The wind howled through the forest as Elric stumbled away from the Tree of Echoes, sweat clinging to his skin despite the chill. The vision still throbbed behind his eyes—the battlefield, the gold in his gaze, the blood that wasn't his but felt like it.
By the time he returned to the clinic, dawn was smearing the sky in pale pinks and bruised purples. Lira met him at the door, arms crossed and worry etched deep into her brow.
"You were gone all night."
"I had to go back," Elric said, brushing past her. "Cai's condition—he's not sick. He's awakening."
Lira followed close behind. "Awakening into what?"
Elric didn't answer right away. He knelt beside Cai's bed, checking his pulse, his breathing. The boy was still fevered, but his expression had softened—like whatever he was seeing in his dreams was starting to make sense.
Finally, Elric stood and spoke, more to himself than to her.
"There's something buried in our blood. Not magic, not science. Something older. Something the council feared enough to cover up with superstition."
Lira stiffened. "You mean… the council knew?"
"They didn't just know," Elric said. "They created it."
---
Far across the kingdom, in a chamber hidden beneath the royal archives, Chancellor Morian stood before a sealed iron door. With a muttered phrase in a dead tongue, he opened it. Behind it, rows of glass vials lined the walls—each one glowing faintly with reddish light.
Each one labeled with a name.
"Subject #14 — Cai"
"Subject #7 — Selene"
"Subject #1 — Elric"
Morian's gaze lingered on that last one.
"Should've burned this place years ago," muttered a voice behind him.
Lady Virella entered, her face pale in the lamplight.
"Too late for regrets," Morian said. "They're waking up. All of them."
---
Back at the clinic, Cai began to stir. His eyes opened, not clouded or frightened this time—but sharp. A golden shimmer danced in his pupils for a heartbeat before fading.
"Elric," he said calmly. "They're watching us."
"Who?" Elric asked, heart pounding.
"The ones in the stone palace. The ones who wear masks made of light. I saw them when I touched the Tree. I heard their voices."
"What did they say?"
"That the pact was broken. That blood has remembered itself. That you are the key."
Elric exchanged a glance with Lira. She looked scared, but not of Cai—of what he was saying.
Elric sat down slowly beside him. "What else do you remember?"
Cai hesitated. Then he whispered, "A name. One they used when they talked about you."
Elric leaned in.
"They called you Heir of the Forgotten Root."
---
That night, Elric stood alone in his study. He'd lit no lanterns. Only moonlight filtered through the window, casting long shadows across the maps and scrolls scattered across his desk.
He unrolled the parchment Selene had given him. Hidden beneath layers of ink and alchemical seals was a symbol: a serpent biting its own tail, encircling a tree made of veins.
At the bottom, written in a language he somehow now understood, were four words:
{"Pactum Sanguinis. Aperire Memoriae"}.
The Blood Pact. Unlock the Memory.
Elric clenched his jaw.
This wasn't just about healing anymore.
It was about truth.
It was about war.
And he was already at the center of it.
---