Kael sat at his desk, the aged parchment of the map spread before him. Candlelight flickered across its surface, revealing faded ink lines and symbols that seemed more than mere geography. His fingers traced the paths, the curves, the points of convergence. It was familiar, yet utterly alien. A relic from his past self, now a riddle waiting to be solved.
Elara leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. "So? Any of it making sense to you?"
Kael exhaled. "Some of it. But it's not a normal map. This isn't just a guide,it's a test. A message left behind by someone who thought he'd need to find his way back."
Elara moved closer, peering at the parchment. "And that someone was you."
Kael nodded. "Or who I used to be. And if I was the one who made this, then I must have built in a way to decode it."
He pulled out a notebook, jotting down the symbols he recognized. The design wasn't arbitrary. Every marking was precise, each placement intentional. His mind worked through the layers ancient scripts, forgotten languages, codes hidden within codes.
"Look here," Kael pointed. "This isn't a location. It's a time reference."
Elara frowned. "You mean like a date?"
"Not exactly." He turned the map toward the light. "It's a cycle. The movements of celestial bodies. Whoever or rather, I made this, factored in planetary alignments to reveal when certain paths would open."
Elara's eyes widened in realization "Then this map doesn't just tell you where to go it tells you when"
As Kael deciphered more of the markings, something stirred in his mind. Flashes of forgotten places. A temple swallowed by sand. A library hidden beneath an ocean. A mountain that was never meant to be climbed.
A name surfaced on the edge of his thoughts, just beyond his grasp.
Elara watched him closely. "You just remembered something, didn't you?"
Kael rubbed his temples. "Not fully. But I think I know where to look next."
He marked three locations on the map, their significance still unclear. Yet, the moment he did, something within him shifted. The pieces were starting to fall into place.They had to move quickly. If the players were after him, they might also be aware of his predicament and will probably be going after any chances of him awakening, then Kael wasn't the only one searching for the truth.
And the truth had a way of remaining hidden from those who sought it too late.
The following morning, Kael and Elara spread out every historical document they had gathered over the year. They compared texts, ancient scripts, and personal notes. The deeper they looked, the more unsettling the connections became.
"There's a pattern in how these locations are hidden," Elara murmured, running her finger across several pages of text. "They don't just exist in different places. They exist in different states of ... How should I put it??"
Kael tilted his head. "You mean reality?"
Her eyes turned to him as she nodded , she could see the look of someone who was proud of some achievement on his face.
He met her gaze. "I mean some of these places don't exist all the time. They appear, disappear, shift. Like echoes of something greater."
Elara exhaled and looked back towards the map. "So how do we track something that isn't always there?"
Kael tapped the map. "We use the cycles. I think we can use the celestial alignments I mentioned earlier they act as keys. If we can figure out the right moment, we can access these locations before they fade away."
As Kael continued his work, a realization dawned upon him. The map wasn't just a tool ,it was also a warning. Scattered among the notes and symbols were cautionary marks, as though his past self had left behind traces of regret.
"I don't think I (he) wanted me to find this easily," Kael muttered. "There are safeguards barriers I (he) put in place."
Elara frowned. "To keep others out?"
"To keep myself out," Kael corrected. "Which means I must have had a reason."
The weight of his past decisions pressed against him. Whatever he was seeking, it wasn't just knowledge it was something that had once changed everything for him.
Something dangerous.
Hours passed as Kael pieced together the fragments. Then he found something. A sequence of symbols hidden within the folds of the map itself, invisible unless viewed at the right angle. He pondered on where he had seen this rune-like symbols till it finally clicked. His eyes widened in realization.
A rush of understanding flooded him. The first location was no ordinary place ,it was a vault of memories. His memories.
And where he last saw this time was in a fragment of memory, when he had first fallen into a trance at first contact with the old diary, his first meeting with Elara, he closed his eyes and opened them but everything had turned white.....
---
The Golden Realm burned.
Its skies, once luminous with divine radiance, now choked with ash. Its sacred rivers, said to carry the lifeblood of the martial gods, ran red. Smoke spiraled from shattered spires, their once-pristine architecture crumbling under the weight of destruction.
Kael stood amidst the ruins, his breath steady despite the carnage. His blade, an extension of his will, dripped with the essence of those who had fallen before him. But it wasn't victory he felt.
It was unease.
