The mountain pass was narrower than they had expected, and the air grew thinner with every step they climbed toward the towering peaks. The rocky walls rose on either side of them like colossal barriers carved with divine precision, and the echo reverberated with every movement, every word, every breath.
"Why do they call it the Deep Echo?" Nayari whispered as she glanced around cautiously, the Dream Crystal hanging from her necklace glowing faintly.
Limon, leading the group, answered, "Because every sound here never truly disappears. They say the echoes of those who passed through here thousands of years ago still linger within these walls."
He suddenly stopped and raised his hand, signaling for silence. In the distance, a faint sound... faint voices.
"Do you hear that?" Saril whispered, his face growing paler than usual.
They were human voices, but distorted, as if they emanated from the depths of time itself. Indistinct words, forgotten languages, ancient cries... and among them, chillingly clear, a familiar voice.
"Aliana..." Kairn's voice echoed from the rocky walls, but it wasn't the Kairn they knew. This Kairn was different, younger, filled with fear and despair. "Aliana, don't leave me..."
Aliana froze in place, her face gradually losing its color. The crystal on her chest began to pulse with a deep crimson glow.
"This is impossible," she said in a trembling voice. "This... this is from the future. From something that hasn't happened yet."
"Or from a past we no longer remember," Selene added, her blue eyes fixed intently on the walls. "The Deep Echo doesn't obey the laws of time. Here, all times exist simultaneously."
Another voice echoed, this time Aliana's own, but older, wearier: "I couldn't save him... I couldn't save any of them."
"Stop!" Marissa suddenly cried out, placing her hands over her ears. "These aren't ordinary echoes. These are memories... memories from times that haven't happened yet, or that happened and were erased from history."
Icarus, who had remained silent since they entered the pass, moved toward the nearest wall and placed his palm against it. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them, now glowing with a silvery light.
"The sixth crystal is near," he said calmly. "But the path to it is fraught with dangers unlike any we've faced before. The Sixth Guardian... they are not like us."
"What do you mea—" Limon began to ask, but his question was abruptly cut off by a new voice shouting from the walls:
"Turn back! Do not come any closer!"
A deep voice, trembling with an odd sensation—not fear, but something closer to suppressed panic. Strangely, the echo of the voice didn't fade but persisted, repeating and overlapping with itself in increasing layers, until the entire pass was filled with the same repeated phrase: "Turn back... turn back... turn back..."
"It's trying to scare us," Marissa said firmly, gripping the hilt of her dagger. "The Sixth Guardian."
"No," Icarus said, his hand still pressed against the rocky wall. "It's trying... to warn us."
Before anyone could respond, the rock beneath Icarus's hand exploded into tiny shards, scattering in all directions. The group leapt back, Limon drawing his sword, while Aliana raised her hand, now glowing with the light of the five crystals.
But there was no attack. Instead, a small black crystal box appeared within the fissure. Inside, they could clearly see a small doll—a doll shaped like a child, made of white cloth, its face drawn with simple lines, and on its chest, a small piece of blue crystal.
"What is this?" Saril whispered.
"A message," Icarus said, carefully retrieving the box. "From the Sixth Guardian to those who came before us. But... why hide it here?"
"Because there are those who must not see it," Selene suddenly said, turning to look behind them, toward the abyssal depths of the path they had traversed. "The White Pivot. It's been following us since the City of Fear."
The air around them froze. Limon pointed his sword toward the darkness behind them and advanced cautiously.
"I don't see anything..." he began to say, but his voice trailed off.
Because now, they all saw it. A figure moving in the shadows—cloaked entirely in white, its face hidden behind a crystal mask that distorted the reflected light. It moved toward them with slow, deliberate steps, surrounded by a faint, dancing white mist.
"Keep moving forward!" Aliana suddenly shouted. "I'll face it!"
"Not alone," Limon said firmly, standing beside her. "Marissa, Icarus, take the others ahead, through the pass, quickly!"
Everything happened in an instant. Marissa pushed Nayari, Saril, and Selene forward, and they ran deeper into the pass, with Icarus carrying the mysterious box. Meanwhile, Limon and Aliana stood their ground against the white specter, now only meters away.
