The air was colder now.
Not from the dying fires of the battle above, but from the silence that settled in the ruins beneath the earth. Kaelen stood across from the cloaked woman, his grip still tight around the strange, glowing blade in his hand.
She studied him like he was a riddle written in fire.
"My name is Lysara," she repeated, her voice low, cautious. "And I've been looking for you."
Kaelen didn't move. "Why?"
"Because you're not just a soldier," she said. "Not just another rebel with a stolen weapon and a death wish. You remember things you shouldn't. You move like them—fight like them."
He felt his throat tighten.
"I don't know what I am," he said.
"You're more than human," Lysara replied, stepping closer. "You're one of the First-Born."
Kaelen narrowed his eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"
She didn't answer—not directly. Instead, she knelt beside one of the broken Isu guardians and pulled back its armor plate, revealing a humming shard of golden crystal embedded in its chest. With skilled hands, she extracted it, and the shard dimmed.
"They're called Hearts of Eden," she said. "Not many of us know how to harvest them. But they're the key to understanding the truth."
Kaelen watched her work. Something about the way she moved, the symbols on her gloves… it reminded him of the Archivists—Isu who once curated the flow of knowledge, not weapons.
"You're not like the others," he said. "You don't fight like a rebel."
Lysara gave him a sideways glance. "I was raised in a hidden enclave, far beyond the reach of the gods. We are the Veiled Ones—keepers of memory, watchers of bloodlines. We believe that the past speaks to the present… if someone is willing to listen."
Kaelen's pulse quickened.
"You've known about me."
"We've waited for you," she said. "For him."
Her eyes burned into his.
"Vael'Ruun."
The name hit him like a blade.
Kaelen staggered back, breath catching. Visions surged again—more vivid this time. A circle of Isu councilors debating the fate of mankind. A woman—Isara—crying in his arms. The sky tearing open in fire.
Lysara nodded slowly. "You feel it now, don't you? The echoes of what you were. The legacy buried in your blood."
He dropped to one knee, overwhelmed.
"I… I don't understand. How can I be him?"
"You're not him," she said softly. "Not entirely. You're a piece of him—his memory, his will, reborn into the lineage he chose to protect. You were meant to awaken."
"And why now?" he demanded. "Why me?"
Lysara took a deep breath, then gestured toward the dark corridor behind her.
"Come," she said. "There are others. You're not alone."
Moments Later – The Underground Sanctuary
They traveled deeper into the earth, where the air was damp with memory. Torches flickered in carved sconces, revealing ancient walls etched with spirals and symbols. This was no human construction—this place had been built by Isu hands, long before man could shape stone.
They entered a chamber shaped like a star, where a small group of cloaked figures knelt in silence before a circular slab covered in golden markings.
Kaelen paused at the entrance.
"What is this place?"
Lysara turned to him. "One of the last Memory Chambers. Here, the Veiled Ones preserve what your people were never meant to know."
At the center of the slab, a symbol began to glow—the Eye, framed in a perfect circle.
Kaelen felt it draw him in. He stepped forward, and the others turned to watch.
"It's responding to him," whispered one of the robed figures. "He bears the inheritance."
Lysara nodded, then stepped beside Kaelen.
"This is what the Isu feared most," she said. "A human… born with the spark of eternity. A living archive."
Kaelen looked down at his hands. They trembled.
"What do you want from me?" he asked.
She stepped closer, her voice quiet.
"We want you to remember."
A pulse of light erupted from the slab, washing over him like a wave of electricity. Kaelen's eyes snapped open, and the world fell away.
Memory Synchronization Initiated…
He stood in another body. Another life.
A balcony overlooking a city of light. Silver towers rising into the sky. The hum of thought-bridges and sky-sails. The Isu capital—Aeon Prime.
He was Vael'Ruun again.
But not as a warrior. As a rebel—an exile from the Council. Beside him stood Isara, her hand clutching his.
"They'll never forgive us," she said.
"I don't want forgiveness," he replied. "I want freedom. For them."
Below, he saw humans chained in masses, working beneath the brilliance of the city.
The scene flickered. Changed.
The Council. The Cataclysm. The creation of the Aeternum Engine. The sacrifice. The choice to preserve not power, but hope.
The memory ended.
Kaelen collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
Lysara knelt beside him. "You saw it."
He nodded, sweat pouring from his brow.
"I saw everything."
"You carry more than memory," she said. "You carry a weapon. The Isu built tools to enslave. But Vael left behind something that could free."
Kaelen looked up, eyes burning with new fire.
"What is it?"
Lysara met his gaze.
"Not a blade. Not a device. A path. One that begins here."
She reached into her robes and pulled out a small medallion—half gold, half obsidian. Etched with a familiar symbol.
The precursor to the Assassin insignia.
"This… is where the Creed is born," she said. "Not in steel or blood—but in the memory of the First."