Echo of Creation

The golden light swallowed Velena whole.

The sound of a bell ringing somewhere far away grew louder and louder. She was standing inside a cathedral again. The bell above her rang in a continuous rhythm.

The air was cold. That was the first thing Velena noticed. She couldn't even move or speak. She could only stand there, again as a ghost in someone else's memory as the scene unfolded before her.

White marble columns rose toward a ceiling lost in shadow. Torches lined the walls, their flames burning a strange, cold blue that cast no warmth. The floor was polished to a mirror shine, reflecting the torchlight like still water. It was the Vault. She could feel that she was inside it again from the overwhelming amount of magic in the air.

And at the center of the chamber, on a dais of black stone, was an altar.

A girl was chained to it.

She was small. She looked around sixteen years old, maybe even fifteen. Her dark, long hair was matted with sweat and blood, hanging in ropes around her thin face. Her wrists were bleeding where the iron shackles bit into her skin. She wore a simple, thin white dress that bunched up at her legs, and her bare feet were bruised and cut as she tried to shake herself free from the top of the altar.

Around her, arranged in a semicircle, stood the first casters.

Velena recognized them from the paintings in the research chambers. They were robed figures with stern faces and cold eyes, the architects of resonance theory itself. They held conduits in their hands, ancient weapons that hummed with barely-contained power. They were chanting in a song like a choir.

She felt a premonition of tragedy awaiting this unknown girl.

No, she tried to say. No, stop. She's just a child.

But the memory didn't stop. It played on, indifferent to her horror.

The choir grew louder. The resonance built, layer upon layer, pressing against Velena's consciousness like a physical weight. The girl on the altar began to tremble. Her eyes, dark and wide with terror, darted from face to face, as if she was trying to remember all of her captors’ faces.

"Please!" she begged. Her voice was hoarse from screaming. "I- I don't want to die! I did everything that I can to become the best student in Heathermoor, Professor! I'll become even better. Please-”

One of the casters stepped forward. He was tall, his face hidden beneath a deep hood. His voice was cold and utterly without pity.

"You should be honored, child. Your sacrifice will create the greatest conduit the world has ever known. The Echo of Creation itself."

"I don't want to be a conduit! I want to live as a human!"

"The prophecy demands a vessel. You are that chosen one."

“Professor…I- I cannot accept this…I really believed and respected you…I really did…” The girl's eyes filled with tears. Her small hands clawed at the chains, leaving bloody streaks on the iron. "Why- why would you do this to me, Professor?! I- I wanted to become the best caster in the world just for your sake! I wasted countless nights- and even sacrificed my own health just to skip grades to meet you again in this university- so why?! Why would you do this to me?!

He did not answer. The song resumed. The resonance built higher.

Velena wanted to scream at the blurry figures in the dark hoods before her. She wanted to run to the altar, to tear the chains away, to do anything, but her body wouldn't move. She was trapped in the memory, forced to hear it unfold before her, just like what happened with Orev.

The doors of the cathedral flew open with a bang. A woman’s voice rang out across the room, raised in fury.

"I shall not allow this! This is murder!"

The choir’s voices faltered. The casters turned. A woman was striding through the cathedral, her robes billowing behind her. She was young, perhaps in her early twenties. Velena could make out that she had white hair and bright blue eyes that were burned with rage. She wore the colors of Lumina, pale white and gold, and there was a crown on her head.

A woman who was just like her.

"You've gone too far," the princess said. Her voice echoed through the temple, commanding attention. "The council agreed that the prophecy I read would be fulfilled through choice, not sacrifice! This child has done nothing wrong!"

"She is the destined Vessel," one of the casters said. His eyes were cold. "The Echo requires a sacrifice to awaken. The prophecy you have told us is clear."

"I said that the Echo shall choose a worthy one itself," the princess snapped. "It says nothing about kidnapping children and chaining them to altars!"

"The council voted-"

"The council voted before everyone else knew what you were planning! Many of Heathermoor’s students voted against it! You’ve seen the protests!" The princess stepped closer, her voice lowered. "You're not fulfilling a prophecy. This is murder! I will not stand by and let it happen."

The old caster's eyes narrowed. "You are young, Princess. You don't understand what's at stake."

"I understand that this girl is a person, not a weapon. That child deserves better than to be turned into a tool for your ambition!" The princess turned to the girl on the altar. Her expression softened. "What's your name, child?"

The girl's voice was barely a whisper. "Aria…My name is Aria..."

"Aria." The princess smiled. "That means 'song,' does it not?"

"Y-yes…"

"What a beautifully fitting name for a talented caster such as yourself." The princess turned back to the casters, her smile vanishing. "Release her. Now."