"Once again, we meet, daughter of Kairn," the Pivot said in a voice as dry as the rustle of dead leaves. "Last time, you fled from me in the City of Fear. This time, you won't be so lucky."
"I'm not afraid of you," Aliana said, the five crystals around her neck beginning to glow with their distinct colors. "We saw you in the Brochard Tower. We know what you're planning."
"You know nothing," it replied simply, and with a swift motion, extended its hand toward them.
The air around them suddenly turned into a dense white liquid, wrapping around their bodies like heavy chains, restricting their movements. Limon tried to raise his sword, but he could barely move it.
"This is why those before you failed," the White Pivot said, advancing slowly toward them. "They thought they understood the nature of my power. But I am no ordinary Pivot. I am the one who freed the Eighth City from its slumber."
Then, something the Pivot did not expect happened. Aliana, still bound by the white liquid, closed her eyes and whispered inaudible words. Suddenly, beams of multicolored light shot out from the five crystals, piercing through the white liquid and reacting with it... transforming it into dissipating vapor.
"And you don't understand the nature of the crystals," Aliana said, now standing free, with Limon beside her. "I have five of them now. Each one represents an aspect of human existence. Together, they can challenge even the laws of matter."
For a moment, the Pivot hesitated. Then, with sudden speed, it stepped back.
"You think this is a victory?" it asked in a strange tone, as if smiling behind its mask. "It doesn't matter if you reach the sixth crystal. You will never reach the seventh. And without it, when the Great Eclipse comes, the Eighth City will remain sealed to you... and open to me."
Then, before Limon or Aliana could respond, the Pivot turned and sprinted away at an incredible speed, vanishing into the darkness behind them.
"Did... did it retreat?" Limon asked in astonishment, lowering his sword slowly.
"No..." Aliana said, her voice heavy with concern. "It's a trick. What just happened was more than a confrontation. It was... a test. It wanted to see the power of the crystals combined."
"And what does that mean now?"
"It means we're in greater danger than we imagined. Come on, we need to catch up with the others."
When Limon and Aliana reached the end of the pass, they found the others waiting on a high rocky platform, overlooking the most bizarre scene they had ever encountered. Before them stretched a city unlike any they had ever seen. Buildings crafted from pure white stone, yet everything about them was curved, flowing, as if sculpted from frozen tears. No sounds, no movement, no visible life. Only a profound stillness and a sorrowful beauty that pierced the heart.
At the center of the city, a single tower rose toward the sky, made of transparent crystal reflecting faint rainbow hues. From the top of the tower, a silver light danced gently, like a faltering breath.
"Iraniel, the City of Sorrow," Selene whispered, tears gathering in her eyes against her will. "I can feel it... the Sixth Crystal... the Crystal of Sorrow."
"What happened with the White Pivot?" Icarus asked urgently.
"He retreated, for some reason. But he'll return," Limon replied, then gestured toward the crystal box in Icarus's hand. "What did you find in that doll?"
Icarus opened the box again and carefully took out the small doll. When his hand touched the crystal piece on the doll's chest, something strange happened. Everyone heard a voice—a young girl's voice—speaking inside their minds:
"If you're hearing this message, you are the new bearers of the Crystals. I am Meredith, the Keeper of the Crystal of Love from the previous campaign. We failed to convince Lord Orlian, the Keeper of the Crystal of Sorrow, to relinquish it. Now, he holds all of us—myself and my four companions—prisoner within the Tower of Tears. The Sixth Crystal lies at the top of the tower, but Lord Orlian will not allow you to touch it. He believes its power is all that remains of the memory of his lost daughter.
"There is only one way to reach him. The bearer of the Crystal of Love alone may be able to pierce through his sorrow. But beware... doing so will cost her the most precious memory she holds. Lord Orlian permits no one to enter his tower unless they understand loss as deeply as he does.
"And if you fail, you will join us, trapped in the heart of this city forever. Hurry... time is running out before the Great Eclipse. The Eighth City is awakening, and the White Shadow awaits its opening. And do not trust—"
The voice cut off abruptly, and the doll returned to its strange stillness.
