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Chapter 13: Echoes of a Wild Legacy
The forest air was crisp, cicadas humming in the distant canopy as stars shimmered high above. A campfire crackled between Oliver, Lyra, Liam, Vaeleth, and the twin wolves Tala and Shura, now snuggled and sleepy in their fur blankets.
Vaeleth leaned back on a tree stump, arms crossed behind her head, golden eyes gazing into the flames.
Lyra poked the fire with a stick while Oliver sat attentively, hands in his lap.
> "Vaeleth," Lyra asked, "How did you and dad meet?"
Vaeleth grinned like a predator remembering its first chase.
> "He stumbled into my pack's territory. Scrawny, nervous. Smelled like city rain and sweat."
Liam groaned. "Thanks."
> "We nearly ran him off," Vaeleth continued, smirking. "But he passed the Elder's trial. Carried an injured pup down a steep cliff… without complaining once."
Oliver's eyes widened. "You lived in a wolf pack?"
> "Still do," Vaeleth said proudly. "But back then, I was just the caretaker for the pups. Liam? He was our outsider. But he had courage... and he listened. That made him one of us."
Lyra looked over at her father. "You never told us that."
Liam chuckled. "I try not to brag."
> "He should brag," Vaeleth said. "Because after that, he didn't just stay. He became a Traveler. An adventurer. He led our crew across three nations—fought raiders, helped rebuild villages, and eventually… he challenged Guardian Lords."
Lyra blinked. "Wait—the Guardian Lords? Azriel and Fulgora?"
[Oliver thinking. 'Guardian lords? Azriel and Fulgora?, What are they? Rulers or gods?']
Vaeleth sat up straighter, her voice deepening with reverence.
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🌬️ Duel with Azriel – The Wind Lord of Averavahn
> "It was in the Skyborne Nation, Averavahn," she said. "We arrived in Zephyrinth—shining towers, glowing bridges, wind so strong you could hear it sing. Then we saw him…"
> "Azriel," Liam muttered. "The Wind Deity."
> "Beautiful," Vaeleth said bluntly. "Dark hair with shimmering streaks, golden robes, skin like light. We thought he was a princess."
> "Until he said, 'I'm not a girl,'" Liam added. "He corrected us so casually while floating six feet above the ground."
> "So naturally…" Vaeleth grinned. "Liam challenged him to a duel."
> "You what?" Lyra gasped.
> "I didn't know he was a celestial being at the time!" Liam protested.
Vaeleth laughed, her fangs showing.
> "Azriel didn't even blink. He accepted. Liam tried twenty times to hit him with a sword. Azriel didn't move once. He redirected every blow with a wave of wind—without even touching the ground."
> "Then he blew me back with a single breeze," Liam admitted. "Didn't even hurt. Just… humbled me."
> "But Azriel was impressed," Vaeleth said. "He gifted us contracts: protection spells, energy storage, fruit-summoning, even universal sensing."
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⚡ Challenge to Fulgora – The Spark of Progress
> "Then came Fulgora," Vaeleth said, eyes narrowing. "In the cyber-city of Fulgora Prime. Neon skies. Electric rivers. The City of Advancement."
> "She was terrifying," Liam muttered.
> "Gorgeous," Vaeleth corrected. "Tall, violet hair, glowing fingertips, always smiling like she knew every secret."
> "And Liam challenged her, too?"
> "Naturally," Vaeleth grinned.
> "I wasn't trying to win!" Liam clarified. "I just wanted to see how strong a Guardian Lord really was."
> "She lit him up like a festival lantern," Vaeleth said with a snort. "Zapped him with red lightning again and again."
> "It hurt," Liam admitted.
> "But he endured. And because he did, Fulgora gave him another set of contracts. Efficiency upgrades. Mental clarity boosts. Tech-crafting. The works."
---
🔥 Reflections by Firelight
Oliver looked at his father, mouth slightly open.
> "You really… stood against gods?"
Liam smiled, eyes distant.
> "Not to win. Just to learn. And… to prove I wasn't afraid of what I didn't understand."
> "It's not about winning," Vaeleth said. "It's about stepping forward when others freeze. That's the heart of a Traveler."
Lyra sat back in awe.
> "I wanna challenge a Guardian someday."
> "Get good at climbing trees first," Liam teased.
Tala and Shura stirred in their sleep, one of them mumbling, "Lightning goats…"
Vaeleth leaned toward Oliver, her tone softer now.
> "You've got it too, you know. That Traveler instinct. You'll feel it… when the moment comes."
Oliver stayed quiet, but deep down, he wondered:
What kind of Guardian would he face one day?
