A silence reigned as Hísië revealed the terrible truth about the Conjunction of the Spheres to Aiden. All the beliefs and ideas of the mages, sages, and scribes seemed false in the face of this revelation. The information was so powerful that it called into question the very history of their world.
Aiden froze for a moment, his face showing surprise. He remembered the stories the elders told, the songs around the fire, the so-called research on the Conjunction of the Spheres. And now, he understood that all of it had been nothing but a mirage, an illusion crafted from ignorance and hope. He asked Hísië, his voice troubled, "So, all those beliefs about the Conjunction of the Spheres… they're false?"
Hísië nodded and replied, "Indeed. From the beginning, mortals defined the meaning of the Conjunction for themselves. But that's not all. My daughter Morniel's goal was simply to destroy our creation, to annihilate all our efforts, and she almost succeeded."
With a gesture, Hísië made the place where they stood disappear. A loud explosion rang out, forcing Aiden to cover his ears, and the landscape changed. Before them, six figures shone, each in a different color.
Hísië approached them without moving, as if he controlled their perception. The six figures seemed frozen in a moment suspended in time. The first represented an elf with golden hair and shining eyes. She radiated an aura of calm and strength, an unmistakable royalty. But the elf was injured, standing with difficulty, supported by the figure at her side.
A man with a warrior's build, his face marked with fatigue, his black hair drenched from the rain. Blood covered his face, and his left eye was closed due to an injury.
The other four figures were more mysterious, each possessing an impenetrable aura, like a barrier preventing anyone from identifying them. One radiated an icy chill, with hair as white as snow and eyes the color of ice. His sword and left arm were covered in frost, and he was bleeding from his chest.
Beside him was a blonde woman, her face stained with blood. Her golden eyes shone with incredible power. Her left hand, wrapped in vines, formed a whip, while her other hand glowed green, evoking nature and healing.
The last two presences were equally unique: a woman with fiery red hair and a radiant smile, exuding a burning energy that scorched the grass under her feet; and a man of imposing stature, like a giant, with red hair and a hammer in hand, ready for battle.
A feeling of incomprehension grew within Aiden. His gaze fell on these figures, each so powerful and mysterious, yet he felt strangely torn. It was as if something, a memory or an emotion, wanted to rise to the surface but remained just out of reach. It was like a song he had forgotten.
Hísië looked at this frozen scene and explained to Aiden, "This is where we fought our last battle." He pointed to the elf and the man. "Caladwen, bearer of light and hope, representative of the elves, and her husband Eldarion, the first human. They were our first creations, our two children, meant to unite the two species."
Hísië's gaze darkened as he looked around at the landscape. The earth still bore the marks of that epic battle. Aiden could see bodies frozen in time, covered in dust and ashes. Corpses of monsters, humans, elves, and dwarves lay there, fixed in their final postures of suffering and fear. A chill ran down his spine. He could almost hear the cries of agony and the clash of weapons in the silence that surrounded them.
Hísië approached the figures, his gaze filled with sadness. "To the four of us, Caladwen and Eldarion were our first children. We were so proud, so happy, especially because Caladwen was carrying a child, our future grandchild."
He smiled with a tenderness mingled with nostalgia. "Tuilë, my companion, often danced in the forests she had created, delighted at the idea of becoming a grandmother. She dreamed of teaching their child music, art, and the joy of life."
Hísië's gaze settled on the golden-haired figure beside the icy man. "It was because of this desire for family that Tuilë and I decided to have our own child. But it brought us losses we could never have imagined." With a gesture, he touched the woman's cheek and murmured, "Forgive me, my love, you whose desires have always guided my choices."
A tear of ice fell from his eye, forming a crystal on the frozen ground, before the scene returned to its stillness.
"This place marks our last battle against Morniel." Hísië waved his hand, and the vision shifted to a throne, where a woman of incredible beauty, with bright golden hair, sat, her expression arrogant and superior. Her golden eyes demanded loyalty. Monsters surrounded her, and Aiden recognized one: a white werewolf.
"That wolf, I've seen it before," Aiden murmured, pointing at the creature.
Hísië nodded. "That's right. Gaurfain was a general under Morniel's command, a formidable opponent."
Aiden looked at the figure on the throne and understood. "So, it's her…"
"Yes, it's our daughter, Morniel." Hísië fixed the throne with a somber gaze. "This battle would decide the hope for our world or Morniel's victory."
Aiden interrupted, looking tense. "What exactly was her goal?"
Hísië turned his gaze toward him. "Morniel wanted to create her own order. She had everything, surrounded by her mother's love and mine, but she desired a new world, an order entirely her own. She loved the night, the darkness where the stars seemed closer, and she often asked her mother why we couldn't reach them. That desire, innocent at first, became a consuming ambition."
