Realm of the Kings: The Keeper's Resolve

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Episode 6, realm of the Kings.
The Keeper's Resolve.
The Shardred Forest was a placeof whispered legends, where the
trees stretched high enough toscrape the heavens and their
roots delved into secrets farolder than any kingdom.
Azuli, ronan and Elira presseddeeper into the ancient woods.

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The air thickened with magic,not celestial, not Archelonian,
but something far more ancient.
The prism pulsed against Zuli'schest.
Its light dim but urgent, asthough guiding them toward
something unseen.
Zuli's grip on the Luminarchtightened.

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He had no illusions about whatlay ahead.
They weren't just running fromCelestia or from the remnants of
the Firstborn's will.
They were running towardanswers.
And the forest was waiting.
Zarian, keeper of the HiddenPath.
Far beyond the tangled roots ofthe forest, a figure stirred

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Zarian, keeper of the hiddenpath, a sage, a warrior and a
relic of a forgotten age.
Some said he was once acelestial knight.
Others whispered that he hadwalked with the first kings of
Archelon.
The truth was simpler.
He had never belonged to eitherrealm.
He was something older.

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He had watched the fall of theFirstborn's prison once before.
He had seen the world bleed forthe arrogance of men.
And now, as the prism'sfractured light seeped through
the cracks of Aetherion'sbalance, zarian felt it stirring
again.
Standing upon an outcropping ofstone and vine, zarian's sharp

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gaze drifted toward the horizon.
A void storm was brewing.
Dark tendrils slithered throughthe sky, twisting into
grotesque formations of shadowand malice.
A sign, not a victory, ofdeception.
The defeat at Duskwatch was adiversion, he murmured to

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himself, his voice heavy withthe weight of long-held
knowledge.
His fingers curled around thehilt of his rune blade, an
artifact forged in an era beforeCelestia's rise.
He turned, stepping into theunseen veins of magic that ran
through the forest.
It was time to find the oneswho still had a chance to stop

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what was coming into the depthsof the forest.
Zuli moved with purpose.
Though the trees thickened andthe sky above darkened, he felt
the prisms pull, guiding him,leading them deeper toward
something unseen.
Elira's voice broke the silence.

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Zuli, are we sure we want tofind what's waiting for us?
She wasn't afraid, not ofbattle, not of death, but she
knew what power did to people,of death.
But she knew what power did topeople.
She had once believed inCelestia's righteousness, in its
control of knowledge, itsdivine superiority, and she had

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seen what Zuli had become notjust a warrior, but a bearer of
a power.
Even Celestia feared.
Zuli glanced at her, his gazeunwavering.
There's no choice anymore.
We see this through to the end.
Ronan, let out a dry chuckle.
That's the problem with theseprophecies they don't give you

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an option, do they?
The wind shifted.
The first sign of watchers,zuli's hand went to his sword.
Something was waiting for them.
A voice deep, calm, eternal,emerged from the shadows you
have walked far enough.
And from the trees.

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Zarian stepped forward, aguardian of forgotten knowledge.
Forward, a guardian offorgotten knowledge.
Elira tensed her celestialmagic, sparking instinctively,
but Zuli raised a hand.
Zarian was not an enemy, notyet.
The aged warrior regarded themcarefully, his sharp green eyes

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cutting through the dim forestlight.
His cloak was woven from thefibers of an age lost,
embroidered with runes.
No kingdom now understood.
You carry a fragment of abroken truth, zarian said,
looking directly at Zuli, andyou follow its call like a man
already doomed.

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Zuli's grip on the prismtightened.
If you know what this is, thenyou know why we can't turn back.
Zarian tilted his head,considering him.
No, you can't, but you mustknow what you are walking into.
He gestured toward the skywhere void tendrils still

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twisted like grasping fingers.
Sky where void tendrils stilltwisted like grasping fingers.
The obsidian strain's defeat atDuskwatch was never meant to be
a final battle.
It was a distraction.
While you have been running,the Firstborn's influence has
been moving elsewhere.
Elira's breath hitched the otherseals.
Zarian nodded.

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The second gate is alreadyunder siege and the third is
nearly broken.
Zuli exhaled sharply.
Then we're already too late.
Zarian's expression remainedunreadable.
Perhaps, or perhaps you areexactly where you are meant to
be.
Ronan crossed his arms.

