Part 1: The Forgotten Path
The wind was colder now.
Not in temperature, but in feeling—like the world itself had drawn a breath and was holding it, waiting. Max could feel it in his bones. Something had changed after the temple. Not just in him… but in the land itself.
They left the ruins behind, traveling north along an old, overgrown trade route marked only by cracked stones and forgotten roadposts. Jaya walked slightly ahead, scanning the trees with her eyes, silent but alert. Fenn had become more withdrawn, pausing more often to listen. Borin was the only one who spoke now and then, usually to the spirits of old hunters buried beneath the trees.
No one asked Max about what happened inside the temple.
He knew they were afraid—not of him, but of what they saw. That sudden surge of light. The way he struck that shadow creature down in a single movement. He'd been too weak to stand afterward, but the image lingered like a ghost behind their eyes.
Max couldn't explain it himself. He didn't want to.
The system had gone silent since then. That hidden ability—whatever it was—had sealed itself again. And he wasn't sure if it would ever return the same way.
---
They reached a clearing by late afternoon where a crumbled stone tower leaned like a dying tree. Vines wrapped around it. Moss ate the stone.
"We rest here," Jaya said, voice soft but firm.
Max sat down on a fallen log, watching the sun dip behind the treetops. The light fell across a half-buried symbol carved into the grass-covered floor. It wasn't like the ones in the ruins—it looked older.
"See this?" Borin said, crouching beside it. "That's a sky-path rune. Used long before recorded kingdoms. People say they mapped the stars into the ground. Left trails."
"Where do they lead?" Max asked.
"No one knows anymore," Borin murmured. "The maps were lost. Or burned."
Later, when the fire was lit and night fully settled, Jaya finally turned to Max. Her voice was low.
"That light… it wasn't fire. Or lightning. It didn't belong to any element I've ever seen."
Max looked into the flames. "It wasn't mine, either."
She hesitated. "Then whose was it?"
He didn't answer. He couldn't. But his silence said enough.
---
That night, Max woke suddenly. No sound. No wind. Just the faint flicker of the dying fire and a whisper, so soft he thought it might be part of his dream.
But it came again.
"Follow the carved star…"
Max stood, eyes scanning. The others were still asleep. He followed the voice—not frantic, but calm—into the woods just beyond the tower.
There, beneath a dying tree, lay a circle of stones. Seven, each marked with a line and dot. A constellation. He'd seen it in his old world, too.
The same one that appeared when his system activated.
He reached down, fingers brushing the central stone. It glowed faintly.
The system pulsed.
[Ancient Beacon Recognized]
[Synchronizing…]
[New Entry Unlocked: Forgotten Pathway I]
The stone sank into the ground. The others followed. And the earth split.
A stairwell opened beneath the moss—carved steps vanishing into complete blackness.
---
Max didn't hesitate.
Torch in hand, he descended into the silence. The walls were carved with pictures—more sky-path runes, constellations, and images of beings not quite human. One showed a figure with no face, holding a burning sphere in one hand and a shattered mirror in the other.
"We gave them the flame," read an inscription in old tongue. "They broke it."
Deeper still, the path opened into a circular room, its ceiling shaped like a dome. The walls pulsed with faint starlight.
And in the center stood a pedestal—with a single item resting upon it.
A stone mask. Cracked down the middle. Eyes hollow.
He stepped closer.
The system flared again.
[Legacy Memory Detected]
[Would you like to access this memory?]
Max reached out.
Yes.
---
Flashes. Screams. Stars falling. A man standing over a battlefield of fire and ash. Not Pal. Not Max. But… connected. His voice echoed.
"The flame is alive. It doesn't serve. It chooses. And when it does… the world will burn or be remade."
The vision ended.
Max staggered back, breath stolen.
That… thing. That power. It wasn't meant to be controlled. It had chosen him.
But why?
---
Suddenly, a voice behind him.
"I thought I felt something wake up."
Max turned—blade half-drawn—but stopped.
A boy. Maybe sixteen. Pale skin. Golden eyes like his.
He smiled, sharp and lazy.
"I'm Riven. I think we're… brothers, of a kind."
Max didn't move.
Riven tilted his head. "Relax. I'm not here to kill you. Yet. I just wanted to see the one who cracked the gate. Took me years to find it."
Max narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?"
"To see if you're worthy," Riven said simply. "Of the flame. Of them." He gestured to the stars glowing faintly above.
"And if I'm not?"
Riven's grin faded. "Then they'll eat you alive. And I'll be there to watch."
He vanished into dust. Just like that.
Max stood alone.
---
When he returned to camp at dawn, the others were awake, worry in their eyes.
"Where were you?" Jaya asked sharply.
Max sat down, shoulders heavy.
"I found something."
They waited.
But he said no more.
Because he didn't have answers yet. Only a growing fear.
That the thing inside him was not just power… but a voice. A will. And one day, it would want something back.
Part 2: Echoes in the Fog
The silence of dawn didn't last long.
By the time the group had packed up their supplies and doused the campfire, an unnatural fog had crept in—rolling low along the ground, thick as smoke. Max noticed it first, watching the way the mist curled around their boots without rising higher than the knees.
"This isn't normal," Fenn muttered, crouching to touch the damp soil. "No wind. No dew. But it's here."