He paused, letting Aiden absorb this revelation, then continued, "In secret, she created monsters, whispering dark thoughts to elves and humans. Like a disease, this corruption spread. When we discovered it was her, it broke both my heart and Tuilë's. But despite our love for her, we knew we had to stop her. And that's how this battle began."
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A silence lingered as Hísië snapped his fingers, and suddenly, time resumed. Explosions echoed everywhere. Gaurfain, accompanied by a vampire, rushed toward the six figures standing tall, while Caladwen and Eldarion moved to meet them. Caladwen faced the vampire, her light spells bursting like suns, piercing the shadows created by the vampire's dark magic. Each explosion sent waves of light and darkness across the battlefield, sowing chaos and leaving behind bodies frozen in their final postures of suffering, as if sealed for eternity.
Eldarion and Gaurfain clashed with such force that the ground shook with every blow, sending shards of earth and stone flying. They moved so quickly that the eye struggled to keep up, their strikes creating shockwaves that cracked the earth beneath their feet. Their gazes, filled with both hatred and respect, revealed their determination to prevail, no matter the cost.
Turning his gaze away from this devastating spectacle, Aiden felt his attention drawn to the other four figures. A feeling of incomprehension rose within him, as if these figures held a mystery he could not grasp. These four silhouettes charged toward Morniel's throne with a chilling determination.
Morniel, still seated on her throne, snapped her fingers. A colossal knight appeared, slamming into the ground with such power that a wave of terror swept across the battlefield. The knight roared, his cries echoing like threatening thunder, and he charged toward the giant man and the glowing woman, intercepting them and pushing back their attacks with raw strength. The other two figures, a man with white hair and a woman with golden hair, continued forward, their steps steady and unwavering.
They stopped before Morniel, who rose with a scornful smile. Her voice rang out, divine and cutting: "Father, Mother, what do you think of my gift?"
The woman, Tuilë, spoke with a voice full of sadness and pleading: "Morniel, I beg you… stop this madness. Come back to your mother's arms… I implore you." At that moment, a memory returned to her of Morniel, still a child, her eyes shining with wonder as she gazed at the stars. "Mama, why can't we reach them?" That same innocent question had become the battle cry of her madness.
Beside her, the man with white hair, Hísië, remained silent, his gaze filled with sorrow and determination. Pain and resignation marked his features. He slipped his hand into Tuilë's and murmured, "We'll face this together." She nodded, squeezing his hand tightly.
Morniel watched them and suddenly broke into a deranged, chilling laugh. Her laughter, like a clap of thunder, sent shivers through all who heard it. Around her, the air seemed to vibrate, saturated with a dark energy. She looked at her parents, her eyes filled with madness, and declared in a biting tone, "Mother, can't you see that this is all your fault?"
She descended from her throne, summoning a hammer etched with strange symbols, as if born from the depths of ancient madness. Beside her, an enormous beast appeared, its limbs studded with stars, as though the universe itself pulsed through its veins. The creature roared, each pulse seeming to hold the power of galaxies. With each step, it left a trail of stardust that rose and vanished into the air.
Morniel raised her gaze to the sky and let out a blood-chilling laugh. Abruptly, she stopped, fixing her parents with a cold stare. "We are gods, creators, and yet you insist on protecting these pathetic mortals who don't even recognize their masters."
She paused, her face filled with contempt, and then turned her gaze to Tuilë. "Mother, you disappoint me greatly… but it's in your nature to see the good in everything, even where there is none."
She then turned to Hísië, a calculating smile on her lips. "And you… I thought you would understand. You, who never truly accepted the agreement to not intervene in the lives of mortals."
Hísië clenched his jaw, holding back a response filled with rage and sorrow. He tightened his grip on his sword and replied in a voice trembling with emotion, "Morniel, it's true, I never agreed… but I would NEVER have created pure destruction, knowing it would devastate your mother!"
Morniel shrugged, her smile nonchalant. "I know, Father. You've always been that way. Mother put a perfect leash around your neck, keeping you from becoming who you truly are."
For a moment, she seemed frozen, as if a vision from her past had brushed against her. She saw herself as a child, nestled against her mother under a starry sky, her eyes alight with fascination. She remembered the nights spent watching the stars with Tuilë, always asking the same question: "Mama, why can't we reach them?" Her mother's love and patience filled those moments with a gentle warmth, and her father, by their side, listened to each question with tenderness. But she chased the vision away with a bitter laugh. A fleeting doubt passed through her eyes perhaps a hesitation but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
She raised her arms, and a dazzling light enveloped her. Her black robe transformed into a Valkyrie's armor, brilliant and menacing. She took a step forward, assuming a battle stance, her eyes gleaming with wild determination.
"Let me break this leash, Father… and together, let's create chaos."
She lunged at her parents, her starry beast at her side, ready to plunge the world into a battle that would determine the fate of all.
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(Long chapter, and I hope some of you might be able to guess why Morniel is doing all this. You'll learn more in the upcoming chapters, but I've left a few clues to get you thinking. Let me know your thoughts!)