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I'm really starting to hateprophecy, the choice that
remains.
Zuli stepped forward.
If you know how to stop this,tell us.
Zarian studied him for a longmoment, as if weighing something
unspoken.
Then he reached into his cloakand withdrew a fragment of a

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stone tablet, its edges glowingfaintly with residual magic.
The seven seals are not justdoors.
Zarian said.
They are part of somethinggreater.
He extended the fragment toZuli.
They are part of somethinggreater.
He extended the fragment toZuli.
This is a piece of the lost star, a relic older than the prism

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itself.
It is said to hold the lastremnants of the power that first
bound the firstborn.
Zuli took it carefully.
The moment his fingers brushedthe stone, a searing vision
flooded his mind A battlefield,a sky of fire and void Titans of

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light and darkness colliding ina war that shattered the
heavens, and at the heart of ita single burning star falling
toward the ruins of an ancienttemple.
Then blackness.
Zuli stumbled back, thefragment nearly falling from his
grasp.
Zarian's voice was steady thelost star is the only power left

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that can seal the firstborn forgood.
Elira exhaled when is it?
Zarian looked at her, then tothe storm-filled sky, and he
whispered in the place wheregods were once slain.
To be continued, this chapterintroduces Zarian, keeper of the

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Hidden Path, a warrior of lostknowledge who reveals that the
obsidian strain's defeat atDuskwatch was a distraction.
The Firstborn's remaining sealsare already falling, but with
that revelation comes a finalhope the Lost Star, a relic even
older than the Prism.

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Now Zuli, elira and Ronan mustfind it before the Firstborn
reaches full strength.
The Shardred Forest had alwayscarried whispers, whispers of
lost knowledge, of old warsburied beneath its roots and of
the inevitable return of whatshould have remained forgotten.

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But now those whispers becamevoices, their echoes laced with
tension and distrust.
The campfire flickered its glow,struggling against the
encroaching darkness that seepedfrom the edges of the trees.
Around it sat the six warriorswho fate had bound together, but

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the bonds were already fraying.
Zuli stood near the fire armscrossed, his gaze locked onto
Zarian, the keeper of the hiddenpath.
He trusted him.
But only just Beside him, ronan, the ever-watchful ranger,
sharpened his daggers against awhetstone, his eyes flicking

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between the group like a hunterwatching for the first signs of
a fight.
Elira, draped in her celestialbattle robes, sat slightly apart
, her silver hair stillshimmering with residual magic
from the last battle.
She had turned against Celestia, but that did not mean she had

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forgotten its ways.
And then there were thenewcomers, the ones brought
together by prophecy but dividedby fear, power and old wounds.
Felipe, the Crimson Bastion, awarrior prince of Archelon, his
crimson-plated armor tarnishedwith old scars and fresh doubts.

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His loyalty to Archelon randeep, but so did his hatred for
the Void's corruption.
Sirenia the Stormcaller, a mageknight of Celestia who had once
commanded the northern legionsbefore abandoning the war.
A woman of calm but unyieldingstrength, she was a bridge
between the old world and thechaos they now faced.

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Elira, the blood seer, the onewhose past was spoken of only in
hushed tones.
She was marked by prophecy, awoman whose visions had foretold
the breaking of the sealsbefore any of them had even
understood the danger.
And finally, zarian, the outcast, the sage, the warrior of an

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age long past.
It was he whom Felipe nowglared at with barely contained
fury.
You knew Felipe spat, rising tohis feet, his voice was sharp
enough to cut through steel, histone charged with raw anger.
You knew about the Void'sresurgence before the Firstborn

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stirred no-transcript.
Zarian remained still unmoved.
Felipe took a step closer, hishand twitching toward his blade.
How long have you been harboringloyalties to the shadows?
Zuli's stance tensed.

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This was dangerous.
Felipe Ronan muttered, eyesflicking between them.
Let's not start something wecan't finish.
Felipe ignored him.
His gaze remained locked onSarion, fire blazing in his eyes
.
You walk the path of secrets.

