Echo of Past [EN]

Even though Kael had sensed that something was hidden behind the wall,he couldn't help but flinchwhen the bricks of the dead-end began to dance.They slid against each other,rearranging in a muted murmur,vertically,horizontally —until they revealed a vast chamber bathed in a blinding light.

Adam, mouth agape,raised his arms as if to grasp the moment."Do you… do you see this?! You see it too, right?!"he exclaimed, excited like a kid discovering his Christmas presents."I'm not dreaming, right? Tell me I'm not dreaming!"

Kael remained silent for a moment,absorbed by the light.He frowned.Beneath his feet, the vibrating slab seemed to be drawing something from him,not violently,but with a slow insistence,almost… respectful.He felt his Magia stir.A thread of energy escaped,too subtle to be seen,but undeniably real.

He grunted."That's enough."With effort,he blocked the flow,closing his internal circuits,like shutting a door on a cold wind.A faint cracking sound echoed beneath the stone.Like a disappointed sigh.Then silence.

Kael stepped back,slightly dizzy."What was that thing…"But Adam was already calling from the chamber,his tone excited,his eyes sparkling.

"Kael, you have to see this! It's… it's insane, man!"Despite his fatigueand the dizziness left by the Magia drain,Kael forced his legs forward.He knew Adam…and his legendary clumsiness.

He found him at the center of the room,bent over a pile of ornate boxes,ivory cups,and fragments of rusted blades.The setting seemed straight out of an ancient tale:everything gleamed with a supernatural radiance,as if time itself had frozen to preserve this treasure.But Kael only saw danger.

His pupils,glowing with a faint crimson light,already caught what the human eye could not:lines of energy crossing the floor,pressure nodes barely visible,relay points engraved under the dust.

He paled."You idiot! Get out of there right now if you want to go home alive!"he thundered.Adam jumped.That tone —that anger —he had heard only two or three times in his life.And every time, it was justified.

But this time,he didn't back down."What's your problem?!Were you sleepwalking while I was doing the inventory?!Do you think you're the only one who can think?!"he snapped, frustrated,his voice trembling.

Kael said nothing.He was watching the slabs."You didn't even see the heart-shaped chest over there!"Adam continued,taking a few steps forward.

And there,in a poorly contained outburst of anger,he kicked over a tipped golden cup,inlaid with tarnished stones.The impact echoed strangely.A discreet click was heard,followed by a low rumble in the chamber's depths.

Kael closed his eyes."No…"A faint sound,almost insignificant.Then nothing.Just a silence too calm,frozen like the second before a storm.

Adam frowned,looking down at the overturned cup."What was that? I barely touched—"A metallic grinding cut him off.On the floor,a slab sank one centimeter under his left foot.

Kael leapt forward."DON'T MOVE!"But already, the walls rumbled.Vertical cracks,previously invisible,opened along the circular walls.A sharp hiss,like a serpent's breath,accompanied the slow emergence of metal spikes,bristling with black runes.

Then slabs slid down from the ceiling,forming a circle enclosing Adam with relentless slowness."This is a joke…"Adam stammered, frozen,eyes searching for an escape.

Kael reached the edge of the trap,breath ragged,eyes red with adrenaline.He tried to pull Adam back,but an invisible forcefield violently repelled his hand,as if the trap had recognized the "intruder"and refused to let him in.

"Shit… Adam!"The circle of slabs closed in.Adam, panting,placed a hand on the descending wall in front of him."Kael… I'm sorry. I messed up."

Kael stared at him,helpless,hands trembling.Then his gaze slid,towards the entrance,towards the activation slab…And an idea, dark and burning, took root.

Kael looked at Adam,trapped between the descending slabs,his ragged breath echoing in the confined space.The trap was too precise,too structured.It wouldn't stop.Not without intervention.

His eyes frantically scanned the chamber.Dozens of sacred objects,shining artifacts…but only one on the ground caught his attention:a half-broken spear,forged from a black material veined with gold.

Without hesitation,he grabbed it and ran to the mechanism.With a swift motion,he wedged it into the gap between two slabs,where the stone circle was still descending slowly.

A sinister screech was heard.The spear bent,but held firm.

"That won't hold long,"Kael growled.He stepped back,locking eyes with Adam —a mix of fear and confusion.

"What are you doing?""What I should have done from the start."

Kael turned his back on the chamberand dashed to the entrance.To the slab.The floor still vibrated,as if awaiting his return.

He positioned himself,palm open against the surface.This time,he did not resist.

Magia flowed immediately,faster than the first time.His arm trembled,his legs stiffened.The air seemed to vibrate around him.

And in his mind,a whisper."The little rascal recognized you."Thana's voice, soft and teasing."He always loved dark souls… but loyal ones."

The slab beneath Kael glowed a deep red,pulsing to the rhythm of its own breath.Through his palms,he felt his energy spread deep into the temple's core,like an underground riverhe could no longer contain.

Runic patterns, dormant for centuries, ignited on the walls,engraved lines not visible moments before.They formed a network,an organic control system —and Kael was now its heart.

He heard a brutal click behind him in the chamber.Then another.The spear, bent to the extreme,snapped with a metallic crack,tossed aside.

But the slabs had stopped descending.Kael opened his eyes.Something had responded to his offering.

He pointed reflexively —not at the mechanism,but at a specific point on the wall,where a rune had just brightened more intensely than the others.

He pointed it with his finger.It reacted.

The trap slowly retracted,like a tamed beast.The spikes sank into the walls,the slabs rose,freeing Adambut shaken,sweat-soaked.

"What… what did you just do?"he stammered,struggling to stand.