---
The northern path was colder than Kael remembered.
Not by temperature.
But by silence.
Every mile he crossed beyond the shrine felt older. The trees grew differently here, darker bark, thicker roots, and leaves that whispered even without wind. No birds. No beasts. Just watching things.
Kael moved carefully, cloak tight, book sealed beneath it.
> "At the next blood moon…"
The Phantom's voice haunted him. Their words hadn't felt like prophecy.
More like instruction.
He didn't know how they knew what they knew. Or why they showed him the name "Vire."
> What throne did I forget?
He pressed forward.
---
Eventually, he found what could barely be called a village.
Ruined stone homes, broken to rubble. A collapsed tower covered in vines. Snow patches scattered like old bones.
There were signs of battle, and worse.
Ash remained near the center, as if something had been burned ritually.
But no corpses.
No graves.
Just absence.
---
The book finally reacted.
> [Blood Residue Detected]
▸ Ancient Progenitor Signature
▸ Bloodline: Unknown Class, Fragmented
▸ Estimated Age: Over 2,000 Years
Kael's heart pounded.
Two thousand?
That was before the Divine War.
Before any of the current races even mapped the continents.
He stepped toward the ash ring.
The moment his foot crossed the edge…
His mind blanked.
---
A memory that wasn't his hit like a blade.
> Screaming. A woman with silver hair chained to a throne.
Blood leaking upward from the ground.
Children with blank eyes kneeling in rows.
A voice: "Bury the truth. Let none survive."
Fire. Light. Then… nothing.
Kael fell to his knees, clutching his head.
When he opened his eyes, the ashes had shifted. Something now poked out beneath them... A fragment of bone.
Small.
Child-sized.
---
He didn't touch it.
He didn't need to.
Because deep down, he knew...
This wasn't a random place.
This was a mass execution site.
And someone, or something, didn't want it remembered.
---
Kael stood slowly.
The wind picked up.
In the distance, beyond the treeline, a structure sat hidden, broken, ancient, and watching.
He headed toward it.
---
End of Chapter 16
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