The first Origin Stone pulsed steadily in Liora's hand, its violet glow dimming only when it touched the crystal pouch Elrieth handed her. The moment it vanished from view, the sky above the Glade of Whispers returned to its natural state—bright, still, and starlit. Yet Liora felt no calm in its beauty.
She was no longer Aeryn Valemire, the herbalist's daughter.
She was Liora—Heartbound of Velandor.
And the world had already begun to unravel.
---
By the next sunrise, Liora and Kael were flying eastward toward the Vale of Broken Time—where the second Origin Stone, the Chrona Crystal, was said to lie hidden in an ancient temple beyond mortal reach.
Kael guided the wingbeast with ease, though his shoulders remained tense.
"You've been quiet," Liora said.
"I'm trying not to crash us into a mountain," he replied, smirking.
Liora raised a brow. "Since when are you an expert sky-rider?"
He shrugged. "Since a talking mage beast forced me onto one. But I was more worried about you. That thing back in the forest—the shadow woman. She called herself eternal dusk."
"She wasn't entirely human," Liora murmured. "Something else lived in her. Like magic twisted."
"Elrieth says the Shroud takes many forms. Some wear masks of sorrow. Others… wear memories."
"Memories?"
Kael hesitated. "He didn't say more. Just warned me not to believe every face we see."
Liora didn't press further. The wind caught her cloak and hair, whipping it around her face as their wingbeasts descended toward a ravine that shimmered with unnatural light. Thunder cracked in the distance, though no storm brewed.
"The Vale of Broken Time," Kael said, voice low. "They say it was sealed for centuries."
"Why?"
"Because even the gods got lost in it."
---
They landed at the mouth of the Vale—a wide chasm bordered by jagged rocks and overgrown ruins. Strange timeflowers bloomed in patches, their petals opening and closing in reverse. Some creatures—foxes, birds, even deer—appeared to flicker between being young and old with each breath.
The air was thick with distortion. Everything hummed.
"Whatever happens in here," Kael said, "don't trust your senses."
Liora nodded, gripping her staff—gifted by Elrieth that morning. It thrummed with raw energy, the phoenix mark on her wrist glowing in rhythm with it.
They stepped through.
Immediately, the world bent.
A pulse surged through the earth, and suddenly it was night—stars burning overhead, a moon never seen before hanging low. Their footsteps echoed differently. The same valley looked older, more broken, as though time had leapt ahead a century.
"What—?" Liora gasped.
A boy's voice rang out, distant and familiar.
"Aeryn! Catch me!"
She froze. Kael turned sharply. "Did you hear that?"
The voice echoed again. Liora spun around.
From the trees beyond, two children ran—a younger version of herself and Kael, chasing each other through a memory she barely recalled.
Kael blinked. "Is that…?"
"It's us," she whispered.
The scene shimmered and vanished.
"They said this place breaks time," she murmured. "Maybe it shows you fragments of your past—or tries to trap you in them."
"Let's move fast."
As they pressed deeper, a stone arch loomed ahead—covered in moss and glowing symbols. Beyond it, a pathway of floating platforms led across a chasm of golden mist.
"No solid ground," Kael muttered. "Figures."
Liora stepped onto the first platform. It didn't wobble—it hovered in place, solid beneath her boots.
"Come on," she said.
Kael followed. One by one, they crossed—until a sudden shriek echoed from the mist below.
Liora froze. "Did you hear that?"
Another shriek—high, birdlike, but wrong. From the fog, it rose.
A creature with the body of a bird and the face of a woman, her eyes bleeding silver tears, her wings ragged.
"A Chronaven," Kael shouted. "Time-benders!"
The creature dived at them, talons gleaming.
Liora raised her staff. Fire surged from her core, flaring into golden arcs. The bird screamed and twisted mid-air, dodging the flame.
"More incoming!" Kael cried.
Two more Chronavens burst from the fog. Kael leapt onto the next platform, sword drawn. One creature dove at him, but he rolled aside and slashed upward, catching its wing.
"Liora!" he yelled.
She gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and drew from the mark on her wrist. Feel, don't think. That was what Elrieth said.
Her body pulsed with light.
When her eyes opened, time around her slowed—the creatures' movements a blur, Kael's shout stretched into a low echo.
