[Scene Opens: A Frozen Plateau East of the Bastion]
Snowfall dances like ashes in the wind. The terrain has changed — no longer scorched bones or cursed cities, but an endless white expanse where sound dies before it's heard.
Arav and Elara travel in silence, their breath misting in the air.
A single structure rises in the distance — a circular ruin of twelve standing stones, each cracked, each bearing a different insignia.
Elara shivers.
"This is it… the Concord of Hollow Vows."
---
[Scene: Entering the Concord]
As they enter, the winds cease.
In the center of the stones is a blackened pedestal, etched with one word in a language long dead: "Accord".
Arav traces the symbol.
"The place where twelve rulers once agreed to bury their weapons… and break the world in half instead."
Suddenly, the air hums.
The ground trembles.
And then… they appear.
---
[Scene: Ghosts of the Concord]
Phantom figures shimmer around them — translucent, regal, wrathful.
Each one represents a kingdom that once held dominion: Firehold, Thornsreach, Aetherwind, and more.
They begin to speak — overlapping, shouting.
King of Firehold:
"He broke the pact!"
Queen of Aetherwind:
"No! You did when you let the shadows rise!"
Lord of Ironspire:
"Blood was always the price. We only delayed the debt."
Elara whispers to Arav:
"They're reliving the final hour."
Arav steps forward.
"STOP!"
All ghosts turn to him.
He asks:
"Why did you break the Concord?"
Silence.
Then… a voice answers.
---
[Scene: The Betrayer Speaks]
A thirteenth figure appears.
Draped in midnight cloth. Face hidden behind a golden skull mask.
The Betrayer:
"Because peace built on silence is not peace. It's a cage."
The ghosts recoil. Some vanish.
Elara draws her sword.
"Who are you?"
The Betrayer lifts their mask slightly, revealing silver eyes.
"I was the only one who refused to bow. So they erased me."
Arav narrows his gaze.
"You're not just a ghost."
"No," says the Betrayer. "I am the Echo of Truth."
---
[Scene: Vision of the Past – Concord's Final Hour]
The Betrayer reaches out, and suddenly Arav and Elara are pulled into a memory.
They're now in the chamber — alive, present — watching the moment the Concord fell.
Arguments escalate. Accusations fly. One by one, the kings and queens draw their weapons.
But it was not war… that began first.
It was fear.
And it was silence that sealed the doom.
Elara turns to the real Arav in the memory.
"They never meant peace… just delay."
---
[Scene: Return to Present – Warning Delivered]
The memory fades.
The Betrayer speaks once more.
"You want to stop the end? Then you must rebuild the Concord… not with rulers… but with outcasts."
Arav asks:
"How?"
A glowing shard floats from the pedestal — a fragment of the original Accord.
"Take this. When the six shards reunite… the world will listen again."
Then the figure vanishes.
Elara grabs Arav's hand.
"What now?"
He looks to the stars.
"We find the others."
---
[Scene: As They Depart]
Snow begins to fall again.
Behind them, the standing stones crack further… but the pedestal glows faintly — awakened after centuries.
Far in the distance, a rider watches them.
Cloaked in blue flame.
Their eyes burn with hunger.
They speak to no one:
"They've begun the Concord again… then I'll finish it… in ash."
---
[End of Chapter 26]
Next Chapter: Chapter 27 – The Rider in the Blue Flame
> As Arav and Elara search for the next shard, they are hunted by the enigmatic Rider whose flames consume not just flesh, but memory itself. But what happens when Elara forgets who Arav even is?