"Do not trust who?" Sariel asked, his voice trembling.
"It seems the previous campaign failed to obtain the Sixth Crystal," Limon said, his gaze fixed on the city with concern. "And now they are imprisoned in the tower."
The group turned to Selene, who was staring at the city with a strange expression—a mixture of deep pain and determination.
"Are you ready for this?" Aliana asked gently, taking her friend's hand. "The crystal demands your most precious memory."
Selene gave a faint smile. "Isn't that what love always does? It asks for the most precious thing we have... and we give it willingly."
Aliana looked at each of her companions in turn. Limon, with his unyielding resolve. Nayari, with her quiet fear. Sariel, with his curiosity and doubt. Icarus, with his deep knowledge. Marissa, with her constant caution. And Selene... Selene, who would have to sacrifice her most cherished memory to save a world that might not even deserve saving.
"Alright," Aliana finally said, turning toward the sloping path leading to the white city. "We'll do this together. Let's enter the City of Sorrow... and finish what those before us started."
They began their descent cautiously toward the silent city, caught between hope and despair. The outskirts of the city were devoid of any living soul, like an abandoned museum of grief. Their footsteps on the white marble echoed strangely, as if the city itself was breathing with their passage. Crystal-like trees lined the main road, and when a breeze passed through, their branches touched, producing sounds like soft weeping.
"This is no ordinary city," Icarus whispered, his eyes scanning the tiered white buildings. "This is a memory... a memory created by one man's sorrow."
Selene was now leading the group, as though drawn by an unseen force toward the city's center. The Crystal of Love on her chest pulsed with a warm pink glow, sending delicate threads of light toward the Tower of Tears.
"Do you feel anything?" Aliana asked, walking beside her.
"I feel everything..." Selene replied, her voice trembling slightly. "Every sorrow... every pain... every loss. This city is filled with them. And the tower... the tower itself is a broken heart."
As they approached the city's central square, the group stopped before an unexpected sight. In the middle of the square stood a massive fountain, but instead of water, it flowed with a shimmering silver liquid, cascading gently from a sculpture at its center—a sculpture of a little girl, perhaps five years old, looking up at the sky with an innocent smile.
Around the fountain stood five marble statues of people—three men and two women—frozen in various poses of waiting, readiness for battle, or despair. Their faces were astonishingly detailed, bearing expressions of anguish, determination, and strength.
"My God..." Nayari murmured, stepping forward to touch one of the statues—a statue of a young woman with long hair, her face bearing an expression eerily similar to Nayari's own. "These... these are the previous Crystal bearers. This is Meredith."
"Turned to stone?" Limon asked, shock evident on his face.
"No," Icarus said slowly, studying the statues. "They're not statues. They are themselves... trapped in marble."
Before anyone could respond, they heard a deep, weary voice emanating from everywhere in the square: "Five, then seven... and in the end, you will all become part of my city."
A tall man emerged from behind the fountain, dressed in flowing silver robes, his face concealed by a simple white mask, revealing only a pair of gray eyes, deep and tired from the weight of time. In his hand, he held a long crystal staff, emanating the same silver light that filled the fountain.
"Lord Orlian," Aliana said calmly. "We have not come to fight. We come with greetings from Cairn-Shadow and Eidolith—"
"I care not for your greetings," the masked man interrupted. "Nor for your reasons for being here. All who came before you spoke the same words. 'We come to save the world'... 'The Great Eclipse is near'... 'The Eighth City is awakening.' Empty words."
He struck the ground with his staff once, and the entire square rippled beneath their feet. "The Crystal of Sorrow is mine. It was a gift from my daughter before she vanished. It is all I have left of her. No one will take it from me."
Selene, who had been silently standing until now, stepped forward.
"But it is not yours, my lord," she said softly. "The Seven Crystals belong to the collective memory. They belong to the world, just as the memory of your daughter belongs to all existence."
Orlian visibly stiffened, his gaze locking onto Selene. "You bear the Crystal of Love," he said in a different tone, less harsh. "The last to bear it was Meredith. Now she stands there, trapped in marble, because she tried to take what was not hers."