He exhaled, his golden eyes narrowing. A strange familiarity gnawed at him, threading through his bones like a whisper from a past he didn't recall. Every step he took, every foe he cut down, felt rehearsed, like a melody he had played a thousand times before. The martial gods who had once ruled this realm fought desperately, their war cries filled with fury, desperation, and defiance.
But they were powerless before him.
A spear-wielding warrior lunged at him, his body wrapped in a flickering golden aura. "Demon! You do not belong here!" the god bellowed, his voice like rolling thunder. "You will perish by our..."
Kael moved before the words could finish, his sword slicing through the air in a deadly arc. The god's head fell before his body crumpled to the ground, the golden light dimming from his remains. Kael barely spared him a glance.
He advanced.
Another warrior charged, this one wielding dual sabers that pulsed with divine energy. She moved with the swiftness of the wind, her strikes precise and relentless. Sparks flew as their weapons clashed, but Kael's movements were sharper, cleaner. His blade found its mark, carving through flesh and bone as if destiny itself had already written this moment.
Screams echoed around him. Some voices roared in defiance, others wavered with fear.
"Why does he know our defenses?!" a voice shouted in desperation.
"He fights as if he's been here before!" another cried out.
Kael's grip tightened on his sword. That same gnawing sensation clawed at him. They're right, he thought. I do know this place.
And yet, he had no memory of ever stepping foot in this realm.
Still, the slaughter continued. The martial gods. Proud, mighty beings who had once stood above all fell one by one. Their golden realm darkened with death.
The once towering castle that illuminated the whole realm now dimmed and cast a heavy shadow both in the hearts of those staring at it...if there was any one... And on the realm itself.
Kael finally reached the heart of the realm: the Grand Hall. Its massive golden doors stood ajar, splattered with the blood of its former guardians. Beyond them, the last remnants of resistance had long since been snuffed out.
His boots echoed against the marble floors as he stepped inside. And there, against the farthest wall, his gaze landed upon something that made his breath hitch.
His signature.
Carved into the ancient stone.
His heartbeat slowed. His gaze became more cold and calculating. His brain was running on full speed that was a millions times faster than light .He took a step closer, running his fingers over the etching. The strokes, the depth of the carvings ,there was no doubt.
I was here.
The unsettling feeling in his chest deepened, an invisible weight pressing down on him. He turned, following the path of his signature, until his eyes landed on the mural above it.
And his world stilled.
A man sat atop a black steed, his long white hair flowing behind him like cascading light. His pupils glowed with silver fire, and in his grasp, two weapons rested,a greatsword shaped like a spear, gleaming with ominous energy. Beneath the hooves of his steed, a mountain of corpses lay, their forms unmistakable.
The martial gods.
The figure's presence was overwhelming, a force of nature depicted in stone. But there was no mistaking it.
Kael knew who the man was.
There was no mistaking, that overwhelming presence, those nonchalant eyes that brimmed with knowledge that couldn't even be found in heaven's library. That unmistakable spotless hair that flowed like rivers of stars.
The realization hit like a collapsing sun. The battlefield, the instincts, the familiarity, everything made sense now. He had done this before, and this man in the mural just confirmed his doubts.
The Golden Realm had never been his enemy.
It had been the home of heaven's outcasts, a group of people who were trying to survive without the protection of the heavens itself.
Kael's eyes glowed with golden light, rage was building in him, he had been played, he had been used, and the architect of this grave sin he just committed was the man in the mural!
Kael exhaled, his grip loosening on his sword. The tension in his eyes melted, not into relief, but into cold understanding.
He had played this game before.
But now he refused to be a pawn any longer.
Without hesitation, he turned from the mural and walked out of the Grand Hall. The Golden Realm was no more, and yet, it was not enough.
If everything was as it seemed ,if his fate had been written, erased, and rewritten, then he needed a contingency. He needed a way to break the cycle.
And so he did.
Piece by piece, fragment by fragment, he scattered clues across realms unknown. Some would be lost in battlefields, others buried in forgotten ruins. The path back to the truth would not be easy, not even for him.
Because this time, when he uncovered it, he would make sure he had the power to change it.
He would not be bound by fate.
He would defy it.
The battle ended. The dust settled. And Kael, eyes dark with resolution, stepped back into the present.
The fragment of memory had returned to him.
And with it, the first piece of his war against the heavens.