The old caster didn't move. "The ritual has already begun. If we stop now, the resonance will destabilize. The Echo will be lost."

"Then let it be lost. Better it be a lost conduit than a murdered child. You are only creating a weapon."

"It's not a weapon. It is a tool for the future. We shall use the wish to create a better world."

"Aria is not a tool!" The princess's voice cracked. "She's a person, and you're going to burn her alive to fuel your ambition! How can you not see that?!"

The old caster's expression didn't change. "Sacrifices must be made for the greater good."

"Then sacrifice yourself, you coward! Offer your own Key Tone to the Echo! See how you like being the vessel!"

The chamber went silent. The other casters exchanged uneasy glances.

The old caster sighed. "I'm sorry, Prophetess. But the ritual must continue."

He raised his hand. The singing resumed, as the resonance built stronger and louder.

The princess screamed. She lunged toward the altar, her own conduit flaring to life, a brilliant silver light coming from her sword that cut through the cold blue of the torches. But the other casters moved to block her. They seized her arms and forced her to her knees.

"NO!" she shouted. "You can't do this! I won't let you!"

The old caster looked at her with something that might have been pity. "You have a gift, Prophetess. The sight of the future, but you do not have the power to stop us. Do not get in our way."

"I'll stop you! I swear it. I'll spend the rest of my life fighting this!"

"I know you will." The old caster turned back to the altar. "But you won't succeed."

The chanting reached a crescendo. The light around the altar began to build, golden and blinding. The child, Aria, screamed in pain.

It was a sound that would haunt Velena for the rest of her life.

The light consumed the altar. The girl's body arched against the chains, her back bowing, her mouth open in a loud cry. The golden light poured into her, through her, around her. And all of a sudden…

She was gone.

The light faded as the song came to a halt. And floating above the altar, where the girl had been, was a sphere of pure golden light.

The Echo of Creation.

The princess stared at it, her face wet with tears. Her voice went hoarse with grief.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. I tried. I tried to stop them-"

The sphere pulsed softly. As if it understood what she was saying.

The memory changed again to a whole new scene.

Velena was no longer in the cathedral. She was standing in a garden full of sunlight. The princess was older now, her hair streaked with grey. She was sitting on a bench, her hands clasped in her lap. In front of her stood a tomb with flowers around it. And beside her, invisible to the princess but visible to Velena, was a shimmer of golden light.

Aria…

"I've been thinking," the princess said quietly. “…about what they did to you..."

The golden light pulsed. The princess smiled, just slightly.

"I know you can hear me. This gift- it lets me sense things others can't. I could feel you in the Vault, even when it was sealed away. I could feel your loneliness." She paused. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I've never stopped thinking about what I could’ve done so that things turned out differently..."

The golden light flickered. Velena thought she saw a girl's silhouette, her hands clasped in front of her.

"The prophecy says the Echo shall choose a worthy one who will accept you for who you are," the princess continued. "And that the Vault shall open again when the bell rings. I used to think it meant a powerful caster would come to claim the Wish…but now I think it means something else…"

The golden light pulsed again, questioning her.

"You are not alone in this world. Even once I am gone, I believe that there will be someone who can help you…an ally that would support you the same way I have…" The princess's voice grew soft. "One day, a hero will come. If the prophecy is true, they won't want to claim the Wish. They'll want to save you. And when they do, you'll be free."

The golden light trembled. Velena felt the weight of that promise, the desperate hope she held in her heart that had kept Aria going through centuries of isolation.

"I don't know when they'll come," the princess said. "I don't even know if I'll live to see it…but I know they will. The Dushana line carries the magic of powerful Key Tones in their blood, but everyone but me has always been thirsty for power. I am sure you might even come to hate me since I could not save you..."

She reached out, her hand hovering over the flowers of her tomb. "Until someone finally sets you free, please wait for me. I will come see you again soon."

“I always keep my promises, after all. That’s why…I knew you would come no matter what.”

The woman’s body shifted towards the intruder. Her finger rose to point straight at her. Their eyes met through the memory.

“So you’re finally here. It’s nice to meet you, Professor Velena Dushana.”

The memory shattered into pieces like glass.

“I’m leaving it to you from here on out. Take care of Aria for me, will you?”

Neripha Dushana, the 45th former Princess of the Dushana family, smiled at her.

“I will!” She replied.

Velena was falling through golden light, through centuries of pain and isolation. She saw the princess die in a border war; her body never recovered. The Vault stayed sealed beneath Heathermoor, locked away by casters who feared what they'd created. Velena saw generations of Dushanas try to honor the prophecy, only to be silenced by politics and war.

