Chapter 41: The Map of Forgotten Roads
Three days had passed since the hound fell.
And the capital of Velmora was anything but still.
Rumors boiled in every street—some whispered that Andrew was a fallen god cloaked in mortal skin. Others feared he was a vessel for an ancient curse. Children carved his name into temple stones. Priests spoke it with caution.
Andrew said nothing.
But the dreams hadn't stopped.
Each night, Ashren pulsed beneath his bedroll, humming with a low, bone-deep resonance that vibrated through his soul. Shadows danced on the edge of his vision—memories not his, voices from lives he never lived.
Or did.
- A Visit from the King's Hand -
At dawn, a messenger arrived.
Mihai opened the door, blade drawn, but lowered it when he saw the wax seal on the scroll—the sigil of the King's Hand.
Andrew read it carefully.
"You are hereby invited to leave the capital, under royal protection, and venture to the Vault of Atraxes. An ancient ruin has emerged beneath the northern mountains, marked with your sword's aura. The crown demands an investigation—and you alone may have the key."
Andrew smirked slightly.
"Of course they want me to leave. Less trouble when I'm not breathing down their necks."
"Or they're trying to help," Mihai said, though his tone made it sound unlikely.
Still, Andrew agreed.
Not for the king.
But for the dreams.
- Into the North -
The journey was quiet at first.
Three riders—Andrew, Mihai, and a silent royal scout—traveled the broken roads leading to the Mountains of Atraxes, once home to a civilization erased before even the first god-kings rose.
Ashren vibrated more with every step.
And then—on the third night—they found it.
A cavern, mouth shaped like a screaming face, hidden by wards only Ashren could dissolve.
As Andrew stepped inside, the air shifted—like entering a memory left rotting in the dark.
"This place…" Andrew whispered."I died here once."
- Echoes of the Past -
Inside the Vault, murals lined the walls—depicting the Shadow King from long ago. Armies bent to his will. Cities consumed in smoke. In one panel, Andrew saw himself kneeling at an obsidian throne… handing Ashren to another man cloaked in flame.
"That's not me," Andrew muttered."But it is."
Further in, they discovered a circle of stone coffins. One lay open.
Empty.
Ashen dust trailed from it… leading into deeper darkness.
- Final Scene -
In the deepest chamber, a heartbeat echoed—not Andrew's.
A presence stirred.
A voice, distant, velvet and cold, whispered through the walls:
"You've come far, Shadowbearer. But you're not the only one who remembers. The others have begun to wake. And not all of them… want your return."
Mihai drew his sword.
Andrew raised Ashren.
"Then let them come," he said."I've seen what I was. Now I'll show them what I choose to become."