Cont. In Mount Eryndor
10.09A.M.
9-7-2025
The morning was neither dark nor bright—an hour caught between breathing and silence. Pale light spilled through the mist, brushing the ruins with silver unease. Shadows clung to the stones as if afraid to vanish. It was a morning that felt alive, watching, waiting for something to awaken beneath its hush.
Kaelor stood at the foot of Mount Eryndor, gazing up in awe.
"Oh… it's enormous," he whispered, the peak lost in drifting clouds. Determined, he began his climb, exploring ridge after ridge, every step echoing against the hollow winds of the forgotten mountain.
Hours passed. By the time he had crossed half the slope, exhaustion pulled at his limbs. He finally sat against a rock, unwrapping what little food he had left. When he finished eating, a faint sound reached his ears — the soft, distant rush of falling water.
He lifted his head, listening closely.
"A waterfall?" he murmured.
Kaelor ran toward the sound, his heart pounding with anticipation. The closer he got, the stranger it felt — as if the air itself trembled with a quiet power.
Then he saw it.
The waterfall poured from high above, spilling down the mountain's towering face like a river of light. It gathered strength across hidden ledges before bursting free in a thunderous cascade, scattering mist that shimmered like drifting stars. Each drop carried the chill of ancient heights and the whisper of forgotten skies.
Kaelor stood frozen, awestruck, unable to look away.
Kaelor searched every corner of the area — behind rocks, through the mist, even along the slippery ledges — but found nothing. An hour passed, and frustration began to settle over him like a shadow.
Wiping the water stains from his jacket, he pulled out the old book once more and unfolded the letter. His eyes caught a line he had overlooked before:
"What of the water that flows upward?"
He frowned, whispering to himself, "Water that flows… upward? How's that even possible?"
For a moment, silence answered him. Then realization flickered in his eyes.
"Flowing upward doesn't mean against gravity," he murmured. "It means… the source of the waterfall."
Kaelor tightened his grip and began climbing beside the roaring waterfall, each step a battle against the slick stone and relentless spray. The cold water lashed his face, but he pressed on, following the stream upward toward its source.
After what felt like hours, he finally reached the top — 3,029 feet above the mountain's base. There, hidden behind the curtain of cascading light, he found a narrow passage where the water emerged.
A dark cave yawned before him, its entrance breathing out a faint, icy mist.
Kaelor took a deep breath. "So… this is where it begins," he whispered, and stepped inside.
Kaelor switched on his torch, the narrow beam slicing through the darkness. He kept moving forward, step by step, deeper and deeper into the mountain. The air grew colder, heavier — it felt as though the cave itself was swallowing the light, devouring it until only shadows remained.
Minutes stretched into eternity. After nearly fifteen minutes of walking, the tunnel suddenly widened. Kaelor froze, his eyes widening in disbelief.
Before him lay a vast underground lake, its surface still and black as glass. He lifted his torch higher — and gasped. Along the shore stood the crumbling remnants of an ancient civilization: stone pillars half-buried in time, walls engraved with forgotten symbols.
At the far end of the cavern, where the path met the water, two massive statues stood side by side, guarding a colossal door carved into the mountain's heart.
The door loomed before him — enormous, carved from ancient stone and veined with faint, glowing lines that pulsed like the heartbeat of the mountain itself. Every inch of it breathed the essence of the lost civilization, their symbols etched in spirals of forgotten meaning.
The path beyond the statues descended into an even deeper darkness, a place where the torchlight seemed afraid to reach — as if the mountain itself guarded its final secret.
Gathering his courage, Kaelor pushed open the massive stone door. It groaned like a creature waking from centuries of sleep. He stepped through, raising his torch to pierce the heavy darkness.
What the light revealed stole his breath — vast chambers filled with unparalleled craftsmanship, intricate carvings, and metallic structures unlike anything known to modern hands. The place pulsed with a silent history, the last masterpiece left behind by the forgotten civilization.
As he walked deeper, a staircase emerged, spiraling downward into the earth. Kaelor froze midway — his torchlight caught something etched along the wall. His eyes widened.
The letters… were the same as those in the book written by his great-grandfather.
He stepped closer, brushing the dust from the carved wall. The symbols shimmered faintly as if awakened by his touch. Kaelor leaned in, his voice barely above a whisper.
He tried to read the inscription. Slowly, the words began to form in his mind — familiar, yet impossibly ancient.
"To the one who bears my name and blood… if you stand here, it means the cycle begins anew."
Kaelor's pulse quickened. His torchlight flickered, shadows dancing across the walls.
"Follow the path of the light that bends," the message continued, "for it shall guide you where time itself was torn."
There more...
"Life draws its lines in sand, brief and fragile—yet the universe stretches beyond sight, a canvas with no edge, where even endings are only pauses in infinity."
"Life limits our time, not our reach. Through knowledge, we touch eternity."
"A Frog in a well knows nothing of the vast ocean!"
"Our time is limited, but the knowledge is endless"
Many more inscriptions sprawled across the walls—some half-erased by time, others glowing faintly with an otherworldly hue. Kaelor skimmed through a few of them, each word echoing like a fragment of forgotten truth.
Driven by a silent pull, he continued down the stone stairway that twisted deep into the earth. The air grew colder, heavier, as if the mountain itself was holding its breath.
