<Analyzing genetic connections…>
<Ancestral connection: Rejected.>
<Anomaly detected. Gradual unlocking of memory archives initiated…>
Elias opened his eyes, the faint warmth of the medallion pulsing against his chest like a second heartbeat. He sat on the cold ground, his breath shallow and labored, his muscles burning with exhaustion. He had barely survived the encounter with the Emanation, his victory as much a result of sheer luck as it was his newfound connection to the Lines.
Camille stood a few steps away, her arms crossed as she observed him with her usual sharp, unrelenting gaze.
"Take a few minutes to rest," she said. "You'll need it."
Elias nodded weakly, his mind still racing from the battle. But something else was gnawing at him, something he couldn't ignore. During the fight, he had felt the medallion react not just as a tool or a source of power, but almost as if it had a will of its own.
His eyes drifted down to the glowing object resting against his chest. He ran his thumb over the smooth crystal at its center, its faint glow steady yet inscrutable.
The question that had been lurking in the back of his mind for days finally broke free.
"Camille…" he started, hesitating.
She raised an eyebrow. "What now?"
"Why did this medallion choose me?" he asked, his voice quiet but insistent. "I mean… why me? Why not someone else? Why not…" His throat tightened. "Why not my father? He was stronger, smarter… he would've handled this better than I ever could."
His words hung in the air, heavy with unspoken grief and doubt. Camille's expression softened, just slightly, as she caught the flicker of pain in his eyes.
"Your father?" she asked gently.
Elias nodded. "He always seemed more deserving. But… something tells me he never had the medallion. Why? Who gave this to me, Camille? Was it really him?"
For a moment, Camille was silent. Her gaze shifted to the medallion, its faint light reflecting in her eyes. Then, with an uncharacteristic tenderness, she knelt down in front of him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Listen to me, Elias," she said. "This medallion doesn't choose based on strength or worth. It doesn't care about appearances or surface level virtues. It reacts to something deeper an affinity, a potential."
She paused, her tone growing more serious.
"And to be completely honest… the medallion doesn't reject someone without reason. If your father wasn't chosen, it wasn't because he wasn't good enough. It was because the Lines deemed him incompatible. There's a truth to that, one you'll have to uncover for yourself."
Elias frowned, his frustration mounting.
"You're saying it rejected him?" he asked, his voice rising. "But why? He was better than I'll ever be. What reason could it have had?"
Camille looked away, her expression darkening.
"That," she said quietly, "is a question only the medallion can answer. But be careful, Elias. The truths you seek might be harder to accept than you realize."
Elias's grip tightened on the medallion, his mind spinning with unanswered questions. Why had his father, the man he'd idolized, been cast aside? And if his father hadn't passed it on to him… then who had?
The Call of the Lines
Above them, the crimson sky still crackled with unstable energy, though the air had grown eerily calm. The Void Rift that had spawned the Emanation shimmered faintly, its chaotic edges no longer ripping apart the surrounding space.
"We should leave," Camille said, rising to her feet. "This Rift draws too much attention. If there are more creatures like the Emanation nearby, we won't survive another fight."
Elias nodded, forcing himself to his feet despite the protest of his weary muscles. But as they turned to leave, a cold, echoing voice resonated in his mind.
"Why do you hesitate, chosen one? Come closer, and I will show you the truth."
He froze, his eyes wide with shock.
"Did… did you hear that?" he asked, his voice shaking.
Camille turned back to him, confusion written across her face. "Hear what?"
The voice spoke again, louder this time, as though it were coming from within his very bones.
"The medallion has hidden secrets. Secrets you must uncover. Step forward, and peer beyond the Void."
Elias felt a sudden warmth flood his chest, an almost magnetic pull urging him toward the Rift. He turned instinctively, his gaze locking onto the unstable tear in reality.
"No…" he whispered. "I have to go. I need to go."
Camille's hand shot out, grabbing his wrist with surprising force. Her eyes burned with anger.
"Are you insane?" she snapped. "That Rift is unstable. If it collapses while you're inside, I won't be able to save you."
"You don't understand!" Elias shouted, his voice desperate. "It's calling me! There's something in there something I need to see!"
Before she could stop him, Elias wrenched his arm free from her grasp and ran toward the Rift.
The Vision of the Past
As he neared the shimmering fracture, the air around him grew heavy with energy. The golden lines etched along his skin flared to life, pulsating in perfect rhythm with the medallion.
When his hand touched the edge of the Rift, a blinding light engulfed him.
The world fell away.
Elias found himself standing in a void of endless black, illuminated only by fragments of glowing images that floated around him like shards of glass.
He saw his father, holding the medallion in his hands, his expression pained and conflicted.
He saw a towering figure, shrouded in darkness, wrenching the medallion away from his father with terrifying ease.
And finally, he saw a radiant figure cloaked in golden light, kneeling before a young child. The figure extended the medallion toward the boy with hands that glowed like molten fire.
Toward him.
"It wasn't your father who chose you, Elias," the same cold voice whispered. "It was me."
Elias tried to speak, but his voice was lost in the void.
The light intensified, and the shards of memory shattered, dissolving into nothingness. He felt a force yank him backward, and suddenly, he was back at the edge of the Rift, Camille gripping his shoulders tightly.
"What the hell were you thinking?" she shouted, her voice trembling with both anger and fear.
Elias didn't respond. He stared at the Rift, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
"It wasn't my father…" he murmured, more to himself than to Camille. "He didn't give me the medallion…"
Camille frowned, but before she could press him further, the Rift collapsed in on itself with a deafening roar, disappearing in a burst of blinding light.
A Troubling Truth
As they finally left the area, Elias felt the weight of the medallion pressing harder against his chest, heavier than it had ever felt before. Each step seemed to amplify the questions swirling in his mind.
"Who… are you?" he thought, clutching the medallion tightly.
And for the first time, he truly understood that the power he carried was not just a tool or a gift.
It was a curse.
To Be Continued...