The Vault…no, Aria waited alone in the dark for heroes who never came.

She now understood everything.

Velena closed her eyes.

The golden light tightened around her, coiling like a serpent. She was somewhere else now entirely.

Aria's voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"You think understanding me is enough to save me?!" the voice yelled. "The princess understood. She still failed. What makes you different?!"

The light pressed in, suffocating her, and Velena felt her own memories being pulled to the surface. Every failure she made flashed through her head, making her heart ache.

"You're just like her! You promised to save me, but you'll fail! Just like everyone else..." Aria’s voice faltered.

Velena staggered, clutching her head. The golden light was showing her things.

The Queen's cold eyes, the bridge where she'd watched Orev leave, the fourteen years of searching that had led to nothing.

"You're nothing," the Queen's voice echoed. "You're not even my real daughter."

"Stop!" Velena whispered. "Please- stop!"

A small girl sat curled up like a ball in all of that light, in a fetal position. She simply stared silently at Velena as she clutched her head in her hands. She looked like she was in pain.

“So you really did come here after all, Professor…”

“I…I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything to help you, Aria.”

The girl tilted her head. “You couldn’t do anything. You weren’t even alive during that time period. Yet why do you apologize?”

Velena's throat was tight. The words came out before she could stop them. "Because someone should. And no one did. I’m sorry…"

Aria stared at her for a while with no reply. Then, very slowly, she uncurled from her ball. Her thin arms wrapped around her knees. Her face was tinged with a slight red from crying.

"My professor said the same thing," she said quietly. "The one who led the ritual. He told me he was sorry too…Right before he killed me."

Velena's chest ached. "That's not the same."

"Isn't it?" Aria chuckled to herself. "That woman apologized to me and even promised me that she would save me, but it never happened…"

She looked at Velena, tears streaming down her face.

"So tell me, Professor- why should your apology mean anything more than theirs?!"

Velena opened her mouth, but she didn't have an answer. The golden light pressed in around her, warm and heavy. She was like she was drowning in sunlight. She could feel Aria's loneliness like it was her own. It was unbearable as she sank deeper into her own despair.

After a few seconds, Velena realized that she couldn't breathe or even think coherently. She lashed at her own throat; it felt like someone was choking her. She was being pulled under by Aria’s own darkness, swallowed by the weight of someone else's grief, and she didn't know if she could find her way back.

“Velena!”

The voice was too distant. Akin to a bell ringing underwater.

“You idiot! Where the hell are you?!”

She tried to answer. Her voice wouldn't come out. The light was going to swallow her whole, like how it took her sight years ago.

“Velena, please. I need you to hear me!”

…Krähe?

His voice cut through the silence like a blade. She reached for it, grasping at the sound, trying to pull herself toward it. But the light was too bright…Aria’s grief was too deep for her to escape.

Just like the girl who was chained to an altar, Velena too had been carrying her own guilt for so long that she didn't know how to escape it either. Aria reminded her too much of herself.

“After giving it much thought, I honestly still don't remember anything,” his voice said. “I don't remember who I used to be but…I do remember you…”

The light wavered.

“I remember the way you fought. The way you talked with me. Your stubbornness to never back down, even when you should. I even remember the way your hand felt in mine in the corridor, when I was dying…and you wouldn't let go…”

Velena's chest ached again. She was crying. She hadn't realized she was crying.

“I honestly don't know if I'm Orev- I don't know if I'll ever remember being him! But I know that you've been searching for fourteen years…You tried everything you could, and I know you're scared… so stop trying to be a hero by yourself! You don't have to do this alone!”

She felt the warmth of numerous people’s hands touch her back, making her float above the blinding light. She looked down at the blurry dots she could not recognize… but she could recognize their voices.

“Come back home!” Maya yelled.

“You better not die here, Professor!” Her students said in unison.

“Can you hear your students, Professor Ashworth?! You cannot embarrass the history of Heathermoor University if you lose here!” Aldridge replied, as Frederick nodded in agreement. Siegfried hissed as he slid out of Frederick’s pocket. They guarded the conduit using a magic barrier.

With their own hands, they pushed her back forward.

Then another hand closed around her.

It pulled her forward. His hand was trembling, but it found her again.

Velena's head turned. Krähe was standing in front of her. His mask and facade completely gone, his face stricken with tears as he pulled her towards him. His dark blue eyes were fixed on Aria.

The girl’s expression flickered. Aria tilted her head, studying him. "Ahh I see…so you’ve come after all…"

“Why did you-“ Velena interrupted.

