Del'mor was not built to be beautiful.
It was built to forget.
A city wrapped in smog and secrets, its towers rose like jagged fangs from the earth — each one different, each one watching. From the moment Kael, Lyra, and Riven crossed through its weathered stone gate, they felt it.
Eyes. Hundreds of them.
Watching. Measuring. Judging.
Riven tilted his head toward a crumbling statue of some forgotten warlord. "Nice place," he muttered. "Smells like betrayal and cheap wine."
Kael's cloak shifted as he walked ahead, face hidden beneath a loose hood. He could feel the Sigil burning faintly against his chest — not in warning, but in recognition.
He had been here before. Not in this life. But long ago… as Ren Verradin.
---
🏙️ The Streets of Del'mor
The city breathed in layers. The upper platforms sparkled with markets, jewelers, and illusionists selling dreams. The middle levels reeked of steel and smoke — mercenary guilds and taverns full of hired blades. Below that…
The under-tier. Where the Faceless lived.
Whispers told of a cult who worshipped memory. They wore masks of ivory or bone. To look upon their true faces was said to bring misfortune — or madness.
Kael led the trio into a crowded square where a masked minstrel played a violin that cried like a mourning widow. Lyra moved beside him, eyes scanning the crowd.
"This place doesn't welcome strangers," she said softly. "And yet you walk as if it's home."
Kael didn't answer.
He knew where they needed to go — even if the memory was incomplete. The Vault of Forgotten Echoes, hidden beneath the Black Flame Monastery, held relics of the Ashen Empire… and maybe, a piece of himself.
---
🌒 That Night – In a Forgotten Alley
They made camp in the abandoned ruins of a bell tower, long since silenced by war.
Kael sat apart from the others, his hands shaking slightly as he opened the old scroll he had kept hidden since Chapter 17 — the one given by the dying Seer. Inside it, a map drawn in blood ink.
Del'mor was layered like a coffin.
And the heart of it lay beneath.
> [Shadow System Notice:
New Location Identified — "Vault of Forgotten Echoes"]
[System Integration: Tracking ancient essence… unlocking passive relic sensitivity.]
Kael's eyes narrowed. "It's waking up… more than before."
A moment later, Lyra joined him. She sat in silence for a while before speaking.
"You're growing stronger, but colder."
He blinked. "Am I?"
"Riven's worried. So am I."
She reached out, touching his wrist gently. "Don't become what the world wants you to be. You're not just a shadow, Kael."
He met her gaze — and for once, something flickered in his expression. A crack in the shell. A boy, not a weapon.
Then came a sound.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Footsteps. Slow, deliberate, approaching the tower.
Riven drew his blades. "Company."
A figure emerged from the dark — tall, wrapped in crimson robes, wearing a white bone mask. His voice was a whisper lined with smoke.
"You wear the sigil, boy. And yet you walk freely. Tell me…"
He raised a hand, revealing a burning crest of false shadow.
"…are you the heir returned, or the mistake reborn?"
---