"I know how you feel," Selene continued, taking another step forward. "The crystal tells me. You fear that if you let the Crystal of Sorrow go, you will lose the last connection you have to your daughter. But sorrow is not the only way to keep her memory alive." Orlean let out a bitter laugh. "And what do you know about true sorrow? About losing the one who means everything to you in this existence?"
Celine did not answer immediately. Instead, she raised her hand and touched her pink crystal, which began to glow brighter, sending rays of light piercing through the air around her.
"Test me," she finally said. "As you tested Meredith and her companions. If I succeed, you give me the crystal. If I fail... I join them in eternal stillness."
"No!" cried Aliana, trying to move toward her friend, but Marissa grabbed her arm. "Celine, this is too great a risk!"
But Celine did not turn. Her eyes remained locked on Orlean's behind his white mask.
"I know you won't listen to reason," she said calmly. "You won't heed threats or pleas. You will only listen to a heart that understands your own. That is what my crystal tells me."
After a few moments of tense silence, Orlean nodded slowly. "Very well, bearer of the Crystal of Love. You will enter the Tower of Tears alone. You will face one test: if you can let go of your most precious memory, I will allow you to see my crystal. Not take it, only see it."
"I will take it with me," Celine said with confidence. "Because my heart will convince yours."
Orlean turned toward the crystalline tower and gestured with his hand. The massive main door shifted from solid to something like rippling water, opening a path inward.
"Time is running out before the eclipse," Aliana whispered to Celine. "But don't risk yourself. We'll find another way."
Celine smiled and squeezed her friend's hand. "Fear is the enemy of love, and love is the enemy of sorrow, and memories are the bridge between them. I will return with the crystal."
She walked toward the tower, her steps calm and assured. Before entering, she turned one last time to her companions.
"If I do not return," she said, "remember that the seventh crystal awaits in the Mountain of Light, east of the City of Sorrow. Seek it."
Then she passed through the rippling gate and disappeared inside the tower, the crystalline door solidifying behind her once more.
Orlean looked at the remaining group silently, then turned and vanished as he had appeared, leaving the crystal bearers alone in the courtyard, surrounded by statues of their former companions, awaiting Celine's fate with heavy hearts.
"Now," said Lymon, his hand on the hilt of his sword, "we wait."
"And if she fails?" Sariel asked quietly.
"She won't fail," Aliana said firmly, though her voice wavered slightly. "Celine has the strongest heart among us all. If anyone can face eternal sorrow, it is her."
Behind her mask of confidence, Aliana closed her eyes and whispered words no one else could hear:
"Kairn, please... wherever you are, help her."
Inside the tower, the world was completely different. Celine found herself in a wide, circular room, its walls made of transparent crystal reflecting her image from countless angles. The ceiling was high, fading into a faint silvery mist. In the center of the room stood a single chair made of white marble.
"Sit," said Orlean's voice, though the man himself was not visible. "Sit and show me what lies in your heart."
Celine hesitated for a moment, then stepped toward the chair and sat down. As soon as she did, the room began to change. The crystalline walls disappeared, and the space around her rippled and shifted until she suddenly found herself in an entirely different place—a small, warm house bathed in golden sunlight streaming through open windows.
"This... this is my mother's house..." Celine whispered, her eyes widening in astonishment.
"These are your memories," Orlean's voice replied. "We are now seeing what you hold in the deepest parts of your heart."
A woman entered the room—a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Celine, though older, with wavy golden hair and deep blue eyes. Behind her, a very young girl—Celine herself, perhaps six years old.
"Come now, little Celine," the woman said with a voice full of tenderness. "Today, I'll teach you how to make necklaces from hope flowers."
The young girl's face lit up with a radiant smile, and the present-day Celine watched the scene with tearful eyes.
"This is my first clear memory with my mother..." she said in a trembling voice.
"A beautiful memory," Orlean replied. "But not the most precious."
The room shifted again. This time, she was in an open meadow filled with flowers, the sky a clear blue above her. A handsome young man sat beside her on a blanket, laughing with her. Her first love.
"Evan..." Celine whispered.