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He continued his words slow andpoisoned with distrust.
You claim to be our ally, yetevery battle we have fought has
been a step in a plan you refuseto explain.
Why should we trust you?
The air grew heavier.
The flames of the campfireflickered unnaturally, bending

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and twisting, as if mirroringthe tension boiling in the air.
Then Xarion spoke.
You speak as if the void is onething, one force, one will.
His voice was calm, unshaken.
It is not.
The void is as much a prison asit is a force of corruption.
I have spent my years guardingthe knowledge that your kingdom

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sought to bury the Firstborn isnot the only thing that was
sealed away.
Felipe scoffed how convenientthat you speak in riddles,
keeper.
Before Zarian could answer, anew voice cut through the night.
You all misunderstand theprophecy, sirenia said.
Stepping between them, herpresence was like a quiet storm

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calm and still, but waiting tostrike.
She looked at them, her gazecarrying the weight of something
unsaid.
The firstborn is not bound byone lock.
It is not one being, nor is itswill singular.
You fight the war as if youface a single enemy.

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You are wrong.
Her words were met with silence.
Then Elira, the Bloodseer, spoke.
She is right.
She murmured, her voice softbut laced with undeniable
certainty.
The prophecy speaks of theseven seals, but it does not

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speak of one entity.
Beyond the gates, she turnedher gaze toward Zuli, her
scarlet-painted eyes unblinking.
There is more than onefirstborn.
The air in the camp shifted.
Even the shadows in the forestseemed to recoil.
At her words, zuli's mind raced.

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Every prophecy had spoken ofthe Firstborn as one entity, a
dark god waiting beyond theseals, the singular will that
threatened to consume Aetherion.
But if, what Sirenia and Elirawere saying was true.
The Void's resurgence wasn'tthe rise of one being, it was
the awakening of many the Prism,the Gates, the Seals.

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They weren't just meant to keepone being imprisoned, they were
meant to hold back an entirepantheon.
Elira's breath hitched.
How do you know this?
Elira turned her gaze towardZarian Because she whispered.
He was there when the sealswere first forged.

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Felipe's expression darkenedMore lies, but Zuli wasn't so
sure anymore.
He turned to Zarian, his gripon the Luminark loosening
slightly.
He turned to Zarian, his gripon the Luminarch loosening
slightly.
Is it true?
Zarian didn't deny it.
Not all truths are meant to beknown, he said simply.
Felipe laughed bitterly.

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That's not an answer.
Zarian finally met his gaze.
No, it's not.
The silence between them wasdangerous.
Zuli could feel it.
Their alliance was cracking,breaking apart before it had
even begun.
They had so little time leftand yet they were fighting

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amongst themselves like fools,standing before the storm,
arguing about the wind.
Then Allira gasped.
Her body convulsed, her eyesturning to pure white.
As she fell to her knees,sirenia was at her side
instantly, gripping hershoulders.
Elira, what is it?
Elira's voice was not her ownwhen she spoke.

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Elira's voice was not her ownwhen she spoke.
The second gate is falling.
The world lurched.
A pulse of power and deathrippled through the forest, a
shockwave that could be felt inthe soul.
Ronan's dagger was in his handbefore he even thought to draw
it.
Tell me, that wasn't what Ithink it was.

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Zarian turned his gaze towardthe horizon, where a dark light
had begun to rise.
The void is moving.
His voice was grim and we havewasted too much time.
Zuli exhaled sharply.
There was no time for distrust.
Zuli exhaled sharply.

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There was no time for distrust,no time for arguments.
He looked to the group.
Whatever lies between us, hesaid we leave it here.
He turned toward the secondgate.
We move now.
This chapter raises the stakes,revealing that the Firstborn is
not a single entity but apantheon of imprisoned gods.
The champions fracture assuspicions between them grow,

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but before they can tear eachother apart, the war escalates.
The second gate is falling andthey are running out of time.
But now, and they are runningout of time, but now, as Zuli
and his companions moved deeperinto its ancient embrace, it was
clear it was watching them.
The air grew thicker, theshadows deeper, and the trees,

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those ancient towering sentinelsleaned in ever so slightly,
their branches shifting inunnatural ways.
There were no birds, no wind,only silence.
And then the earth trembled.
Zuli halted mid-step, hisinstincts flaring with the
sudden shift in the air.

