novelblue
Chapter 264: Echoes of the Past
Chapter 264: Echoes of the Past
The forge was silent, save for the crackling of the fire as the molten metal swirled within its belly. Seraphis stared at the two metal playing cards resting in her palm, the cool, smooth surface of the cards comforting against her skin. For weeks, they had remained almost lifeless, their power dormant, until now.
The cards glowed faintly in the dim light, their shimmer becoming more intense as if something inside them was awakening. Seraphis watched, captivated by the subtle changes, until she heard a soft, distant voice.
“I remember...” the first card whispered, its voice trembling with uncertainty.
Seraphis froze. Her breath caught in her throat. The voice of the card? She had always known they could communicate telepathically, but never in this way—this was a full-fledged conversation.
The second card responded, its voice filled with the echoes of lost time. “You remember too? But... our memories are so faint, so distant.”
“Who are we?” the first card asked, its voice trembling as if it too were searching for answers. “Why can’t we remember her name?”
The cards paused, as if lost in thought. Seraphis could feel the weight of their words settle in her chest. A strange sense of sorrow began to grow inside her. They had been forged by someone—someone important—but the memory of their maker was slipping through the cracks, lost to time.
The first card spoke again, its voice thick with longing. “We were made for a purpose, you know. We were not simply created for battle, but... for something greater. But who?”
The second card responded with quiet hesitation. “Yes, I... I remember the forge. The heat. The anvil. The hammer... There was a woman, standing over us, shaping us. Her hands were strong, but her heart was tender, like the flame she worked with. She had a power, a presence that was like nothing else.”
The first card stirred in Seraphis’s palm, as if trying to recall more, but it struggled. “Her power... it was tied to the forge, wasn’t it? It was something more than magic. It was a bond—something deeper. She gave us life.”
“Her eyes,” the second card added softly, as though trying to piece together a long-forgotten memory. “Her eyes were like the night sky, vast and endless, yet filled with light. But the name... it is slipping away, like water through my fingers.”
Seraphis's heart pounded in her chest as she clutched the cards tighter, feeling the weight of their confusion. "Who was she?" Seraphis whispered, almost to herself.
The cards seemed to turn within her hands, shimmering with an intensity that matched the weight of the question. They continued their soft conversation, as if speaking to one another across time.
“I feel... a connection to her,” the first card said, its voice tinged with both wonder and sadness. “But it’s incomplete. It’s like we were part of her, and she was part of us.”
The second card was quieter now, its voice almost a whisper. “We were bound to her... for a reason. But why? Why did she make us?”
The first card’s voice grew more intense, desperate almost. “I can feel it! We were made to protect her! We were meant to be by her side, to guard her. But she... she was taken from us, wasn’t she?”
There was a long pause, the crackling fire the only sound in the room as both cards fell silent.
Seraphis could feel the weight of their sorrow pressing against her, a strange mix of empathy and curiosity swirling within her. They knew their maker, or at least, they knew the feeling of being bound to someone important. But the details were lost. She could sense the grief in their voices, the yearning to remember.
“The last thing I remember,” the first card said after a long, heavy silence, “was her face. She was... she was smiling at us. She... she told us something, didn’t she?”
The second card seemed to strain, trying to reach for that last memory, but it faltered. “Yes, I... I think she did. She said... she said, ‘Guard my soul.’ Those words... they echo in my mind, like a song stuck in my head.”
Seraphis shivered, holding the cards even tighter as she processed their words. “Guard her soul...” she murmured. It felt like a powerful command, one filled with both purpose and loss.
The first card seemed to groan, as if straining against the memory, its voice crackling with energy. “But... something happened. Something went wrong. She... she was taken from us. We were left behind, alone, lost in the world without her.”
The second card’s voice faltered, its tone turning sadder. “She disappeared. But not in the way we expected. It wasn’t like death. It was as if she faded away into nothingness, leaving us here, waiting... waiting for something that never came.”
Seraphis’s fingers trembled as she clutched the cards in her hand, understanding blooming inside her chest. They were created to protect someone, to stand by their side, but something tragic had torn them apart. They had been left with only fragments of memories, their purpose broken.
“But why can’t you remember her name?” Seraphis asked softly, a deep ache in her voice.
The cards were quiet for a long moment before the first card spoke, its voice weary. “We can’t remember her name because... because it was lost. In the moment she faded away, her name, her very essence, was erased from our minds. It’s like trying to grasp smoke. Her identity... her name... it’s gone.”
The second card’s voice cracked, filled with regret. “We failed her. We couldn’t protect her. And because of that, we’ve forgotten her. All we have are echoes of the past, whispers of a time when we were whole, and she was with us.”
Seraphis felt a pang of sorrow in her chest. The cards, powerful and ancient as they were, had been left broken and incomplete. Their connection to their maker had been severed, and now all they had were fleeting memories and an empty void where her name once existed.
But Seraphis wasn’t about to let them suffer in silence. “Maybe I can help you remember,” she said softly, her voice filled with a quiet determination. “Maybe together, we can find a way to piece the puzzle together.”
The cards fell silent once more, as if contemplating her words. After a long pause, the first card finally spoke, its voice softer, more vulnerable. “You... you would help us? Even after all this time? Even though we failed?”
Seraphis nodded, her heart resolute. “I will help you remember. I will find the answers, even if it takes everything I have.”
The second card responded, its voice filled with a newfound hope. “Thank you, Seraphis. We’ve been lost for so long, and now, we might finally find the truth.”
The first card spoke again, its tone full of gratitude. “We don’t know if we can ever be whole again. But with you, perhaps... perhaps we can find our purpose once more.”
Seraphis closed her eyes, the weight of their words sinking deep into her heart. She didn’t know what the future held, or if she could truly help them recover the lost pieces of their past. But she was willing to try. For them. For their maker. For the truth that had been buried for so long.