Chapter 25: The Cradle of Ash
The Cradle of Ash didn't welcome them.
It loomed.
A shattered canyon cut deep into the earth, its cliffs jagged like the ribs of a sleeping beast. Red mist clung to the rocks. The ground was scorched black, and the air was thick with mana so dense it shimmered.
Birds didn't fly here. No beasts howled. Only whispers drifted through the wind.
As the Vowbound descended into the basin, Andrew felt a cold pressure on his chest—like something ancient had just opened its eyes.
Kaelira rode close beside him. Selennia followed in silence.
"This is where it happened," Selennia said. "Where the first Gate cracked. Where your kind stepped through… and made war on this world."
"My kind?" Andrew asked.
She didn't answer.
The deeper they went, the stranger things became. Trees of petrified obsidian, their bark glowing faintly. Pools of water that didn't reflect light.
And then—they found the altar.
A single monolith of shadowglass, veined with crimson light, pulsing like a heartbeat.
Andrew approached, drawn to it like a tether.
"Ashren…"
The sword whispered now—not in echoes, but in memories.
He reached out—and the world slipped again.
-The Past Life-
A burning sky.A battlefield of bones.He stood atop the monolith…Beside Elen.
"This world rejected you," she whispered. "But I never did."
"You burned continents. You drowned kings. But you never raised your blade to me."
Andrew—the past him—looked at her, eyes hollow.
"I wanted peace."
"You wanted control," she said. "But you forgot love."
"That was your greatest failure."
And then… he killed her.
Not in rage.Not in cruelty.But in sorrow.
"I couldn't let them use you…"
Her blood hit the stone, and with it, Ashren was born—a sword forged from love, betrayal, and shadows.
-Present-
Andrew gasped as he stumbled back from the monolith, eyes wide.
Kaelira caught him.
"What did you see?"
"I… killed her," he whispered. "I killed Elen."
Silence.
Then Selennia spoke. "That altar was sealed for a reason. It contains the soul of your greatest mistake."
Mihai stepped forward.
"We shouldn't stay here. Not long."
But the monolith pulsed again—and this time, everyone felt it.
From the shadows beyond the altar, a figure stepped forward.
She was made of flame and shadow, her eyes silver-white.
Elen.
But not alive.
"You broke your promise, Andrew," she said.
"So I remained… trapped in this place. Waiting."
Kaelira raised a blade. Selennia stepped back.
Andrew shook his head.
"Don't. She's not here to kill us."
"She's a fragment. A piece of what I left behind."
Elen's eyes softened, just slightly.
"You're not who you were."
"But the Veil is breaking again. And the you that sleeps inside Ashren… is waking."
"He will not forgive you for being weak."
She looked to Kaelira, then to Selennia.
"Choose wisely, Andrew. Because in the end…"
"Only one of them will stand beside you."
And with that, she vanished.
The mist thickened. The altar dimmed. The Cradle fell silent again.
Andrew stood still, a tremor in his hands.
"I'm not him," he whispered.
Kaelira stepped beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"No," she said. "You're better."
Selennia stood apart, watching.
"For now."