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Ronan immediately drew his bow,his sharp eyes scanning the
dim-lit forest.
Elira clenched her fists,celestial magic humming around
her fingertips.
But it was Zarian who whisperedfirst.
It knows we are here.
Felipe, still wary of the keeper, scoffed what is it?

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Before Zarian could answer, theforest itself moved, roots shot
up from the ground, twistinginto grotesque humanoid figures
formed of bark, stone and vines.
Their eyes glowed with an eeriegreen light, their forms
ancient, towering and filledwith purpose.

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And then they spoke.
Or perhaps they did not speakbut thought their words into the
group's minds, their voiceslayered with the weight of
centuries.
You walk upon sacred ground.
You seek what does not belongto you.
Leave or be judged the battleof worth or be judged, the

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Battle of Worth.
Before anyone could speak, theguardians attacked.
One of the massive creaturesswung its gnarled limb, sending
Felipe hurtling backward into atree with a sickening crack.
Elira raised her hands,summoning a barrier of light,
but the second guardianshattered it with a single blow,
sending her to her knees.

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Zuli met the third guardian'sstrike head-on, his luminarc
flashing like a golden comet ashe parried the attack.
But the force behind theguardian's strength was immense.
Nearly buckling his stance,sirenia unleashed a storm of
magic bolts of blue lightningcrashing into the creature's

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forms.
But the guardians barelyflinched.
They were testing them.
This wasn't just a fight, it wasa trial.
Hold your attacks.
Zarian suddenly shouted.
They are not meant to kill us,only to judge our worth.
Ronan rolled aside as a massiveroot, barely missed impaling

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him.
If this is a test, I don't likethe grading system.
Zuli exhaled, sharply,adjusting his stance.
If the battle couldn't be wonthrough brute force, then it had
to be answered another way.
He lowered his weapon andstepped forward.
The guardians halted mid-strike, their green glowing eyes

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flickering as they focusedsolely on Zuli.
Their voices resonated oncemore.
You stand before the forestking's will you bear the
fractured light of the past?
What right do you have to seekthat which was lost?
Zuli took a deep breath.
He could feel the prism pulsingagainst his chest.

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Responding to the forest'spower, I seek the lost star, he
said firmly, not for greed, notfor conquest, but to stop what
is coming.
The forest shuddered.
The guardians turned to Zarianyou have walked this path before

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.
The accusation was clear.
Felipe stared at Zarian.
His earlier suspicionsreigniting.
Earlier suspicions reigniting.
What does that mean?
Zarian did not answer.
Instead, he stepped forward hishand on the hilt of his rune
blade and knelt before theguardians.
Let them pass, he said simply.

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The guardians' glowing eyesflickered, then they withdrew.
The roots receded, the airloosened and the presence that
had threatened to crush themrelented.
Zuli could feel it.
The forest had accepted theirpresence For now, as the
guardians melted back into theearth, a final whisper reached

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them, carried by the wind itself.
The lost star is not yours toclaim.
The balance has already beenundone.
The forest king has seen theend and he does not believe you
can stop it.
The group exchanged uneasyglances.
Allay returned to Zarian hervoice careful.

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You knew this would happen.
Zarian's expression remainedunreadable.
I knew we would be tested, butthe forest king's doubt, his
gaze hardened.
That is something we cannotignore.
Zuli exhaled, the weight of themoment settling onto his

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shoulders.
They had passed the trial, buttheir greatest battle was yet to
come.
The golden towers of Celestiagleamed under the veil of the
twilight sky, their crystallinespires piercing the heavens, as
though untouched by the chaosbrewing beyond the kingdom's
borders.
From afar, celestia stilllooked like the pinnacle of

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purity, an eternal beacon oforder and divine rule.
But Elira knew better.
Beneath the light, the shadowshad begun to fester.
She moved swiftly and silentlythrough the city's high
corridors, her cloak of silverand white fluttering against the
wind, as she walked the hallsof her former home under the

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guise of a returning warrior Alie she had forsaken.
Celestia at the Shardred Foresthad abandoned the Skybound
Knights in the wake of theFirstborn's corruption.
Now she had returned to spyupon her own people, and what
she discovered in Celestia'sdepths threatened to change

