---
[Scene Opens – Misty Valley Beyond the Temple]
The air is thick, almost honey-like, clinging to Arav and Elara as they tread deeper into a mist-shrouded valley.
Their clothes are torn, the third shard secured in Arav's satchel, pulsing faintly. Elara's lips are pale, her memory fractured from the temple's trial.
Suddenly, a sound breaks the quiet — a rhythmic thump, slow and steady. Not footsteps. Not an animal.
A heartbeat.
It echoes through the fog.
Arav (tense):
"Elara…?"
Elara (weakly):
"I hear it too…"
Then, out of the haze… a figure appears.
A man.
Standing shirtless, arms bloodstained, a long crimson scar from chin to navel. But his eyes—grey and ancient—radiate familiarity.
He doesn't flinch as a phantom wolf launches at him from the mist.
He lets it tear into his side.
But he doesn't fall.
The wound heals instantly.
Arav (stunned):
"What the hell…?"
Man (calmly):
"You're late."
---
[Scene: Campfire Beneath the Dead Tree]
The stranger has built a fire. Elara sleeps nearby, wrapped in furs.
Man (quiet):
"Names mean little now. But once, I was called Orren."
Arav (still wary):
"You're like me… one of the shard-bearers?"
Orren (smiling bitterly):
"No. I am… what comes after."
He unclasps a silver medallion — it's engraved with all three shards, forming a circle.
Orren:
"You carry the third. Good. But you don't understand their price yet."
Arav:
"I've bled. Lost my name. Nearly lost her. I understand plenty."
Orren (sharp):
"You understand nothing."
---
[Scene: Orren's Tale – Flashback Sequence]
Orren narrates, voice laced with ancient grief. The fire crackles.
> Centuries ago, a king sought to make time his servant. He split his own soul into seven shards — each one a gate to power and madness. Those who bore them gained strength, yes. But slowly… the shards consumed them. Their memories. Their identity. Their humanity.
Orren (grim):
"I was the first to defy him. I stole a shard... tried to destroy it. Failed. Now it keeps me alive… forever."
He clenches his hand. A spark of cursed light flickers between his knuckles.
Orren:
"I've died 412 times. Every time… I return. Memory intact. Pain multiplied."
---
[Scene: The Map of Death]
Orren unrolls a parchment — the only known map of the Shard Circle.
Orren:
"You're at the center of it all, Arav. Not by fate. By design."
Arav (coldly):
"What do you mean?"
Orren:
"Before you were born, your father made a deal. A child born under eclipse. A vessel pure enough to bind all seven shards."
Arav (shaking):
"No…"
Orren:
"Your mother tried to stop it. She fled. She died protecting you from the last shard — the one your brother now holds."
Arav (angry):
"Kalor..."
---
[Scene: Elara Awakens – Confrontation]
Elara stirs. She hears the last part. Her expression — shock, confusion.
Elara:
"Your father… planned this?"
Arav:
"I didn't know. I swear."
Elara (softly):
"Then we find the rest. And destroy them."
Orren:
"You can't destroy what made you."
Arav (furious):
"Watch me."
---
[Scene: Trial of Endurance – The Cursed Wolves]
Night deepens. Orren suddenly tenses.
Orren:
"They found us."
From the darkness, six ghostlike wolves emerge — white fur, eyes like fireflies, tongues black as ink.
Each bears a mark — a shard sigil burned into their foreheads.
Orren (drawing twin daggers):
"These are the Shardbound — they serve the Council. They erase bloodlines."
The wolves rush.
Arav fights savagely — striking with flame from his palm.
Elara uses her illusions — shattering two.
But one wolf sinks its teeth into Orren's neck — a geyser of blood erupts.
He crumples — and instantly revives, gasping.
Arav (yelling):
"Fall back! They don't stop!"
Orren (growling):
"Neither. Do. I."
---
[Scene: Dawn After the Battle]
Six carcasses lie scattered. Orren sits cross-legged, breathing heavily. His body — healed. But his mind is fading.
He stares at Arav.
Orren (low):
"You're not ready for what's next. But you have no choice."
He hands Arav a medallion — one with four blank spaces.
Orren:
"When you find the fourth shard… this will glow. When it does — come to the Hollow Citadel."
Elara (whispers):
"What's there?"
Orren:
"The ones who started it all. And the truth you were never meant to know."
---
End of Chapter 31
Next Chapter 32: The Bridge of Falling Names
> Arav and Elara must cross a psychic bridge made of memories, where forgotten truths claw back into reality — and one memory could break them forever.