Kael climbed the mountain with heavy but determined steps, his body taut from the effort. Snow fell gently around him, covering the ground and erasing any trace of his path. The air was dense and freezing, filling everything with an absolute silence, broken only by the crunch of snow beneath his boots. Every time he looked up, the summit seemed to pull further away, as if the mountain itself was toying with his mind, stretching his journey toward the inevitable.
His thoughts returned to the figure he had seen in the valley. That entity in which he had recognized a part of himself—the essence of what he had lost and what he had been unable to save. His mind couldn't let go of what he had left behind: his home, his family, his brother...
The memory of his last conversation with him was fresh in his mind, like a scar that would never heal.
"Why do you have to leave?" his brother had asked, fear and hope intertwined in his gaze.
"I must. There are things I can't allow to go on," Kael had replied, unable to say more. Words had failed him, and he lacked the courage to explain what he was truly sacrificing.
The wind struck his face harshly, as if the landscape itself sought to force him to stop thinking about it, to stop remembering what could no longer be changed. But Kael knew he couldn't run. Not here, not now.
As he ascended, the sunlight began to fade, painting the sky a deep red. The landscape around him shifted—the snow thickened, and shadows stretched like hands pulling him toward the abyss. But Kael did not stop.
When he reached a plateau, he found a massive circle of stones, arranged in a way that formed a natural gateway into the mountain. Without hesitation, he crossed the threshold. A biting cold enveloped him upon entering, and darkness swallowed him whole. The light from his lantern flickered briefly before steadying, revealing a narrow tunnel that seemed endless.
A familiar sensation settled in his chest: the feeling of being watched.
Suddenly, the air changed. Kael heard and saw nothing, but the pressure in his lungs increased, as if an invisible weight were pressing against him. He advanced cautiously, his footsteps echoing in the stillness of the darkness.
Then, at the end of the tunnel, a light appeared. It was a faint flame—a purple flame that pulsed softly. Kael felt its pull, an inexplicable desire to approach it.
As he neared, the flame grew in intensity, and the figure of a being materialized before him. It was tall and slender, cloaked in shadows that flowed like dark water. Its eyes were two black voids, as deep as the night itself. Kael couldn't suppress a shiver as he looked at the figure, which, in some way, felt familiar.
"Welcome, Kael," the figure said in a deep voice that resonated like an echo in the tunnel walls.
"Who are you?" Kael asked, holding his spear firmly before him.
The figure smiled, but the smile never reached its eyes. It was an empty expression, as if emotions could no longer touch it.
"I am what you seek. Or rather, what you seek within yourself."
Kael took a step back, his senses on high alert. The air grew heavy, and his heartbeat quickened.
"What I seek..." he murmured, as if realizing it at that very moment. Something about the figure overwhelmed him, forcing him to confront something deeper.
The figure raised a hand, pointing to the ground in front of Kael. The shadows parted, revealing a chained figure. It was Kael's younger brother, but twisted into a form extracted from a nightmare. His eyes reflected an abyssal emptiness, and his body was marked with dark scars, as though consumed by the very shadows surrounding the figure.
"This is the price you paid, Kael," the shadowy figure said, its words laced with a cold sense of horror. "Your brother was not the only one sacrificed. Sacrifice always demands something in return—something you can never recover."
Kael stared at the chained figure in disbelief. His brother... his face was a mix of pain and despair, as though his soul was trapped somewhere between life and death. Kael couldn't look away.
"No... this can't be..." he whispered, slowly approaching the being that was once his brother.
The being, in its chained form, lifted its head. Its eyes showed neither resentment nor hope, only a profound emptiness—a condemnation.
"I saw you leave, Kael," it said in a broken voice. "I knew you wouldn't return. That everything you left behind would be destroyed."
The words hit Kael like a hammer. The weight of guilt, the weight of his decisions, crushed him. He remembered the times he had promised to return, had said everything would be fine. But he never came back. His brother had been left behind, alone, trapped in something Kael had never understood. And now, here, on this mountain, his sacrifice was fully revealed.
"I'm sorry!" Kael cried, falling to his knees before his brother's figure. Tears began streaming down his face, sorrow and regret consuming him.
The figure, however, did not respond. It simply looked at him, its eyes hollow, as if nothing could restore what had been lost.
"I'm sorry..." Kael whispered, his voice trembling.
The figure raised a hand toward the horizon, pointing to the abyss. A crack appeared in the mountain's wall, and an icy breeze began pulling the darkness toward them.
"The path to redemption is yours alone, Kael. But remember, every sacrifice has its echo. And this one... this one will never fade."
Kael rose with renewed determination, leaving the figure and the vision of his brother behind. Yet he knew the figure's words were true. The echo of his sacrifice would follow him to the end. There was only one option left: to press on, to seek the truth that lay ahead, and to face what his soul had left behind.