"First love..." Orlean said. "But also, not the most precious."
The scenes continued: Celine receiving her first crystal from the hands of an elderly priestess. Celine meeting Aliana for the first time. Celine and Kairn-Shadow speaking on a silent night in Eidolith.
"Do you see now?" Orlean asked. "All these moments have shaped you. But in the heart of every person, there is one memory more precious than the rest. A memory that, if lost, would take away an essential part of who we are."
The room shifted one last time. This time, she was in a small cottage on a stormy night. Rain poured heavily outside, and thunder roared. Inside the cottage, a single candle lit the space with a faint glow. On a simple bed lay a very young woman—Celine's mother, but much younger, much paler. In her arms, she held a newborn baby.
"Celine..." the woman said in a tired voice. "I will name you Celine, like the moon. Because your face lights up my darkness."
Celine gasped, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. "No... this is the one day I cannot forget... the day I was born... the day she died..."
In the scene, the young woman was breathing with increasing difficulty, kissing the baby's forehead and whispering, "I love you... I will always be with you... in every star, in every moon, in every light... I will be there..."
Then she closed her eyes slowly, the candle went out, and the newborn cried.
"This is it," Orlean said, his voice now closer, as if he were standing directly behind her. "The most precious memory in your heart. The memory that shaped your entire life. The moment your mother gave you life, gave you your name, and left you alone."
Celine was trembling now, her eyes fixed on the scene, which began to repeat in an endless loop. The mother whispering, kissing, dying... whispering, kissing, dying...
"This is the memory you cannot lose," Orlean continued. "Because it is the only memory that connects you to your mother. The memory that proves she loved you, even though you never truly knew her."
Orlean appeared before her now, without his mask. The face of an older man, his gray eyes filled with profound sorrow and somber wisdom.
"This is the test, bearer of the Crystal of Love," he said quietly. "Can you let go of the only memory of your mother in exchange for the Crystal of Sorrow? Can you do what I could not—let go of the last bond tying you to the one you loved?"
Celine closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face. Long moments passed in silence as she breathed deeply, trying to gather her strength.
Then, slowly, she opened her eyes and said, "This is not what it means... This is not what the crystal asks of me."
Orlean's eyebrows rose in surprise. "What do you mean?" "The crystal does not ask me to let go of my mother's memory," Celine said, her strength now restored. "It asks me to... share it."
She touched the Crystal of Love on her chest, which began to glow with an increasingly radiant pink light. "This is the difference between love and grief, sir. Grief holds onto memories and hides them, protecting them from the world. But love... love shares them, gives them to others, brings them to life in the world."
The pink light from her crystal began to expand, casting delicate rays that wrapped around the recurring scene: the death of her mother, her last words, her final touch.
"I offer you my memory, Sir Orlian," Celine said, looking directly into his eyes. "I share with you my most precious treasure. Not as a sacrifice, but as a gift."
The pink light flowing from her crystal extended to envelop Orlian himself. For a moment, the old man felt what Celine had felt her entire life—the profound love for a mother he had never known, the hope she carried with her in every moment, the belief that her mother still watched over her from among the stars.
A single tear slid down Orlian's face. "You... you are different from the others. They tried to take the crystal by force, by reasoning, or by sacrifice. But you... you offer the very thing I have spent my entire life searching for."
"Grief is not the end, Sir Orlian," Celine said gently. "Grief is the love that remains after the beloved is gone. And love can be shared, it can grow, it can endure."
Orlian nodded slowly, closing his eyes. The room around them began to change again. They returned to the circular hall of the tower, but this time, in the center of the hall, hovered a deep blue crystal—the Crystal of Grief.
"Fifty years," Orlian said in a weary voice. "Fifty years I have guarded this crystal, refusing to let it go, believing it was all I had left of my daughter. But the truth is... my daughter is not in the crystal. My daughter is in my heart... in my memories."
He raised his hand, and the blue crystal began to move slowly toward Celine. "Take it, Bearer of the Crystal of Love. You have taught me that memories are not meant to be hoarded... but shared."