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everything.
The capital was eerily calm,despite the war raging outside
its borders, was eerily calmdespite the war raging outside
its borders.
Citizens still moved abouttheir daily lives, unaware of
the kingdom's slow descent intosomething far worse than war.
Elira pulled her hood lower asshe passed through the inner

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sanctum gates, the grandentrance to Celestia's high keep
.
The guards barely glanced ather.
She was still one of them intheir eyes.
That she knew would not last.
Her heart hammered as shereached the grand celestial
archives, the place where thekingdom's most dangerous secrets

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were locked away behind divinewards.
She whispered a spell, hermagic still tuned to the
kingdom's energy, and slippedinside.
The moment she stepped into thearchive's depths, she knew
something was wrong.
The air was… colder.
Celestia had always been aplace of warmth, of radiance,

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but down here, beneath thepalace, the magic felt twisted.
It was subtle.
But Elira had felt thisdarkness before, not in Celestia
, not in Archelon, but in theFirstborn's corruption.
She pressed on and what shefound shook her to her core.
At the center of the sealedchamber, laid upon a blackened

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altar, was something Elirashould never have seen in
Celestia A fragment of the prism.
But unlike the one that Zulicarried, this one was dark,
twisted, corrupted.
Its once holy light had beenconsumed, replaced with a
pulsing void energy thatwhispered in the air like a

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distant scream.
Elira's breath caught in herthroat.
This was not an artifact ofCelestia anymore.
This was a piece of theFirstborn's power.
She barely had time to reactbefore she heard footsteps.
With a sharp inhale, elirapressed herself behind one of
the towering bookcases, herheartbeat pounding in her ears.

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She could hear voicesapproaching, low and deliberate,
and then she heard his voiceKing Erendor.
She peeked through the shelves,her blood running cold as she
saw him stride into the chamber,his golden armor gleaming, his
expression unreadable.

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Beside him stood a man she didnot recognize, draped in
obsidian robes, his face hiddenbehind a mask of black steel.
The man emanated a power thatmade Elira's skin crawl.
The king turned to him you havewhat you need.
The masked man nodded.

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The corruption is spreading, asexpected.
The skybound knights that werelost at the forest.
They are becoming somethingmore, becoming something more.
Elira's pulse raced, becomingsomething more.
The knights lost at ShardredForest.
They had been taken by theFirstborn's corruption.
Had Celestia retrieved them,what was Erendor doing?

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The king's expression remainedimpassive Good, the more we
understand its power, the betterwe can control it.
Elira nearly gasped aloudControl it.
Celestia wasn't trying to stopthe Firstborn's rise, they were
trying to harness it.
The truth of Celestia.

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Elira forced herself to staystill as the conversation
continued, every word burninginto her mind like a knife to
her faith.
Erendor continued his tone,calm, as if he were not
discussing the very thing thathad already destroyed his own
knights.
Zuli and his allies will headfor the Lost Star.

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We allow them to retrieve it.
When they do, we take it fromthem by force.
Elira felt sick.
She had known Celestia fearedthe prophecy.
She had known Erendor believedZuli was a threat.
But this, this was worse thanbetrayal, this was damnation.

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She had spent her life servingCelestia, believing in its
divine purpose, in its righteousrule.
But now she saw the truthCelestia had already fallen.
Elira backed away from thechamber, moving with trained
silence.
She had to get out now.

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As she turned, she nearly ranstraight into a skybound night.
For a fraction of a secondtheir eyes met.
Recognition flashed across hisface, elira.
She reacted instantly.
A blast of celestial lighterupted from her palm, striking
the knight in the chest andsending him hurtling backward.

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Alarms rang through the palace.
She ran.
She knew the layout of Celestiabetter than any, its secret
passages, its weaknesses.
But she also knew they wouldnever let her escape alive, knew
they would never let her escapealive.
The kingdom she once calledhome was now her enemy.
And with that realization,something in her finally broke.

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She was no longer Celestian,she was a warrior of Aetherian
and she would fight against them.
Now she is hunted by the verykingdom she once served.
The war is no longer just aboutthe prophecy.
It is about who will controlthe future of Aetherian itself.

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Don't miss the next thrillinginstallment.
Tune in bi-weekly as the epicunfolds.
The choices made now willdecide the future of Aetherian,
and the storm is only growingstronger.