Tower of cours

Chapter 38: The Forgotten Rise

The ground trembled beneath Mira and Selene as the dark figure emerged from the heart of the Cradle of Time. Its form flickered and shifted, as though it were not truly bound to the world, its shape uncertain and fragmented. It exuded an oppressive power, a presence that seemed to consume the very air around it. The walls of the Cradle groaned in response to the disturbance, the ancient stones trembling as though they, too, recognized the awakening of something far older than time itself.

Mira's heart pounded in her chest. The Forgotten. The ancient beings that existed outside of time—beings who had been erased from history, lost to the folds of memory. If they had returned, it meant that everything she and the others had fought for was at risk. The very fabric of time could unravel.

"We cannot let them rewrite time," Mira said, her voice steady despite the fear gnawing at her. "We have to stop this."

Selene's eyes narrowed as she faced the shifting figure. The threads of time twisted and coiled around the figure, but they were unstable, as if the Forgotten were somehow immune to the rules of time. The air around them grew colder, and the shadows seemed to stretch and grow, reaching for them.

The figure's voice echoed, a dissonant chorus of countless voices layered together. "You cannot fight what has already been forgotten. We are the lost moments. The fragments of time that never were. And now, we return to claim what is ours."

Mira stepped forward, her staff glowing with power. "We won't let you distort time. We've seen what happens when the balance is broken. The past cannot be changed, but it can be protected."

The Forgotten figure seemed to smile, though the expression was more a twisting of its form than anything resembling a true human gesture. "You cannot protect what was never meant to be. Time is ours to shape, and what was lost must be restored."

Suddenly, the air grew even colder, and the Cradle of Time seemed to shudder with unnatural energy. Mira and Selene stood their ground, but even as they prepared to fight, they could feel the immense power that the Forgotten were channeling. The walls around them began to blur, the landscape of the Cradle warping, the past and future colliding in impossible ways.

Time itself was becoming unstable.

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Back at the Village

Kael stood at the edge of the village, his senses alert. The tremors had reached him even here, a low rumble that shook the ground beneath his boots. The sky, once clear, now seemed to darken with an unnatural heaviness, and the wind carried with it a whisper that made his skin crawl.

He gripped his sword tightly, his instincts screaming that something was terribly wrong. The disturbance in the air felt familiar, but it was not the same as before. This was different. A deep, gnawing sense of dread settled in his chest.

It was as though the past itself was beginning to push through the present, and something dark and forgotten had awoken. Kael's thoughts turned to Mira and Selene. They were in the Cradle, and from the tremors, he knew something was happening there—a battle perhaps, one that they hadn't expected.

The villagers had sensed the change as well. Their faces were tense, their eyes full of uncertainty. They were no longer safe in the world they had fought so hard to rebuild. The land had not yet healed, and now it seemed that the forces that had once fractured time were returning to claim what they had lost.

Kael's grip on his sword tightened. He could not stand by and do nothing—not again. He had already lost so much, and he was not willing to let the world slip back into chaos.

With one last look at the village, he set his jaw and turned toward the mountains, where the Cradle of Time lay hidden. He had to find Mira and Selene. Whatever they were facing, they would need him.

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The Forgotten's Power

Back in the Cradle, Mira and Selene faced the Forgotten with growing urgency. The figure before them had started to dissolve into mist, its presence growing ever more insidious, more unbound from the laws of time. The shadows around them thickened, forming into dark tendrils that reached for them, trying to bind them in place.

Mira raised her staff, its light growing brighter, but it was fighting against something much older than even her power could grasp. The Cradle itself was losing its stability, and every moment they spent here seemed to tear at the fabric of reality. She could feel the distortions pulling at her, trying to pull her into another time, another place.

Selene's hand shot out, grasping Mira's arm. "We can't fight this alone," she said, her voice strained. "The Forgotten don't just exist outside time—they exist between it. If we stay here, we'll be lost to the cracks."

Mira nodded, her mind racing. They needed to disrupt the Forgotten's hold over time, but they couldn't do it from within the Cradle itself. It was too entrenched in the very structure of time. They needed to escape, regroup, and find a way to stop them before the fabric of time tore apart completely.

"Let's go," Mira said, her voice firm. She began to channel her magic in an attempt to break through the distortions. But the figure, sensing their intention, reached out with long, shadowy limbs, trying to drag them back.

"No one leaves," it growled, its voice deepening as its form solidified once more. "Time is ours to command."

But just as the dark tendrils reached for them, a brilliant flash of light split the air.

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The Return of Kael

Kael arrived at the Cradle of Time just as the air around it began to crackle with energy. The landscape before him was shifting, the very ground warping as the timeline itself seemed to bend and twist. He could hear the faint echo of voices, but they were strange, distant—like they were being pulled from a different era.

Without hesitation, Kael sprinted toward the entrance, his heart pounding. The echoes of the battle reached his ears, and he knew Mira and Selene were in the thick of it. He couldn't waste another second.

When he reached the threshold of the Cradle, he could feel the pressure of time pushing against him, an invisible weight that threatened to collapse around him. He knew he had to move quickly.

Inside, he saw Mira and Selene, surrounded by the swirling shadows of the Forgotten. The dark figure stood before them, its shape distorting as it spoke.

"This is our time now," it hissed, its voice full of malevolent triumph. "The past will be rewritten, and nothing will stop us."

Kael's heart thundered in his chest. Without hesitation, he charged forward, his sword gleaming with the light of the sun outside.

"Not while I'm still standing," Kael shouted as he swung his sword, cutting through the shadows.

The Forgotten turned, its eyes blazing with rage. "You cannot stop what is inevitable. The Forgotten will rise again, and your world will belong to us."

But Kael did not falter. He knew that the battle ahead was far from over, but this was their fight, their chance to protect the future. And with Mira and Selene at his side, he would do whatever it took to keep time from being rewritten.

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To Be Continued...