Chapter Text
Early in the morning, just past dawn, a message was discovered. Carved into old rotting ruins, it displayed a warning and a prophecy. Those who saw it claimed it was drawn in the ichor of the Gods, for the substance, though dry, remained as vibrant as if it had just spilled from a vein.
As once in the fading, fallen past,
The future dawns to hold thee fast.
A tale anew, as once was cast,
Now comes thy fate, prepared at last.
For balance now so broken, torn,
These words of dread shall be reborn.
A cycle deigned to burn anew,
Souls bound yet broken into two.
Till the Aegisworn's last breath,
They stand between the world and death.
One crowned in shadow’s dread design,
One bound to light’s dissolving line.
To seal the breach or rend the sky,
In union bound, or chosen lie.
So speaks the stone, in blood and breath:
What saves the world shall court its death.
And just as it was seen, it was destroyed. The regent deemed the message a hoax, propaganda to sway Archivist influence throughout Avalond. Though not even she could deny the change that fell through the air—the ruins of Athelen, silent for a thousand years, now seemed to hum.
Through numerous attempts to silence this newfound warning, word spread like wildfire. The temple of Ithara’s front doors flooded with people, some angry, others begging to be spared. Archivists were nowhere to be found.
Amidst the chaos, across the city, those few who still listened to the old rhythms felt it: a stirring in the marrow, a song half-remembered.
A street preacher, blind since birth, wept blood and whispered, "They wake. Gods forgive us."
A tale lost for centuries, destined to be buried in old family collections, now the center of petty gossip. A tale that was never to be repeated, supposed to be forgotten. Not for the sake of the gods, but their mortal vessels—heirs and harbingers born of flesh—to keep the balance. Children crowned in starlight and shadow, marked by ancient sigils burned into their very bones.
Yet across every age, prophecy whispered the same doom:
When the chosen hearts of heaven and abyss entwine, the Veil shall rend, and worlds shall drown in fire.