Celine extended her hand, receiving the blue crystal, which settled quietly in her palm. As soon as she touched it, she felt a profound wave of sorrow wash over her—the sorrow of thousands of years, countless tears woven into the fabric of the crystal itself.
"Thank you," she whispered, tears filling her eyes.
"No... it is I who thank you," Orlian said, and for the first time, a faint smile appeared on his tired face. "Now, I can finally... rest."
Very slowly, Orlian's body began to transform, becoming like white marble. "When you leave the tower, your companions will be waiting for you... all of them. Including the former crystal bearers."
"What does that mean?" Celine asked, staring in awe at the transformation overtaking him.
"It means that time in this city will flow once more. Grief will end, and life will return." He smiled one final time, closing his eyes as the white marble completed its embrace of his face. "Now, go... before the Great Eclipse... stop... the White Shadow..."
And so, Orlian froze completely, transformed into a beautiful white statue, bearing an expression unlike the others—an expression of peace and acceptance. The final sacrifice of the Keeper of the Crystal of Grief.
Celine looked at the blue crystal in her hand, then at Orlian's statue. With her other hand, she touched the Crystal of Love on her chest.
"I will honor your memory, as I have honored my mother's," she whispered to Orlian. "And I will share it with the world... because that is the true meaning of love."
Then she turned and began her path toward the tower's door, which opened on its own before her. The Crystal of Grief—the sixth crystal—now rested alongside the Crystal of Love on her chest.
Six crystals now, with one remaining. The seventh and final city awaited them.
When Celine emerged from the tower, she found a scene entirely different from the one she had left. The silent white city was changing before her eyes—the crystalline buildings began to take on faint colors, the crystallized trees started to green their branches slowly, and the sky above transformed from gray to a clear blue.
In the square, she found her companions—Aliana, Limon, Nayari, Sariel, Icarus, and Marissa—but they were not alone. Beside them stood five others—the individuals who, just moments ago, had been frozen marble statues.
"Celine!" Aliana shouted, running to embrace her friend. "You did it!"
"Not just me," Celine said, smiling despite the tears in her eyes. "The crystal itself... it understood that grief must come to an end."
A young woman with long hair stepped forward from the new group. "I am Meredith," she said in a calm voice. "We were trapped here for ten years. We could not understand what you have now understood."
"What happened to Orlian?" Limon asked, glancing at the tower, whose crystalline walls were beginning to turn a transparent blue.
"He is free," Celine answered simply. "Just like all of you."
A tall young man from the new group—a man with short black hair and piercing green eyes—stepped forward and looked up at the sky. "The Great Eclipse... less than twenty days remain. We must move toward the seventh city immediately."
"My name is Orin," he added, looking toward Aliana. "I was the leader of the previous expedition. And now, we are at your command. We must unite our efforts to reach the Crystal of Light before the White Shadow does."
"The Crystal of Light...?" Nayari asked.
"The seventh and final crystal," Orin said gravely. "It lies in the Mountain of Light, east of here. The most difficult and dangerous crystal to reach."
"And the most important," Meredith added. "Without it, you will never be able to unlock the eighth city."
Aliana looked at the six glowing crystals now resting on her chest and Celine's. "So now we have twelve people, six crystals, and—"
Her words were cut off abruptly as the ground beneath their feet shook violently. In the distance, from the direction of the eastern mountains, a column of white light shot up toward the sky.
"It's the White Shadow!" Icarus shouted. "It has reached the Mountain of Light!"
"How?" Limon asked in disbelief. "How did it get ahead of us?"
"It didn't get ahead," Orin said, his face pale. "It was waiting for us to complete our task. It wanted us to gather the six crystals, because... because..."
"Because it knows the secrets lie only within the Crystal of Light," Meredith finished, looking at the group with a face full of both fear and determination. "Now, the real race begins. Our final battle..."
In the distance, the column of white light continued to rise toward the sky, like a luminous sword splitting the horizon in two, heralding a battle unlike any the world had seen since the First Age of Forgetting.
Amid the awakening City of Grief, twelve crystal bearers stood together, their fates now intertwined like stars in a celestial pattern. One final journey, one final crystal, one last chance.
The Mountain of Light awaited.