This text, this forgotten, discarded piece of history, suggested that male channeling was not a corruption, but a different, perhaps older, form of elemental connection. It was wild, yes, untamed, but not inherently evil. It was simply… different.A wave of profound relief, mixed with a chilling terror, washed over me. I wasn't alone. I wasn't a disease. I was part of something, something ancient and powerful, something that had been deliberately suppressed and forgotten. But this knowledge came with an immense, suffocating weight.
If this was true, then the entire foundation of the Matriarchy was built on a lie, a deliberate act of historical erasure. And if I had found this, others could too. Or worse, the Matriarchy would stop at nothing to ensure this truth remained buried.I carefully re-rolled the parchments, tucking them deep into my satchel, beneath a stack of mundane scribe's tools. My mind was reeling, buzzing with a thousand new questions.
The whispers within me suddenly felt less like a terrifying curse and more like a resonant echo of this ancient, forgotten truth. They were not a sign of corruption, but a call to something profound.I extinguished my lantern, plunging the alcove back into darkness, and began my silent journey back through the labyrinthine archives. Every shadow seemed to hold a secret, every creak of the ancient building seemed to whisper forgotten histories. My paranoia was still sharp, but it was now tempered by a strange, exhilarating sense of purpose.
I had found a thread, a fragile, ancient thread, leading into the heart of the mystery that defined my existence.Slipping out of the Hall of Records and back into the pre-dawn streets of Aethelgard, I felt a shift within me. The fear was still present, a cold knot in my stomach, but it was no longer all-consuming. It was now overshadowed by a burning curiosity, a desperate need to unravel this thread, to find more answers, to understand the true nature of the whispering element that coursed through my veins. The city still felt like a cage, but now, I had a map to its hidden passages, a faint, flickering light guiding me towards a truth that could either free me or destroy me utterly.