THE CURSE OF ALTVALL : CHAPTER 11 – 20
THE CURSE OF ALTVALL : CHAPTER 11 – 20
The Ashes of Hope 2
By morning, the ruins of the camp burned like a warning to the people of Altvall.
Surganah dragged the bodies of Kael and Reina into the village square, nailed them to the wooden altar, and left them there for three days. No one dared to take them down.
The people were silenced.
Their hope was ash.
Their rebellion, crushed.
Mothers wept.
Fathers fell into silence.
Children looked up at the sky, wondering if the moon would ever be white again.
At the market, a silence hung over every transaction.
At the temple, the flames no longer burned.
Even the wind seemed afraid to blow.
It felt like the gods themselves had turned away.
Until a woman named Aura stood up.
She was old. Wrinkled. Blind in one eye. But her voice was strong as she walked into the square, dragging a bell behind her.
She rang it once.
The sound echoed across the village like a heartbeat.
Then again.
And again.
People came out of their homes, drawn by the sound, confused.
Aura stood by the altar with the dead rebels above her and cried out, “We weep! Yes, we weep! But we do not surrender!”
No one moved.
“They died for our freedom!” she shouted. “They fought for our children! For our homes! For the right to live without fear! Shall we let their blood go to waste?”
Still silence.
She pointed to the sky. “Surganah may be strong, but he is not a god!
He fears. He bleeds. And he will fall—but not unless we ask for help beyond ourselves.”
Someone in the crowd whispered, “From who?”
Aura raised her arms. “From the Superior One. The Being beyond beings. The one who watched this world long before Surganah cursed it. Let us speak to Him!”
Some scoffed.
Some wept.
But one by one, the people knelt.
Even the blacksmith. The baker. The village elder. Children. Hunters. Mothers with empty arms. They all fell to their knees beneath the broken sky.
They lifted their hands in silence.
Then they began to chant.
“Superior One… hear us. Superior One… help us. Superior One… send us a savior.”
The wind shifted.
The torches that had gone cold sparked.
The temple flames rekindled.
And far, far beyond the Island of Altvall, something ancient stirred in the void.
A howling spirit echoed across the sky.
Deep in the northern stars, Alpha Gaige opened his eyes.
THE CURSE OF ALTVALL : CHAPTER 11 – 20
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