The Blood of Vampire: Chapter 26 - Echoes of the Progenitor
With the Chalice of Silent Light fused to his chest and the Gem of Frozen Tears to his hand, Jatex's consciousness was momentarily overwhelmed by the Echoes of the Progenitor—the fragmented history of the first Vaelanar, the Luminary of the Thirst.
He saw the Luminary, a noble human, willingly taking a sliver of The Sleeper's chaos to end a brutal continental war. He saw the Luminary realize his mistake: the Thirst was not power; it was a curse that demanded ever-increasing spiritual consumption.
The Echoes revealed the Luminary's final, horrifying act: to prevent his own final, chaotic Siphon from destroying the world, he fragmented his own spirit into three pieces—pieces that would later become the Wards.
Stillness (The Gem): The Luminary's denial of his own emotional chaos.
Truth (The Chalice): The Luminary's final, brutal admission of his failure.
Law (The Scepter): The Luminary's final spiritual command that the Vaelanar Law must exist to contain his legacy.
The Echo concluded with a terrifying prophecy: The Sleeper does not hunger for life. It hungers for Balance. The Thirst is merely the cosmic attempt to restore the balance that the Luminary broke.
Jatex now understood his role: he was the ultimate Aethyr-Wound, the perfect chaotic entity. If he collected the final fragment—the Law—he would complete the Progenitor's full spiritual architecture, becoming the new, complete Luminary.
This act would either end the curse forever, or finally unleash the chaotic imbalance of The Sleeper upon the world.
Jatex opened his eyes. He no longer felt the crushing Stillness, but the chilling Clarity of Truth. He saw Kael's pursuit, Hendry's trap, and Ryn's absolute Loyalty as geometric constants in his path. The final Ward was needed.