At the end of the descent, Kaelor stepped into a vast chamber cloaked in silence. The once-grand structures that filled it now lay in ruins—pillars broken, arches collapsed, and carvings worn to ghosts of their former glory. It was a place that had outlived its civilization, a graveyard of knowledge and dreams.
As he gazed upon the ruined civilization, shock gripped him—countless questions stirred within his mind. But he reminded himself of the purpose he came here for. Driven by curiosity and purpose, he began his search among the ruins.
Kaelor wandered through the ruins for what felt like hours, searching every corner, every shattered relic, yet nothing revealed itself. The weight of failure pressed on his chest. Frustration clouded his mind until, exhausted, he sank beside a fallen pillar to rest.
As the silence deepened around him, a single thought echoed in his head—
"If I'm in the end, then where is the beginning?"
The words stirred something inside him, like a key turning in a lock he didn't know existed.
The phrase pulsed in his mind, refusing to fade. The end... the beginning...
He ran toward the far end of the vast cave, his footsteps echoing through the hollow dark. At the very end, half-swallowed by shadow and time, he found a ruined structure — its walls fractured, its edges softened by centuries of silence. The air around it felt different, heavier, as if the place itself was holding its breath, waiting for him to arrive.
There, half-buried beneath rubble and time, something caught his eye — a faint glimmer of wood among the dust. He hurried forward and knelt beside it. It was a box, ancient and cracked, yet preserved as if guarded by the very air around it.
Kaelor brushed off the dirt with trembling hands and slowly lifted the lid. Inside lay two books — one bound in worn leather, the other in brittle parchment that seemed older than history itself. Between them rested a folded letter, sealed with faded wax.
"The first book… and the second seems very old," he murmured, eyes wide. "But this letter—why is it here?"
Curiosity overcame caution. He broke the seal and unfolded the letter, the scent of age and dust rising like a whisper from the past.
He unfolded the letter with trembling hands, curiosity flickering like a flame behind his eyes. The paper crackled faintly — its edges frayed, its ink faded, yet every word seemed alive, pulsing with intent.
"If you've come this far," the letter began,
"it means you are truly serious about your dream. That is why I never mentioned this in the earlier book — because this part is not guided by knowledge, but by will.
If your courage still holds, then follow it. The space hole you seek is on the verge of opening. Leap into it — but only for a moment — and think carefully before you decide. I once made the same choice, sacrificing everything in pursuit of truth. But remember, this path is yours alone.
Once you cross that threshold, there is no return. You will understand everything only after you stand before the portal. Until then, do not open the books."
As Kaelor finished reading, his pulse quickened. The words seemed to echo around him, heavy with warning—and promise.
Kaelor stared at the letter, his mind spinning. What would happen if I entered? Where would I end up?
How could his great-grandfather have known all this — known him?
Questions collided in his thoughts, each one louder than the last, until his heartbeat drowned them out.
He sat in silence, torn between fear and fascination. The weight of the choice pressed on him — the unknown ahead, the legacy behind. For a long moment, he couldn't decide, his thoughts tangled in uncertainty.
Then, his gaze drifted to the two remaining books resting inside the box. Their covers seemed to whisper to him, waiting to be opened. Slowly, Kaelor reached toward them, drawn once again by the hunger for truth that had carried him this far.
Kaelor barely managed to open the first book when the ground beneath him began to tremble. A deep, resonant hum filled the air, rising from the stone floor like the heartbeat of the mountain itself. He froze, eyes wide, as the trembling grew into a violent quake.
Before he could react, a thin line of light tore through the air in front of him — sharp and sudden, as if reality itself had been sliced open by an invisible blade. The tear widened, spilling out a blinding radiance that split the cavern in two. The air rippled and warped; space itself seemed to twist apart.
Kaelor stumbled backward, shielding his eyes. What did I do? he thought, but it was already too late — the portal had awakened.
Nothing came to Kaelor's mind—only a roaring silence that drowned out reason. He knew what the letter had warned: once he stepped through, there would be no return.
His heart wavered between two worlds — the life he knew, and the dream that had consumed generations of his bloodline. Faces of his loved ones flickered in his thoughts, fragile and fading against the brilliance of the portal's light. The choice clawed at him — to stay and live in uncertainty, or to leap and embrace the unknown.
Then, with a quiet exhale, he remembered everything — the sleepless nights, the failures, the relentless pursuit of truth. His lips curved into a faint, fearless smile.
"So… even fortune comes to those who deserve it," he murmured. "Let's go. If I die, I have no regret."
And with that, Kaelor stepped forward into the light.
With unshaken resolve, Kaelor stepped into the mysterious portal, unaware of what fate awaited him beyond. The light consumed everything — sound, sight, except time itself.
And in that single step, the journey to reach Eternity began.
The Child of Hope was slowly swallowed by the depths of space, his body fading into the glowing void. A flash of light burst once, then faded. The mysterious portal twisted in on itself and vanished, leaving behind only silence and still air.
The world spun around him — colors, lights, and shadows swirling together like a storm of dreams. Someone falling, weightless and endless, as if he were drifting between moments.
Then, everything went still.
He hit the ground with a dull thud. Dumm… tunnn.
Dust rose around him. His head ached, and his vision blurred.
"Ugh…" he groaned, trying to lift himself. His surroundings shimmered faintly, unfamiliar yet strangely calm.
A small sound broke the silence —
Meowww!
Kaelor blinked, half-awake, half-lost. With hazy eyes and a weak voice, he murmured,
"Hmm… where am I?"