And what kind of contract would he earn?
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The 13 months
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Chapter 13: Whispers of the Zodiac
The campfire had long since dimmed, its embers fading like sleepy stars under the forest sky. Oliver lay beneath the rustling canopy, curled in his warm cloak, Lyra already snoring softly beside him with one hand still gripping a flower she'd crafted earlier.
The chirps of nocturnal bugs and the distant croaks of frogs surrounded him like a blanket of wild nature. It was peaceful—eerily peaceful compared to the sharp city lights and noise of his Earth life.
> "Strange how I used to fall asleep to the hum of traffic and glowing screens."
He stared up at the night sky, where Eloria's twin moons hovered side by side. His small hands, now childlike but powered with a sharp adult mind, curled near his chest.
> "Life here... is different."
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🌌 The Weight He Left Behind
Oliver thought about everything he didn't miss:
The unrelenting job market.
Scrolling through dozens of resumes and getting no reply.
Rent that ate half his soul.
The quiet panic that came with unpaid bills.
That creeping thought—is this it? Is this all life has to offer?
He felt a pang of guilt for feeling relieved to leave Earth behind, but he wasn't going to pretend he missed it.
> "At least here, I don't feel useless. I'm not just surviving anymore. I'm becoming."
Still, he knew this world wasn't a fairy tale.
It had monsters. Storms. Ancient gods. Political unrest.
And yet... somehow, it fit.
> "The future's unpredictable," Oliver whispered to himself.
And with that final musing, his eyelids began to droop.
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🌠 The Black Tortoise Appears
Just before sleep fully took him, a glowing pulse shimmered through the woods—a soft blue-white aura, calming yet colossal in weight. It was neither a dream nor a hallucination.
The air around him slowed, as if time bent itself to welcome a god.
From the shadows emerged the Black Tortoise, his massive shell glinting like obsidian glass, with streams of celestial stardust flowing down his limbs and tail like waterfalls of light.
> "Oliver," the deep, resonant voice echoed in his soul. "It has been... a year."
Oliver blinked, suddenly more awake than ever. "Black Tortoise...? You look... brighter."
> "Time does not pass equally for all beings," said the Tortoise with a gentle smile. "But for you, yes. You've walked the wheel for twelve full moons in Eloria."
> "So… when I came here, it was summer—June, right?"
> "Correct," rumbled the Tortoise. "On Earth, you were born in February. Here, your birth—rebirth—was in Solenuis, the 6th Elorian month. Your body follows Eloria's rhythms now."
Oliver nodded, trying to make sense of it.
> "Eloria has thirteen months," continued the Tortoise. "And the thirteenth is Undecimber. Rare, sacred, unpredictable. The time when anomalies are born."
> "Like Lyra," Oliver whispered. "She was born in Undecimber, wasn't she?"
> "The 17th day," the Tortoise confirmed. "Under the sign of Ophiuchus. The Serpent Bearer. The one between worlds. She is unlike any other."
Oliver's breath caught in his throat.
> "And me?"
> "You remain under Gemini—the Twin. Born of duality. One soul, two paths. Earth and Eloria. Past and future."
> "...That fits," Oliver said, laying back again. "I feel like two people in one skin."
The Tortoise stared quietly, timeless and immense. The stars above his shell twinkled in constellations only ancient spirits would know.
> "You will have choices, Oliver. And some will cost dearly. But you are not alone. Your path was chosen, yes—but not forced. Remember that."
> "Why me?" Oliver finally asked. "Why give me a second chance?"
There was a long silence. Then the Tortoise said softly:
> "Because long ago, a man named Liam made a simple, heartfelt wish: 'Let me have another child—one more.'"
"I did not answer then. But when you arrived... I remembered. You were not meant to fall here by accident. You were the answer."
Oliver's chest tightened.
> "So… I'm Liam's son, in a way?"
> "Not by blood. But by bond. And that can be just as powerful."
---
✨ Return to Sleep
As the vision faded, and the light dimmed with the distant whisper of cosmic wind, Oliver felt warm. Confused. But warm.
He turned to his side, watching Lyra dream with her mouth open and flowers in her hair.
> "Not blood… but bond."
His eyes drifted shut, and for the first time in many nights, Oliver didn't dream of Earth. He dreamed of stars. Of a shell glowing in the cosmos. Of choice.
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💐Scene:
In the morning day, Lyra was using her Vita to convert to water and water all the plants within the garden, her red haired blowing across the wind as she wore that big gardening hat, Martha was holding up laundry clipping watching her daughter that resemblance her garden.
🪴🌱🌿☘️