She focused on the central one—its eyes locked on hers, fangs bared.
She leapt toward it.
Her staff slammed into its chest, and with a burst of phoenix fire, it shattered into stardust.
Time snapped back.
Kael, panting, stood beside her. The other two creatures retreated into the mist.
Liora fell to her knees, gasping.
"First time?" Kael said, helping her up.
"Let's hope it wasn't the last."
---
Beyond the floating bridge lay the ancient temple—a towering structure carved from obsidian and starlight, half-buried in the side of a mountain. Its doors were sealed shut by a swirling glyph that shifted shapes constantly.
"Looks like a puzzle," Kael said. "Of course."
Liora stepped closer, her wrist mark flaring.
The glyph paused.
A voice filled the air—echoing and fragmented, like it came from multiple times at once.
"Only the Heartbound may open the gate. But beware… what lies inside remembers you."
She pressed her palm to the door.
Light exploded outward.
The doors groaned open.
And time collapsed.
---
They found themselves in a circular chamber that shimmered like glass. Reflections of themselves—dozens of versions—appeared across the walls. Some are older. Some are younger. Some scarred. Some smiling.
Liora reached for one—and felt pain.
A memory not hers: fire consuming a village. Screams. A figure standing amidst the flames.
Kael caught her. "Don't touch them. They're not just reflections. They're echoes. Of possible futures."
As they moved deeper, a voice whispered.
"Liora…"
She spun. It was her voice.
But when she turned, a mirror showed a future version of herself—eyes glowing silver, a crown of bones on her head.
She looked… corrupted.
"I am what you become," the mirror said.
"No," Liora hissed. "I won't let that happen."
"You already have."
Kael shattered the mirror with a rock. The illusion vanished.
"This place is trying to get inside your head," he said. "We need to find the Chrona Crystal and get out."
They moved quickly through halls that bent space—doorways that led backward, stairs that folded in on themselves, and shadows that whispered secrets.
At last, they reached a chamber at the temple's core.
In its center, floating in a column of spiraling dust and starlight, was the Chrona Crystal—a shard of time itself.
But it was guarded.
A massive, humanoid creature emerged from the dust. Its skin was bronze and cracked like old stone. Its eyes burned with blue fire.
"A Timebound Golem," Kael said. "We can't beat that!"
Liora stepped forward. "We don't have to beat it. Just outsmart it."
The golem raised its fist—and time froze.
Everything stopped.
Kael hung midair, mouth open. Dust floated unmoving. Even the sounds ceased.
Only Liora could move.
She looked at her hands—her phoenix mark burned white-hot.
"I can move through frozen time," she whispered.
The golem lunged again, moving at normal speed now. Liora rolled under its arm, dodging a crushing blow. She climbed onto its back, using fire magic to burn the time glyph engraved there.
The golem roared, twisted—but Liora struck again.
The glyph cracked.
The golem froze in place—then exploded into dust.
Time resumed.
Kael stumbled, blinking. "What—what just happened?"
Liora held the Chrona Crystal in her hands, breathing hard.
"I used time… against time."
---
Outside the temple, the world had shifted once again. Stars swirled in reverse, and a dark figure stood by the archway.
It was her again—the shadow-woman from before.
Only now, her form had changed. One half of her body was cloaked in black feathers. The other glowed faintly blue.
"You gather power," she said, voice cold. "But you still do not understand. Every crystal you take weakens the seal."
"What seal?" Liora demanded.
"The one keeping the end of all things locked away."
Kael raised his sword. "You're lying."
"Am I?" the woman said, eyes narrowing. "Ask Elrieth what happened to the last Heartbound."
Before Liora could answer, the woman vanished into mist.
---
That night, they made camp beneath the roots of a dreaming tree that grew upside down from the cliffs above. Liora couldn't sleep.
"Do you believe her?" she asked.
Kael looked up from cleaning his blade. "I don't know. But we should find out."
Liora stared at the two crystals now in her satchel.
"Do you think I'm strong enough?" she asked softly. "To finish this?"
Kael met her gaze. "You're not alone. That's the whole point of the Boundguard."
She smiled faintly.
"Then we'd better keep going."
Far above, in the stars, something ancient stirred.
The Shroud was watching.
And time was running out...