Chapter 164: The Echo of the Ancestors
As the golden light of the Spire began to dim, the ice grew clear, revealing the woman trapped within. She didn't move, but her eyes—silver like the moon—seemed to track the Omega's every breath.
"She's not a prisoner," the Alpha said, his voice hushed as he climbed to the summit, his armor still dusted with the remains of the Frost-Lurkers. "She's the source. She was the original Seal."
The Omega reached out, her fingers trembling as they touched the smooth, freezing surface of the Spire. "Who are you?"
Suddenly, the woman's voice didn't come from her lips, but directly into the Omega's mind. I am the Echo of what you once were, and the shadow of what you must become. My name has been forgotten by the wind, but my blood flows in you.
The woman was a Queen of the First Pack, a time before the High King's corruption began. She explained that the "Void" was not an external monster, but a part of their own power that had been misused centuries ago. To truly heal the world, the Omega wouldn't just need to sing; she would need to release the Ancestor from her icy tomb—a sacrifice that might cost the Omega her own connection to the Alpha.
"The resonance requires a balance," the Ancestor's voice whispered. "To free the land, you must let go of the bond that makes you whole. Are you ready to lead alone?"
The Alpha grabbed the Omega's hand, his grip firm. "No. We don't trade one soul for another. We find a third way, or we break the world together."
The Spire began to crack, not from the Void, but from the intensity of their defiance. A new choice was before them, and the history of the Northern Barrens was about to be rewritten.