Chapter 7: The Girl in the Temple
A storm brewed over the northern highlands, drenching the earth with cold rain as thunder rumbled like the growl of a sleeping beast. But deep within the Vale of Miren, untouched by war or time, stood a ruined temple—its marble bones broken, its divine statues long since wept away by erosion.
Here, the girl sat.
Hair like moonlight fell across her shoulders, damp from the mist. Her violet eyes reflected the clouds, and with a single touch of her palm to the ground, dying grass turned green again.
The temple's last priest—a blind old man named Halden—watched her from afar, clutching a rusted chain of prayer beads.
"I don't know who you are," he said hoarsely, "but the gods wept the day you were born."
The girl—known to no one, yet whispered of in dreams—looked up at him. Her voice was soft, and when she spoke, even the birds fell silent.
"I'm not a god," she said. "I'm just… trying to remember."
"Then why do you bring life to a land long dead?"
She looked down at her hands, glowing faintly. "Because something terrible is waking. And it's looking for me."
---
Three days east, Kael stood before a shattered obelisk half-sunken in a pit of blackened bones.
They'd buried the dead knights hours ago. The scouts sent forward never returned. And the creature—the sentinel—hadn't shown itself again. But its presence lingered, thick and heavy.
He could feel it watching.
Seris returned to his side, her armor streaked with ash. "We found ruins farther north. Ancient. Undisturbed."
Kael nodded. "We go there next."
Vaen approached, his expression strained. "The men grow restless, my lord. They fear we march toward something we cannot kill."
"Let them fear," Kael said. "I welcome it. Better fear than arrogance."
But even as he spoke, he remembered the pressure of the sentinel's blade against his own.
A god-devourer.
The term haunted him.
He looked again at the serpent mark burned into his palm. Each day, the glow intensified, threading into his veins like liquid fire.
And sometimes, in his dreams, he saw her—the girl of light.
He couldn't see her face clearly, but he remembered her voice. Not from this life—but from something older.
And in his dreams, she always said the same thing:
"You chose the abyss… but it never chose you."
---
That night, under the flicker of a dying fire, Kael dreamt again.
But this time, it wasn't a nightmare—it was a memory.
A younger Kael, barely a boy, walked through the ruins of a city long turned to stone. Fire rained from the sky. Shadows screamed in the distance. And in the heart of it all, a girl stood upon a pillar of light.
She looked at him.
And smiled.
"When the darkness takes everything, I'll give you one thing back. Your soul."
Kael jolted awake, breath ragged.
He was no longer sure if these were dreams, or glimpses of a life forgotten.
Seris approached, kneeling beside him.
"You saw her again," she said. It wasn't a question.
Kael nodded slowly. "She knew me before the Abyss."
Seris frowned. "Do you think she's a threat?"
Kael looked down at the serpent mark. It pulsed.
"I think she's a key," he said. "And I don't know whether she'll open a door… or close one."
---
Far to the north, in the ruined temple, the girl opened her eyes and gasped.
Blood trickled from her nose.
The old priest rushed to her side.
"What did you see, child?"
She trembled, her voice hoarse. "He's coming. The King of Ash and Shadow. He bears the serpent's mark."
Halden's face paled. "Kael."
"I don't remember him," she whispered, "but my soul does. And it hurts."
She stood, swaying.
"Where are you going?" Halden asked.
"To find the last temple," she said. "The one with the crystal pool."
"But why?"
She looked to the horizon.
"Because the pool remembers everything. And I need to know what I once was… before he does."
---
Kael's army arrived at the ruins Seris had spoken of. The site was unlike anything he had seen.
Pillars floated in the air, suspended by an invisible force. The stones hummed with ancient magic. And at the center stood a gate—not a physical one, but a tear in space itself, dark as a starless sky.
Thalos, who had joined them the day prior, studied the tear with awe. "This is a Waygate. Old magic. Forbidden even in the First Age."
"Where does it lead?" Kael asked.
"Wherever the key desires."
Kael stepped forward. The serpent mark flared.
The gate rippled.
"He's connected to it," Thalos muttered. "This is how he'll reach her."
Kael clenched his fists. "Prepare the men. We move through at dawn."
Seris approached him quietly once the others had left.
"You're not just chasing her anymore," she said.
Kael didn't deny it.
"She's part of me," he admitted. "And I think… I was part of her too. Before the Abyss. Before the throne."
Seris lowered her gaze. "Do you love her?"
He looked at her, truly looked. "I don't know what I feel."
Seris's voice was quiet. "If she is the light… and you are the dark… then only one of you can survive."
Kael turned toward the gate.
"Then we'll see which of us burns first."
---
In the Vale of Miren, the girl crossed the final ridge.
Below lay the Crystal Pool—once a sacred place, now overgrown and forgotten.
She knelt at the edge, letting her fingers drift across the surface.
Visions erupted.
A boy—Kael—kneeling in the ashes.
A girl—herself—offering him her hand.
A promise made.
A betrayal.
A kingdom drowned in shadow.
And the serpent, always watching.
She reeled back, gasping.
"I knew him," she whispered. "We were…"
Lovers.
But more than that.
Two halves of something greater.
"I gave him the Abyss," she realized. "And now he wants to give it back."
The pool shimmered again.
In its reflection, her eyes began to glow.
Not violet—but silver and gold.
She was waking up.
And Kael was coming.