The Stone Of Prophecy

ng stretched. Sounds came strangely now, echoes without a source, wind that spoke in fragments, trees that lean

t Flame. Since the vision of the stone shattering. Since the shadow w

ely slep

laces "where silence waits to speak." Whatever that meant, he felt it

a

ys e

ning, Kaelen came

n across a forest clearing choked with moss and creeping ivy. Bu

were

for language. Some stood tall and sharp, others lay cracked and hollow. They formed

his pocket

ped into th

lence. Not the absence of sound but t

the firs

a breath. Like wind cur

. Seer... H

en f

here?" h

rees. Leaves danced. A

emember... The f

ed Stone loomed, some flickering fain

the cente

t looked like a cracked circle, split by a sword of ligh

, the wor

see a temple or fire o

a battl

among the ruins. Her. The eyeless woman. Only now she wore a crown of bone and carried the

stumbled back, b

ne's hu

thing el

ealing a stone disc half buried in the dirt. As Kaelen knelt to inspect it, he s

her

e reached out and lifted it, and as soon as he did, the other St

st find the third... Befor

h caught. "The

tones fel

e wind

out pressure, fusing into a single, larger piece. As they merged, his mind flooded again not wit

'Sa

ur

ollow

lameb

Sund

his head, then

his breathing. He felt as if the stone was changing him

derstand the whispers

ere me

in th

w... i

pine, the raven watched him again. It tilted

the crimson-robed figure stirred once more. They stood before

d not burn.

ns," the figure said

the shadows, raspy and low.

But if he reaches the third shard, the Ve

waits," the v

send

ucking the fused shards safely inside. He looked back once at the whisperi

s a thir

something wante

ered in his ears, bu

Hollow Kin

ho the Hollow Ki

stir inside him. And he k

a light in the d

s a v

whisperin