The Echoes Of The Forgotten whispers

The Reliqua

bled weakly through storm clouds, painting the sand the color of a bruise. Elara's mother was gone, swallowed by the Harbinger'

arm crusted with salt and blood. "We n

ption (*All debts are paid in blood*) now scored with cracks. The bon

oice hollow. "The spiral with eight arrows. I

vealing the guardian symbols etched into his skin. "My father called

ttle. "Of course. Ano

d but said

led tight, gardens choked with weeds. By midday, they reached the standing stones-a ring of moss-eat

y a pit filled w

Kael said. "

the water. It thickened, clinging to her

od. The Voss ancestor-the thief-walked at the front, her face grim. "Bury them deep," she ordered. "Where the sea cann

led, her hand stained black. "S

owned.

g's crown. That's how he's anchored here. No

a rock sailed through the a

had foun

-

ob's Ju

ragged Bible. At their helm stood Old Man Heddrick, his squid ink charms replaced by a noo

the bones' hum crescendoing.

red at Elara's feet. "Your family's been cursed

roze. "

g. "She came to us last night. Begged us to en

lara's mother had sold he

hey're baiting you. The

s dagger into the man's thigh. Elara stumbled, the bones spilling from

!" Heddric

g for the bones. The mob's frenzy drowned the

lar

. The Harbinger wore her face again, but its voice was the Drowned King

piraling into a liquid mirror. Within it, Elara's mother floa

ve shattered.

hrough the Harbinger. *"Bring it to the Re

's shoulders. "Do

. "You don't get

rrified silence. Even the priest'

Tick-tock, thief-child.

mob scattered, leaving Elara and Kael alone with th

s an

Bioluminescent algae pulsed faintly along the walls, revealing carvings of robed figures offering bones to a towering wave.

trous shadows. "Stay close. The Reliquary isn't

r of black stone, its surface etched with spirals and chains. Seven indents marked where the bone

rd, but Kael yanked

into a mosaic of the Voss ancestor stealing the crown

ael muttered,

fingers webbed, and mouths split by rows of needle-teeth. They

e from her satchel. "They'r

tecting the *altar*. The King

lara swung the femur like a club, its coral spikes tearing through scaled flesh. With ea

houted, parrying a

beam of light shooting upward. One by one, she inserted the ribs, clavicle, and skull. With

own fragmen

ched for it. "The King's tethered

hold him here." She p

ng in. The altar cracked, revealing a hidden chamber below-a tomb filled w

e the Voss family crest. Inside lay the ancestor's journal, a ma

own fra

he reached for it. "This is what he wants!

e. "He already o

er mother's face now, seawater streaming from her hollow eyes. *"Clever girl,"* it

ealing Elara's mother trapped in a kel

power isn't in the fragment-it's in the altar

er dies!" El

doom tho

ing between mother and monster. *"Choos

She saw her father's face in the water, his final moments of despair. Saw Kael's father, lungs

ed the f

ld shat

-

ing's P

fragment burning in her fist. Her mother knelt at t

he King purred. *"The f

mother rasp

wrist. The collar tig

forward. "Rele

u interest me. A Voss with a guardian's heart. *Rare*."* He leaned closer, his breath reeking of dead thin

rom nowhere. *"Elara!

w seeped into her veins, whispering

ers-not pleading, but r

the fragment

He screamed, thrashing as black ichor spewed from the w

el floated nearby, unconscious, blood swirling from a gash on

ut a skeletal hand

half-destroyed, roaring silently. He drag

shadow

a shard of whalebone into the King's remainin

gment and Kael, kicki

er did n

own fragment, its jagged edges biting into her palm, while Kael dragged her toward the crumbling altar. Beh

over the chaos. "We have

d, the fragment slipping from her grasp. It skidded across the

mot

ot lied-she was trapped, her soul tethered to the King's will. But there was no plea in her ga

wn reforming from the debris. *"Foolish child,"

d it first. The relic flared, its malevolent light searing her vision. S

. He drove the blade into the King's wrist, seve

he ro

nt her skin touched the r

-

First

r. The Voss ancestor-Miriam-crouched in the shadow of a shipwreck, clutching the stolen c

drown us all!"

y leverage."* She held up the fragment, its glow painting her face in

They were on the sea, where skeletal hands breach

l bury it,"* she whispered. *"De

ion fra

-

liquary'

burning in her grip. The Drowned King loom

she sc

d-like eyes narrowing. *

ment to the altar's central

ning crescendo. The walls of the chamber peeled back, revealing the spectral forms of every Voss and guardian

d,"* Miriam intoned. *"But s

of light erupted from the altar, bin

" Elara said, her voice ste

e fragment i

dissolving into seafoam. The Reliquary collapsed, the

ater spitting them onto the shore as th

-

e Co

retreating. The town lay in ruins, but the air

ra, his dagger still

ts cracked face reflecting the sunrise. Inside, a new portrait h

a final whisper

stood at the edge of the shattered cliffs, the Morwen locket cold in her palm. Kael lingered a few paces behind, his dagger still dripping wi

ed forward first, his squid ink charms replaced by a crude bandage around his bur

et with a snap. "The

ck into the water, as if testing its temper. The priest, his Bible

"But the sea doesn't forget.

etery to mourn. Elara watched them go, her mother's face burn

es the elders burned. There might be copies in the l

wha

shimmered unnaturally. "The King's gone, b

-

hthouse R

through the debris, her boots crunching on glass and coral. In the rubble, she found her father's jou

here's power in the waiting. A chance to mend what we br

ater. Kael crouched beside her, holding up a rusted

rypt. The place w

the key. "We're

-

rypt of

s lined the walls, their lids carved with the Voss crest-a wave pierced by a dag

"Your ancestors didn't just

ispers began again, faint but ur

m to the pedestal.

h fear and awe. "With this," she declared, "we rule the tides. We take what the sea refuses to give." But as the fragment touched the

t steal from him. They *betrayed

"Cycle of greed and gr

he crypt's depths-a w

uardi

ned King's Choir, their skeletal forms fused with coral and rot. They dr

. lives..."*

is dagger. "G

kept hidden. It pulsed, responding to the g

pened. *"Finish w