The girl did not wake for three days.
They had left the mountain behind, its corpse still leaking black smoke into the sky. The cult had scattered—or dissolved into ash. But the Veiled One's whisper lingered in the air like static.
The child, the boy with no name, stayed close. He followed the Traveler through the ravines and dead rivers without question. Something had changed in him. His eyes weren't as afraid now.
He began humming to himself.Not a song—more like… a memory.
They reached an abandoned temple carved into a canyon wall. Its walls were cracked, its god long gone.
The Traveler laid the girl on a faded altar and waited beside her.
When she awoke, it was sudden—like a drowning soul gasping to the surface.
She sat up, coughing.
Her first word wasn't "where."It was:
"Who?"
The Traveler looked at her. "You don't remember?"
She shook her head slowly, eyes distant.
The boy stepped forward. "You saved her, right? She'll be okay now?"
The Traveler's silence said otherwise.
That night, while the two children slept beside a fire built in the ruins of forgotten prayers, the Traveler stepped outside.
He looked at the sky.
It was broken again.
A rift had formed between the constellations—a crack in reality that shimmered like a wound.
And from that wound… something looked back.
The Traveler touched the blade at his side.
It was whispering again.
But not to him.
To the girl.
Far away, in the Clockwork Marshes of Vael, a council of god-eaters gathered.Their skin was made of bark and teeth. Their hearts were clocks.One of them opened a tome etched in living bone.
"The Shardsword bearer walks the path again."
Another hissed, "The gods will awaken sooner this time."
✦ WORLD MAP ✦
The Broken World: Ashen Cycle, Year 3,472
🗺️ Major Regions & Lands
1. The Endless Dune
A desert shaped by dead gods' last breaths. Hollowborn emerge from deep sand temples. The Gate of Bone lies here.
2. Vael, the Clockwork Marshes
Swamps filled with bio-mechanical horrors and time-warping fog. Headquarters of the Council of Teeth, old god-eaters.
3. The Ashcoast
A shattered continent with black sand shores. Broken cities whisper. Some say time runs backward here.
4. Hollowspire Range
Spiked obsidian mountains. Deep within sleeps the Titan Below, whose dreams shape earthquakes.
5. The Veinlands
A forest of crimson vines that bleed. Home of the Chorus Trees, where mad prophets hang in cocoons.
6. Isle of Stillness
A floating island above a crater lake. No sound exists here. Home of the Silent Monks, who trap gods in bottles.
7. The Pale Deep
A northern icefield where forgotten ships sail on land. The White Reaver, a god-beast, prowls beneath the ice.
8. Cradle of Flame
A volcanic zone worshipped by the Flamebound Cult. Said to be the birthplace of the Shardsword.
9. Arkgrave, The Last City
The only known city with sunlight. Protected by a divine barrier. Here, exiled scholars and artificers dwell.
✦ Divine Zones (Dead or Dormant Gods Rest Here)
The Pit of Many Mouths (Below the Bone Gate)
Tower of Teeth (Floating east of the Ashcoast)
The Mirrorlake Tomb (Veinlands center; reflects futures that never happened)
Obsidian Staircase to the Sky's Heart (Hidden; said to lead to where the first god fell)