Maryse's smile slowly faded.
With a gentle wave of her hand, the image of Lorin dissolved into darkness.
The orb shimmered once before another image slowly emerged.
Three cloaked figures stood motionless.
The Order.
Her violet eyes swept across them one by one.
Then they stopped.
A slow smile spread across her lips.
"There you are..." Maryse whispered, a satisfied smile crossing her face as she pointed to one of the three figures.
Maelrin stepped beside her, studying the image within the orb.
"You still believe he's the one?"
Maryse never looked away from the figure.
"Belief has nothing to do with it."
"I know."
Silence settled between them.
After a long moment, Maryse rested her fingertips against the cold surface of the orb.
"They all wear the same mask. They all hide behind the same silence... yet some things can never be hidden."
"Time may have buried the truth."
Her smile widened.
"And yes... the Order may have forgotten."
"But I haven't."
The image slowly dissolved into darkness.
And with it...
The memories returned.
---
Flashback
Long before the Kingdom of Altheris rose to power...
Before the Crimson Amulet became nothing more than whispered legend...
There existed a forgotten village known as Silvaris, hidden beyond the Mistwood Forest, where rivers never ran dry and the stars shimmered upon the water even beneath the morning sun.
It was a peaceful place.
Untouched by war.
A place where every face was familiar.
Among its people were four inseparable friends.
Aldric—the eldest, calm and dependable.
Evander—quiet, thoughtful, and wiser than most men twice his age.
Dorian—reckless, cheerful, and forever chasing adventure.
Leoric—the youngest, fearless enough to laugh in the face of danger, yet fiercely loyal to those he loved.
To the villagers, they were nothing more than ordinary young men.
To fate...
They were something else entirely.
For generations, the people of Silvaris had guarded an ancient spring known as the Silent Well.
No one knew who had created it.
No one knew how long it had existed.
The elders simply claimed it had always been there.
Every Spring Festival, the villagers gathered around the well to offer prayers before drawing water for the coming season.
Yet above every tradition stood a single law.
A law every child learned before they could even read.
Never drink from the Silent Well except during the Spring Ritual.
No explanation was ever given.
Only the warning.
For centuries...
No one questioned it.
Until one autumn evening.
The four friends ventured into the Mistwood Forest to hunt before nightfall.
They soon separated, each following different trails through the dense woods.
"Dinner's on whoever returns empty-handed!" Dorian shouted with a grin before disappearing between the trees.
His laughter echoed through the forest.
Then...
Silence.
Minutes passed.
The trail he had been following suddenly vanished.
He sighed in frustration.
"No deer... no rabbits... not even a squirrel."
Wiping the sweat from his brow, he leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree.
His throat burned with thirst.
Then he heard it.
The gentle sound of flowing water.
Curious, he followed the sound until the trees opened into a quiet clearing.
At its center stood an ancient stone well wrapped in creeping vines and emerald moss.
The well was filled to the brim. Its water was perfectly still.
Almost unnaturally so.
Dorian slowly approached.
When he stood before it, he looked into the well.
He saw only his reflection staring back at him.
Messy hair.
Dust-covered clothes.
A tired-looking face.
He swallowed.
His throat felt painfully dry.
Then he remembered.
The stories.
The warnings.
The old men who repeated the same words every spring.
"Never drink from the Silent Well."
Dorian chuckled to himself.
"Old men's tales."
He knelt beside the well.
Scooped the crystal-clear water into his hands...
And drank.
The water was colder than ice.
Sweeter than anything he had ever tasted.
For a brief moment...
Nothing happened.
He smiled.
"So much for the legend."
Then—
The ground trembled.
A low rumble echoed beneath his feet.
Dorian frowned.
The water inside the well began to ripple.
Not because of the wind.
But because something beneath it was moving.
The ripples became waves.
The waves became violent.
The water began to rise.
Dorian stumbled backward.
"What...?"
Without warning, the surface of the well erupted.
A towering column of water burst into the sky as the earth shook violently beneath him.
The trees bent beneath an unseen force that swept through the clearing.
Dorian's heart pounded against his chest.
He didn't wait to see what had awakened.
He turned...
And ran.
Branches tore at his clothes as he sprinted through the forest.
"Aldric!"
"Evander!"
"Leoric!"
His desperate cries echoed through the trees.
He never looked back.
All he knew...
Was that something had awakened.