Part 2: The Forgotten Heir's Blade : Into the Shadowed Woods
They rode at dawn under bruised skies.
Ewan clutched the Blade of Eldoria across his saddle.
Its weight felt right.
Too right.
Garrick led the small party.
His armor now dusted with road grime.
Lady Seraphina rode beside him.
Her eyes kept drifting to the boy.
The misty forest swallowed the path.
Ancient trees leaned like watchers.
Roots twisted like veins of the earth.
Ewan's locket pulsed in rhythm with the blade.
Visions came stronger now.
A woman with his eyes.
A crown of thorns.
A knife in Garrick's hand.
"Why did it choose me?" Ewan asked the wind.
Garrick didn't answer.
But his knuckles whitened on the reins.
They reached the ruined temple by midday.
Stone overgrown with glowing moss.
Inside, carvings showed a lost royal line.
A face that looked like Ewan's.
Seraphina traced the runes.
"Blood calls to blood," she murmured.
Her voice too smooth.
Too knowing.
A shadow moved in the deeper chambers.
Not beast.
Not man.
Something wearing Garrick's old cloak from years ago.
Ewan drew the blade.
Blue light cut the gloom.
The shadow lunged.
Steel clashed with shadow claws.
Sparks flew like dying stars.
Garrick fought beside him.
Reluctantly.
His hidden dagger flashed once.
Aimed at Ewan's back.
Seraphina stopped it with a word of power.
Her eyes met the lord's.
Accusation.
Understanding.
The creature dissolved into smoke.
Leaving behind a sealed letter.
Wax stamped with Garrick's own ring.
Ewan picked it up.
His hands shook.
"This is your seal."
Garrick's face drained of color.
The fracture was complete.
No more stoic mask.
Only raw calculation.
"The king had to die," he said quietly.
"But you... you were never supposed to survive the village raid."
Seraphina stepped between them.
Her robes swirling with latent magic.
She knew the full curse.
She had helped weave part of it.
The blade hummed louder.
Demanding truth.
Demanding blood.
Ewan looked at the man who raised the knife years ago.
The man who burned his home.
The man who now rode with him as protector.
"My father... the king?"
The woods answered with silence.
Then a new howl rose.
Deeper.
Closer.
The true ancient evil stirred.
Awakened by royal blood at last.
They had only one choice.
May you like
Ride deeper.
Or die here with the lies.
