Shadows spread around them, their presence erasing the boundaries between light and darkness, between existence and oblivion. The air no longer carried the familiar scent of the Garden—it smelled of emptiness, of the silence of those who had vanished into the depths of lost time.
Emiren, the Hollow One, and Flamen walked forward, though each step felt heavier. It was as if reality itself resisted their movement, trying to keep them within the known, refusing to let them enter the unknown. But they knew: there was no turning back.
Ahead, the horizon rose, distorted by waves of unstable time. In the distance, on the very edge of visibility, something shimmered—a structure resembling an ancient citadel surrounded by ruins. Its walls were translucent, shifting with every breath of wind, like memories that had not yet completely faded.
— “It’s there,” Emiren whispered, feeling a strange warmth awaken within him.
Their journey to the Heart of Eternity had begun.
The Road Through Vanished Times
Their path led through a place that had once, perhaps, been a garden. The trees no longer had form—only the shadows of trunks, the remnants of branches dissolving in the air like memories of what they once were. Each step changed the ground beneath them: it would become solid as stone, then shift into a sandy abyss threatening to swallow them.
— “Time here…” Flamen touched one of the trees. His fingers passed through it as if through a ghost. “These aren’t just ruins. These are memories of a world that no longer exists.”
— “And it wants to consume us,” the Hollow One added, staring into the darkness ahead.
Emiren felt something unseen watching them, hidden among the blurred horizons. These were not ordinary shadows—they were echoes of those who had once walked this path. The remnants of choices that had been made but never completed.
Suddenly, the wind changed direction, swirling in a spiral, as if warning them.
— “They don’t want us to go further,” Flamen whispered, sparks flickering in his fingers.
— “They can’t stop us,” Emiren replied. “Only we decide where we go.”
He took another step forward—and everything changed.
Before them appeared a corridor of shattered moments, a place where all lost decisions intertwined into a single tapestry. This was the path to the Heart, but also a test.
Crossing the Threshold
When they stepped inside, the world around them vanished. They stood in a place where there was no up or down, only an endless stream of images.
Here, Emiren saw himself as a child, touching the young Silver Tree.
Here, the Hollow One stood on the ruins of a world he could not save.
Here, Flamen lit the first fire, which would bring either destruction or salvation.
— “These are our past choices,” Flamen said, his voice trembling. “We… we can’t stop here.”
But that was exactly what this place wanted. It forced them to watch, to doubt.
— “The Heart of Eternity is not just a point in space,” Emiren realized. “It’s an idea. It’s… a choice.”
His words rang out like a bell. And then the space around them began to change again.
Ahead, a passage opened. It led to a place glowing with silvery light, as if the very concept of time had taken shape.
They took their final step.
The Heart of Eternity
They were surrounded by infinite emptiness, in the center of which pulsed a crystalline sphere, filled with a constantly shifting light.
— “This is it,” the Hollow One whispered.
Emiren reached out and felt his mind expand. He saw all possible futures, all paths that had yet to be chosen.
— “We can change everything,” he said.
But at that moment, the darkness around them thickened. The shadows they had left behind had not disappeared. They had been waiting. And now they had come to claim what was theirs.
— “We are not the only ones who seek control over this place,” Flamen said, the fire in his hands blazing brighter.
— “They won’t let us change the world,” the Hollow One added.
Emiren looked at the Heart of Eternity. He knew that at this moment, they stood before the most important choice of all.
They could preserve the past as it was.
Or dare to rewrite the fate of Eternity.
The shadows were closing in.
And the choice had to be made.