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CHAPTER TWO: WHISPERS IN THE WALLS
> "The stars do not lie, but they do withhold. Until the moment truth breaks."
— Scroll of the Seers, Vol. IV
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1. Liora – The Oracle's Silence
Liora sat rigid in the High Chamber, her injured hands hidden beneath the folds of her ceremonial sleeves. The burn marks were still tender—coated in an herbal balm that smelled faintly of moonblossom and iron. The council of seers stood in a crescent around her, faces solemn, robes lined in starlight thread.
At the center stood High Oracle Maevira.
She was elegance carved into stone—her silver crown braided through with strands of real moonlight, her eyes sharp enough to cut truth from shadow.
"You disobeyed the curfew," Maevira said. "Again."
Liora lifted her chin. "I had a vision. A new one."
Maevira's jaw tightened. "Of him."
That word. As if the man in the vision was a disease. A sickness best not named.
"He knows my name," Liora whispered. "He saw me. He spoke to me."
Maevira's lips pressed into a thin line. The other oracles shifted uncomfortably. One of them—Edena, Liora's old mentor—placed a quiet hand on Maevira's arm.
"She's telling the truth," Edena said gently. "The Shadowborn is aware of her presence. The prophecy may already be in motion."
Maevira turned. "We sealed that gate a generation ago. We drowned his bloodline in the war. There are no survivors."
Liora stood. Her voice trembled, but she didn't shrink back. "Then explain the visions. Explain the blade. The bleeding stars. The fire in the rift. Explain the shadow that bears my name on his lips."
A long silence stretched through the chamber.
Then Maevira spoke.
"Prepare your things. You leave for Elaren Reach at dawn. The Oracle's Sanctuary. You'll be guarded. Watched. Hidden from anything that dares reach for you."
Liora's breath caught. "You're sending me away?"
"We're protecting you."
"No. You're burying me."
Maevira turned her back. "For your own safety, child. If he's real, he'll find you. And if he does—" her voice cracked, just once, "—we cannot lose another Starlight-Born."
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2. Kael – Ghost in the Temple
Kael moved like a shadow among pillars of moonstone and incense.
He'd never infiltrated a holy place before—not one like this. The Temple of Echoing Light was alive. Breathing. Watching. The architecture bent upward like open hands, soaked in ancient power and humming with quiet judgment.
He hated it.
But he was here. Deep inside enemy territory. Disguised as a trade envoy from the east. And no one had noticed—yet.
Except maybe… her.
He had felt her presence like a thread of heat in his chest ever since crossing the gate. The visions weren't just dreams now. They were pulls. Soft whispers behind his ear. Glances in mirrors. The sound of his name carried on temple wind.
She was here.
The girl.
The oracle.
He paused outside a chamber lit by blue crystal light, the echo of voices barely reaching him through the carved stone.
"…Prepare your things… Sanctuary…"
Kael froze.
Liora's voice. Her real voice.
He stepped back, heart suddenly pounding. He hadn't expected this. Not her voice, not her scent—like storm-washed roses. Not the way his body responded, alert and wrong, as if something inside him recognized her before his mind did.
He fled into the corridor, boots silent against the polished floor.
She was too close.
And for the first time in years, Kael wondered what it would be like—
not to kill the target,
but to know her.
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3. Liora – The Fire Beneath
That night, Liora couldn't sleep.
She sat alone in the garden that overlooked the mirror pool, fingers tracing the scar where the shadow-burn had left a line across her palm. The stars above were unnaturally still.
"Why are you haunting me?" she whispered to the night. "Who are you?"
The wind stirred the petals around her, and she felt something shift. A presence.
Like someone was standing just beyond the hedges.
She turned—but no one was there.
Just the rustling leaves. The silence of stars.
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4. Kael – Something She Said
Kael watched her from the rooftop.
His breath caught—not because she was beautiful, though she was, but because she looked… tired. Frightened. Alive.
She whispered something into the wind, and though he couldn't hear the words, he felt them like an ache in his ribs.
This wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to care.
He turned to leave.
But paused.
And whispered to the night, "What did they do to you?"
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5. Elsewhere – The Prophecy Stirs
In the burning halls of Varic's Fortress, a mirror cracked down the center.
Blood dripped onto an ancient scroll, and a low voice hissed through the flames.
"The bond is forming."
Far beyond, in the dead forest of Myrrh's Hollow, the blind witch Ithra shivered in her sleep.
And spoke aloud to no one, "It begins."
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Next Chapter Three