Ancestry of Secrets

The air in the primordial realm smelled of petrichor and burnt ozone. Ethan trudged through a valley of glass-like obsidian, his boots crunching on shards that reflected fragments of forgotten skies.

The raven glided silently above, its golden eyes scanning the horizon. Since abandoning the Duskheir's mantle, the weight of the title had lifted—but the silence left in its wake was unnerving.

"You're quieter than usual," the raven croaked, landing on a jagged rock. Its voice, now laced with Nari's cadence, startled him.

Ethan paused.

"Since when can you talk?"

The bird tilted its head, feathers shimmering. "Since you stopped pretending to be something you're not. The Ashirai's memories are… loud."

"Great. So now I've got a philosopher-bird nagging me."

"And you've got the charm of a half-dead cactus," it retorted. "Why are we here?"

Ethan knelt, brushing ash from a half-buried relic—a stone tablet etched with a winged serpent.

"Because the First Duskheir didn't leave titles. They left answers."

——

Crossroads Council Chamber

The Dralei warlord, Veyra, slammed her gauntleted fist onto the fractured council table.

"The cloak is ours by right! The Ashirai's 'holy wanderer' was a Dralei exile!"

Ashirai Elder Kiren, her storm-gray robes singed from battle, hissed back,

"Your lies poison the air. The First Duskheir walked alone. Your ancestors were thieves."

A Dralei warrior stepped forward, his bone armor rattling.

"We've spilled blood to protect these realms while you hid in your desert, praying to shadows!"

Kiren's tattoos flared.

"And you think a stolen relic makes you worthy? The Duskheir's power isn't in cloth or symbols—it's in sacrifice."

Veyra drew a dagger forged from dead godbone.

"Then let's test that theory."

The chamber doors exploded inward. A corrupted Ashirai scout, his eyes leaking void-black ichor, staggered inside.

"They're coming… The rift… it's birthing something—"

His body ruptured, spewing tendrils of living shadow. The factions froze, their feud forgotten as the void's laughter echoed through the room.

——

Primordial Realm

The raven pecked at the tablet, its beak clinking against stone.

"This script—it's not First Duskheir. It's older."

Ethan squinted at the symbols.

"You can read it?"

"No. But she can." The bird's eyes glowed, projecting a hologram of Nari's ghost.

Nari's spectre traced the etched serpent.

"This is the language of the Progenitors—the beings who birthed the First Duskheir. They wrote of a 'Nameless Warden' who imprisoned the void's heart in a realm beyond time."

Ethan crossed his arms.

"So the void wasn't always a parasite?"

"It was a mistake," Nari said. "A Progenitor's failed experiment to merge light and shadow. The First Duskheir locked it away, but the Veyras… they found the key."

The raven flapped impatiently.

"Your family's talent for ruining things is impressive."

"Tell me something I don't know," Ethan muttered.

——

Chamber of the Nameless Warden

The primordial realm's heart was a cathedral of living crystal, its walls pulsing with trapped starlight. At its center stood a figure—a androgynous guardian clad in armor fused to their skin, their voice a chorus of echoes.

"You are not the First," the guardian intoned, spear leveled at Ethan's throat. "Yet you bear their scars."

Ethan raised his hands.

"I'm here to understand, not fight."

The guardian's helmet retracted, revealing a face that shifted between genders and ages.

"The First was a Progenitor—a child of the cosmos. They created the Duskheir to mend realms, not conquer them. But your bloodline…" Their gaze hardened. "You turned guardians into kings."

"I'm not one of them anymore," Ethan said.

"No. You are something… uncertain." The guardian's spear clattered to the ground. "The void's heart is not destroyed. It is here, in this realm. And it remembers you."

A tremor shook the cathedral. The walls cracked, green-black light seeping through.

——

Crossroads Battlements

Veyra and Kiren stood side by side, watching the horizon boil with void-spawn.

"This is your fault," Veyra growled. "Your 'sacred wanderer' left us with a mess."

Kiren's tattoos dimmed.

"And your ancestors sold their souls for power. We are both fools."

A young Dralei soldier, her voice trembling, interrupted.

"Warlord—the rift! It's changing."

The sky split, birthing a colossal eye of green-black flame. From its pupil descended a figure—Cedric Veyra, reborn in void-flesh, his sword carved from the Nameless Warden's crystal.

"Hello, insects," Cedric sneered. "Did you miss me?"

Veyra spat. "How many times do we have to kill you?"

Cedric's grin split his face.

"As many as it takes."

The guardian pressed a shard of crystal into Ethan's palm.

"The void's heart cannot be destroyed—only contained. To do that, you must become what the First once were. A bridge. A sacrifice."

Ethan stared at the shard.

"What happens to me?"

"You will exist between realms. Never fully here, never fully gone."

The raven pecked his shoulder.

"Don't do it. You'll be alone."

Ethan closed his fingers around the shard.

"I've always been alone."

"No," the raven said. "You had me."

For the first time, Ethan smiled.

"Then stay with me."

The guardian stepped back as the crystal shard ignited.

"The Nameless Path is yours. Walk it well."