“I told you!” He squeezed Velena's hand. "I’ve come to do the saving this time! If I didn’t, the conduit would’ve exploded!”

“You didn’t have to-”

He flicked her head. “Save your excuses for later! You almost died!”

Aria stared at them. "I see now…Orev, you finally made it…"

"So I've been told, as per some prophecy that masked whacko told me earlier." Krähe pulled Velena closer, his arm coming around her shoulders. "I heard everything. Just so you know, I’m not here to apologize, unlike the others. We're here to set you free, but we can't do that if you pull her under."

The golden light swirled around her, but when Aria spoke again, her voice was softer than before. She looked at Velena.

"I understand now. You really do look like the previous Dushana princess," Aria said. "I really waited four centuries…I started to think she would never fulfill her end of the promise."

"She wasn't wrong," Velena said. Her voice was hoarse as she held onto her throat. "We are the definite proof. We're both here to save you, Aria."

Aria's eyes filled with golden tears. They dripped down her thin cheeks and dissolved into light.

"Then prove it!" the girl yelled. "Prove that you're not just here for the Wish, then! Prove that you're here for me-"

Velena looked at Krähe. Krähe nodded in response as she let her hand go. Velena then ran forward into the golden light. She reached out for the girl in front of her before she could wallow in her own despair any further.

In the same manner Maya did to her when she was a child, the professor wrapped her arms around Aria's small frame, cradling her gently into a warm embrace.

"You…you were just lonely, weren’t you?" Velena said. "But it’s okay…We're here for you, not the Wish…or even for your power either…but for you…"

Aria stared at her in shock. Her hands stopped shaking, hesitant about whether or not to hug her back. She stiffened for a second, but came to accept her fate.

The girl wept as real warmth surrounded her.

“It’s time to come back home, Aria.” Velena smiled.

“Yes…I should…I need to go back…I need to-”

Aria wrapped her arms around the Dushana princess again for the first time in four centuries.

“Thank you…Velena Dushana…” Aria smiled back.

The small girl before her was fading into specks of light. She opened her mouth one last time before fading.

“Despite everything, I am glad that you could see the light beneath closed eyes.”

The light grew so bright that she could not see anything yet again, just like back in the forge fourteen years ago.

---

They were back in the cathedral.

The golden light receded, pulling them back into the sphere above the altar. Velena gasped, stumbling, as Krähe caught her arm. They were both still standing before the conduit, both of their hands still touching its surface.

The ancient staff hummed with a steady rhythm, its resonance pulsing through her palm like a second pulse, just like when she first got her cane.

It was tall, nearly as long as she was, carved from wood so dark it seemed to drink the golden light around them. The surface was worn to a soft sheen by hands long since turned to dust. Intricate runes spiraled up its length, their edges glowing faintly with the same cold blue as the temple torches, pulsing in time with the hum. At the top, a single crystal shard burned like a captured star.

The masked figure was still there. So were her students, professors, soldiers, and the factions. Everyone was staring at them.

"Impossible!" The masked figure was terrified. "What did you do to the Vault?! How did both of you claim the conduit?!"

Velena turned to face him. Her cane in her other hand was humming. For the first time in years, her key tone was no longer constrained. It was ringing, clear and true, in perfect harmony with Krähe. The cathedral’s bell rang above them in a continuous rhythm.

"We set her free," she said. “We want nothing to do with the Codex.”

The Vault pulsed as the golden light swelled around the staff, wrapping around Velena and Krähe like an embrace. The staff's magic began to expand outward, filling the ruined cathedral with warmth and light.

“If you have not taken the Wish, then I SHALL TAKE IT FOR MYSELF!” The masked figure yelled. He lunged toward them, his truncheons raised. But before it could reach them, the golden light flared, blinding the surrounding area.

The sound of resonance channels shifting came to a halt. The light shattered.

Two conduits dropped to the ground where the professor and vampire last stood. A cane and a rifle. They disappeared from their original positions.

Velena swept left, her staff carving an arc of silver through the air. Krähe swept right, the other half of the staff spinning in his hands, its golden runes flaring to life. The masked figure stood between them, trapped, his hollow eyes darting from one to the other. The staff split into two with its new power, just like his truncheons.

"You want the Wish?" Velena said. Her voice was calm. "Then you'll have to go through us first!"

"And I'm warning you," Krähe added, a grin spreading across his bloodied face, "Before this battle is over, we’ll have to let this entire lot see your face."

The staff's hum rose, matching the bell inside him. 

The cathedral bell above tolled once...

then twice.

A third time.

The masked figure screamed, and the battle for the Vault began.