The silence was thicker down here.
Beneath the Crimson Willow Sect, past the sealed staircases and forgotten scroll vaults, lay a realm untouched by time. Aryan moved through it like a shadow, his steps echoing against stone carved long before memory began.
Dust danced in the air like remnants of old dreams. The torch in his hand flickered, but it wasn't the only light. Faint glows pulsed from the cracks in the walls—ancient inscriptions, half-buried, humming with lost power.
And then… he heard it.
A whisper. Barely audible.
> "Aryan…"
He froze. Not because of the name—but because of how it was spoken. Soft. Broken. Familiar.
He turned sharply, flame swirling around his palm, but there was no one.
Still, the whisper lingered.
> "Lirael…"
His breath caught.
She shouldn't be here. Not in this place. Not in this life.
And yet, every stone seemed to hum with her name. Every corner of this subterranean ruin breathed with a magic Aryan hadn't felt since… her.
His flame guided him to a sealed door. Circular. Ancient. Carved with both moonfire sigils and flame crests—two paths never meant to meet.
But they had.
They had once danced beneath starlight, flame and moonlight in perfect harmony.
He laid his hand upon the door.
A pulse.
A heartbeat.
It opened with a hiss of old magic.
Inside was a single platform. At its center—a black lotus. Not dead. Not alive. Breathing. Waiting.
And beside it… a mark scorched into the stone:
> She loved you still.
Aryan stepped forward, trembling.
He touched the lotus.
And the world changed.
—A vision. A fragment of memory not his, and yet entirely his.
Lirael… eyes red with tears, standing in shadow, clutching a flame-scorched talisman.
> "Forgive me," she whispered to the night. "I couldn't save you…"
Then—darkness.
Aryan gasped, staggering back as flame flared uncontrollably around him. His eyes wide, chest heaving.
> "She didn't betray me…?"
The shadows stirred.
And this time, the whisper was clearer.
> "No. But someone made her."
Aryan clenched his fists, flame coiling tightly. The truth was shifting. The past was no longer certain.
And someone had twisted it.
Someone had made her say goodbye.
But who?
The lotus pulsed again—like a heartbeat synced with his own.
And Aryan knew…
He was not alone in this story.
Not anymore.
---
[Author's Note - R.E. Solcrest]
What if the greatest betrayal was never real?
In the next chapters, Aryan will begin questioning everything he once believed.
Thank you for reading and supporting Echoes of the Immortal Flame. Don't forget to comment and power up if you want more secrets revealed…