The world was healing, but the scars of the past lingered. Eldoria, though freed from the influences of the Heartstone, was not yet whole. Whispers began to spread of new threats anew as the land began to flourish once more. The Guardians had defeated the greatest evil known, but the very fabric of reality had been displaced. This was not a spell that, like the Heartstone's dark magic, could easily be undone and, in its heart, shivered old powers—powers long forgotten.
Aiden stood atop the spire of the Guardian's Sanctuary; he looked out over the vast expanse of the lands of Eldoria. The rising sun was blasting free of the horizon, sending golden rays to touch the fields and forests. Yet in Aiden's heart, the sense of all seemed wrong. There was an unfamiliar chill to the winds, an unsettling way shadows lunged forward upon the ground.
"Do you feel it?" Lyra's voice came out of nowhere, finding him as she stood beside him. She too had caught the subtle shift in the air.
Aiden nodded, his features serious. "The world remains on its mend but I can sense this. something is lurking in the shadows. We're not done with this darkness yet."
The Heartstone may be gone," Lyra said, "but there are old powers, forgotten forces, that yet slumber beneath the earth. If the Heartstone's destruction can bring so much chaos, who knows what we have awakened?
Aiden looked to the horizon. The darkness he'd felt earlier had somehow grown in power. It wasn't the same sort of darkness that had once been bound to the Eclipsed Ones, but older, more primal.
"We need to check it out. I'll round up the others," Aiden said, and without another word, he left the tower.