"It's guiding us somewhere," Max said before thinking. The words just came out.
Jaya turned sharply. "You know what this is?"
He hesitated. "No. But I felt it last night. This fog… it's not just weather. It's like it's alive."
The group stood still.
Jaya gave a short nod. "Then we move carefully. Weapons ready. Eyes open."
They followed the faded road north, veiled in silence. Trees emerged like ghosts from the fog, their trunks stretched tall and gaunt. The ground sloped upward, revealing hints of ancient stone beneath the moss—walls, perhaps, or the remains of a road long buried by time.
As they walked, Borin whispered softly—prayers to the old spirits of the earth. Max could barely hear the words, but the tone carried a strange sorrow.
"What are you saying?" he asked.
Borin didn't look up. "These lands belonged to a people that vanished without war. They simply disappeared, as if erased. Some say they went too deep into the world's truth and never came back."
Jaya glanced at Max. "Sound familiar?"
He said nothing. But the pulse beneath his skin was louder now. The system remained quiet, but it was awake—listening.
---
They came upon the remains of an archway by midday, almost hidden beneath ivy and shattered stone. Above it, worn runes glimmered faintly when Max passed underneath.
The mist parted briefly beyond it, revealing a strange grove—trees twisted in spirals, their branches grown into unnatural arches. In the center stood a black stone monolith. Not tall, but wide, with smooth surfaces and no markings.
"What… is that?" Fenn asked, stepping back.
Max didn't answer. He stepped forward, drawn.
The system responded.
[Obsidian Pillar Detected]
[Hidden Trial Available]
[Warning: Trial Contains Real Death Conditions]
[Do you wish to enter: Yes / No]
He froze.
Real death. Not training. Not a vision. This was no illusion.
"Max?" Jaya said.
He turned. "There's a trial here. I can feel it."
"Trial for what?" she asked. "That thing doesn't even look alive."
"It's a test. From the same people who left the runes… and the temple."
Borin stepped forward, eyes narrowed. "This is no test for warriors. It's a test for knowledge. Mind. Will."
"Then why is it calling you?" Fenn asked quietly.
Because it knows I'm not just a warrior, Max thought.
He approached the stone, palm out.
The system flared again.
[Touch to Begin Trial]
He looked back once at his companions.
"Wait here."
Then he touched the stone.
---
The world flipped.
He didn't fall, didn't move—but everything else did. One blink and he stood in an endless library. No roof. Just sky. And books—miles of them. Some floating, some stacked like towers. All silent.
"Welcome to the Forgotten Archive," a voice said.
Max turned.
A woman stood there, dressed in robes of grey. Her face was veiled in shadow. Not evil. Not kind. Just… unreadable.
"You were chosen to answer."
"Answer what?"
She raised a hand.
"A question lost to time."
Suddenly, Max felt himself pulled into one of the books. The world spun—
He was on a battlefield. Thousands of soldiers. Fire. Screams. And a single question rang out:
"If you could save the world by destroying its memory, would you do it?"
Max blinked.
"What kind of question is that?!"
"One your soul must answer."
The world spun again. He was in a quiet village now. Peaceful. Happy people. Then—a child fell into a well. Silence. Everyone watched, too afraid.
"If one child must die for the many to remain safe, will you let him fall?"
Max clenched his fists. "No! Someone should help!"
"Would you?"
He dove—but hit nothing. The world reset again.
This time, a cave. Runes. His own face on the wall.
"Would you erase yourself to preserve balance?"
Max screamed. "Stop!"
And the voice faded.
He was back in the library. Alone.
Breathing hard.
The stone woman returned.
"Your answers were flawed. But… honest."
[Trial Passed: 67% Accuracy]
[Reward: Mind of the Echo - Passive Skill Unlocked]
[Mind of the Echo]: Grants the user resistance to mental attacks and partial immunity to illusion-based magic.
---
Max stumbled backward as he returned to the grove. The fog had thinned slightly. The others were waiting, weapons drawn.
"You were gone over an hour," Jaya said.
"It felt like minutes," he replied.
"What did you see?" Fenn asked.
"Questions," Max said. "And echoes of what's coming."
They didn't press further. But now, the group walked more tightly together. The fog followed.
---
That night, they found shelter beneath the remains of a collapsed sky bridge—massive stones hanging above like teeth. As they ate quietly, Borin spoke again.
"I heard something in the mist while you were gone. Whispers. My name."
Jaya nodded. "Me too."
Fenn looked at Max. "Did you bring this fog?"
"No," Max said. "But I think something is following it."
---
In the deep hours of night, Max couldn't sleep. He walked to the edge of camp.
That's when he saw it.
A figure in the fog—tall, thin, draped in rags. Not moving. Just watching.
Max stepped forward. "Who are you?"
The fog thinned briefly.
The figure pointed at him.
"One of us. Or none of us. You'll have to choose."
Then it vanished.
---
Back at camp, Max found Jaya awake, sharpening her blade.
"You're changing," she said, not looking at him. "Not just power. You're… different."
He sat beside her. "I don't know what's happening to me."
She nodded. "You'll have to decide soon who you are. Before something else decides for you."
Max looked
into the dying fire.
He remembered Riven's words.
"If you're not worthy… they'll eat you alive."