raised an eyebrow. "You sure you want to chase another echo so soon?"
Ashen nodded. "Yes. Because Earth's forgotten too much. It's time someone started remembering for her."
As dawn bled across the mountain range, the group began their journey again.
Toward the marsh.
Toward more echoes.
And toward truths the stars had long tried to bury.
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