The air in the crystal mines tasted like thunder about to fall.

Arlen followed Lysara through the jagged tunnels, each step echoing in small harmonies in the raw crystals that grew from the walls like flowers of ice. The light here was different—wilder, more vivid—casting dancing patterns that writhed on the floor like the shadows of unknown creatures.

“So you are the Chosen One,” Lysara said, her voice as clear as the crystals she was extracting.

She turned in one fluid motion, and Arlen finally saw her fully.

Goddess of Crystals was not a title; it was a statement.

Her black hair fell like an obony cascade to her waist, each strand seeming to contain stars within it. Her pale skin—so white it was almost translucent—was slightly flushed in the blue light of the stones, giving her an ethereal air. But it was her eyes that held the attention: two shooting stars trapped in a porcelain face, shining with sharp intelligence.

“You are impressive, though,” Arlen replied, feeling as awkward as a camel’s calf in a sandstorm.

Lysara laughed, the sound making the smaller crystals around her vibrate in high-pitched harmonies.

“You are not robust, but you seem clever,” she conceded, holding up a hand adorned with rings that seemed to be made of solidified light. “Come. I will show you why Aurion pulses.”

Descriptive Chronicle:

The Core Mines were not dug—they were cultivated.

Lysara led Arlen through chambers where tree-sized crystals grew in perfect spirals, their luminous veins pulsing in rhythm with the breathing of the city above. Auri workers moved among them reverently, their tools making precisely tuned sounds as they touched the crystalline surfaces.

— “Watch,” Lysara commanded.

She placed her bare hands over a rough crystal. For a moment, nothing. Then—

A song emerged from nowhere.

Not from Lysara’s vocal cords, but from the crystal itself, which responded to her touch with deep notes that echoed through her bones. The stone began to crack in perfect geometric patterns, revealing a core of pure blue light.

— “They choose us as much as we choose them,” she explained, stroking the exposed surface as if petting a precious animal. “One day, perhaps, one will sing for you, too.”

Key Dialogue:

Arlen reached out, but hesitated before touching.

— “What if… I ruin it?”

Lysara captured her wrist with surprising gentleness for someone with such strength.

— "All that lives can break, Arlen Sharim. Even stars die." She guided his hand to the crystal. "But as long as there is light, there is repair." The instant his skin touched the surface, a vision struck him: — The Core of Aurion cracking like glass — Screams echoing through abandoned corridors — Lysara weeping over blackened fragments — He wrenched his hand away with a muffled scream. — "What was that?!" Lysara studied him with eyes that now seemed to contain all the sadness in the universe. — "The price of knowledge, Chosen One. Stones remember... and sometimes share." Final Scene - The First Vision: That night, the dream came like a black tide. Arlen found himself on a plain of ash, beneath a sky that bled dark red. The air smelled of burning metal and charred bones. Ahead, a shadowy figure held the Orb of Destiny—only now it was cracked, leaking a black substance that ate away at the ground where it fell.

“You don’t belong here,” the figure growled, and Arlen recognized the voice—it was his own, distorted by centuries of pain. “Aurion’s knowledge is a sentence, not a gift!”

He woke with the amulet burning against his chest, his scream echoing through the empty rooms.

Outside the window, the crystals of the city pulsed at an alarming rate, as if Aurion, too, were dreaming…

And having a nightmare.