Part 5
The horn sounded again.
This time, much closer.
Its echo swept through Liria Forest and seemed to push back, if only for an instant, the darkness surrounding the clearing.
Kael looked up.
Figures mounted on enormous white-furred deer began to appear between the trees, their antlers covered in glowing runes. Their armor was light, made of hardened leather and silver steel, with engraved oak leaves decorating their chests.
There were more than twenty of them.
They all bore the same emblem: a tree whose roots embraced a star.
"The Emerald Guard..." one of the archers whispered in relief.
At the head of the group rode a man with a short beard and gray hair tied back in a braid. His piercing blue eyes swept across the battlefield in barely a second.
When he saw Eryon, his expression changed completely.
"By the ancient gods..."
He dismounted nimbly and drew a longsword whose blade gave off a greenish glow.
"Containment formation!"
The soldiers obeyed without hesitation.
Within seconds, they surrounded Eryon in a wide circle.
Kael watched the scene with a mixture of hope and fear.
There were so many of them.
Maybe, at last, that man would be defeated.
Eryon regarded the formation with apparent curiosity.
"How many years has it been... and you're still using the same formation."
The commander answered in a firm voice.
"You won't take another step."
Eryon smiled.
"And you are...?"
"Commander Darius, protector of Liria Forest."
"I've never heard that name."
"Because I was born long after your disappearance."
"What a shame."
Eryon slowly lowered his head.
"Then you also don't know why this formation never worked."
Before Darius could react...
The sphere of darkness hovering over Eryon's hand expanded.
It didn't explode.
It simply... vanished.
For one second, nothing happened.
Then the shadows cast by the trees began to move.
They didn't follow the direction of the sun.
They slid along as if they were alive.
One shadow rose behind a soldier.
It took human form.
It seized the man's neck.
The soldier screamed.
His sword fell to the ground.
The other shadows did the same.
Within moments, every member of the Emerald Guard was fighting a dark figure born from their own shadow.
Chaos seized the clearing.
Kael had never seen magic like it.
The creatures didn't bleed.
They didn't breathe.
And every time one was destroyed, it rose again a few yards away.
"They can't be killed!" one guard shouted.
"Attack Eryon!" Darius ordered.
But getting close was impossible.
The shadows blocked every attempt.
Lyra ran toward Kael.
"We have to get out of here!"
"What about them?"
"If they capture you, it'll all be over."
Kael hesitated.
He looked at the soldiers fighting desperately.
He looked at Darius facing three shadows alone.
And finally, he looked at Eryon.
The stranger wasn't taking part in the battle.
He was only watching.
As if all of this were a test.
Then something unexpected happened.
The Mark on Kael's arm gave off an intense golden flash.
Everyone stopped.
Even the shadows.
Eryon slowly raised his head.
For the first time since he had appeared...
His expression changed.
It wasn't satisfaction.
It was surprise.
A thread of light began to emerge from the Mark and rise toward the sky.
The clouds parted.
A beam of light descended onto the great silver tree.
The ancient roots began to glow again.
And a deep, solemn voice echoed throughout the forest.
"The First Seal has been opened."
No one spoke.
No one moved.
The voice continued.
"The Bearer has awakened..."
"And the Seven Paths are joining once more."
The radiance vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
The shadows faded away.
The forest fell silent.
Eryon closed his eyes for several seconds.
When he opened them again, he was no longer looking at Kael with the same calm.
Now there was urgency in his gaze.
"There isn't as much time left as I imagined..."
He took a step back.
Behind him, the air began to crack open again.
A portal.
Before crossing it, he gave Kael one last look.
"Listen to me carefully."
"The day will come when everyone asks you to save this world."
"But when you discover the truth..."
"You'll wish they had never chosen you."
Eryon took a step back and disappeared into the darkness.
The portal closed with a thunderous boom.
The forest grew calm again.
Only then did Kael feel his legs give out.
He fell to his knees, exhausted.
Darius and Lyra immediately approached him.
The commander examined the Mark with concern.
"We have to take him to the Roots Sanctuary."
Lyra nodded.
"The ancient records are still there."
"Maybe we can find out why the First Seal has opened... and what it really means for Kael to be the Last Aether Bearer."
Kael took a deep breath and looked up at the sky, where the clouds were beginning to disperse.
He didn't know what the First Seal was.
He didn't know who Eryon truly was.
And he wasn't even sure anymore that he knew the truth about his own father.
But one thing was clear.
The destiny that had begun with a simple map would lead him much farther than he had ever imagined.