The Last Guardian of the Real
Lior, a 17-year-old cartographer, is known as "The Eye of the Real," a gift and a curse that allows him to perceive fissures in the fabric of existence. Abandoned at the age of seven by his own family—the "Protectors of Light"—in the Whispering Wastelands, Mael (his birth name, now almost forgotten) was stigmatized by a strange spiral mark on his palm, the manifestation of his connection to the Void. His abandonment was a forced sacrifice due to a forbidden experiment by the Arcons—mage-engineers who control the weave of reality—that fractured the veil between planes. Lior, marked to "seal" these fractures, became trapped on the edges of existence, disconnected from the normal flow of mortals.
Armed with the Memory Quill, a stylograph whose inkwell contains ether ink, Lior navigates the fractured realms. With each stroke, the quill allows him to draw reality paths to teleport through cracks and to make his drawings gain temporary consistency. However, each use comes with a devastating price: Lior "forgets" fragments of his own life—memories of his family and his dreams—a sacrifice that pains him more than nothingness itself. His internal conflict centers on this painful paradox: he must sacrifice his past to save reality, but fears losing himself in the process.
His mission is clear and desperate: the nothingness, a primordial force that feeds on dissolution, is consuming the realms at an alarming rate. To stop this collapse, Lior must infiltrate the Wandering Tower, a flying fortress of the Arcons that peregrinates over the fractured realms. His objective is to steal the Heart of the Real, a living crystal that anchors and sustains all existence.
In his journey, Lior faces the Ethereal Guardians, manifestations of the Void that pursue those who dare to defy nothingness. His ability as "The Eye of the Real" allows him to evade them and manipulate his own perception to survive. As he progresses, Lior discovers that the one responsible for the initial fracture is the Archicar, a renegade mage-engineer who now seeks to extract the Heart of the Real to rewrite reality in his image, creating a new order under his control.
The infiltration of the Wandering Tower is a test of ingenuity and sacrifice. Lior must navigate the Arcons' arcane defenses, confront their creations, and finally, confront the Archicar. During this confrontation, Lior is forced to use the Memory Quill in increasingly extreme ways, losing crucial memories and battling the Song of the Void, the constant hum of nothingness that threatens to consume his mind.
In the climax, Lior must make a heartbreaking decision: will he sacrifice his last cherished memory to gain the power needed to stop the Archicar and restore the Heart of the Real? The battle is not only for the existence of the realms but for Lior's own identity. In the end, he manages to stop the Archicar and stabilize the Heart of the Real, but the price is immense.
Reality begins to heal, the cracks slowly close, and the fractured realms find a new balance. Lior, now a true "guardian of the real," has saved existence, but his mind is a blurred canvas of lost memories. However, the scar on his palm, his connection to the Void, is no longer a stigma of abandonment, but a symbol of his sacrifice and purpose. He has found new meaning in his existence in protecting the realms, accepting that, although abandoned by his past, he has forged a future for all. His journey as the last guardian continues, navigating the edges of reality, always vigilant against the threat of the Void.
