LE SACRE

CAPTIONBefore it was the Isle of the Sacre, no one came here for glory. The relics were kept here... and the silence.

CAPTIONKleindinar was no knight. He was only the keeper of the forgotten parchments. But he had one fatal flaw: he read everything.

CAPTIONThat night, seeking a simple treatise on cartography, he laid his hand on what should never have been woken.

BALLOON“These runes... they appear in no canonical register...”

CAPTIONThe tale of the Knight of Keys. The dispossessed son, the broken bloodline... and the original formula of the Amber Gate.

BALLOON“This is no legend... He is the first key of the seal.”

CAPTIONThat evening, in the darkness of the archives, the keeper chose to learn the formula in secret. Not knowing that the rancour of the past was waiting for its new vessel.

CAPTIONNight after night, in the secrecy of his cell, the keeper deciphered the forbidden symbols. Weeks became months. No one saw the flame consume the man.

BALLOON“The first line falls into place... The seal was not a lock, but a promise.”

CAPTIONThen came the hour when, for the first time, the sacred formula was spoken in a single breath.

BALLOON“By the blood of the broken bloodline... let the way of the first keeper be opened!”

SFXVRRRRR...

CAPTIONHe had no time to finish the last word. The world went out without a sound.

BALLOON“The archives... Where am I?”

BALLOON“Klein... Come to me... You alone can become the keeper of the gate...”

CAPTIONFrom the depths of the rock rose an ancient breath, slow as the tide of centuries.

CAPTIONAt the bottom of the damp pit, the keeper found neither glory nor fury. Only a giant worn out by millennia.

BALLOON“You... you are the first keeper. The exile of the throne.”

CAPTIONThe old god carried no hatred. Only the weight of a breath going out.

BALLOON“My hour has come, child of flesh... I bequeath you the gift of Héréclès and the strength of the elements. Take my place... and watch over the Amber Gate.”

CAPTIONIn the silence of the stone, the spell of the exchange of hearts was sealed.

SFXSHHHH-VROOOM

BALLOON“The power... it is running through my soul!”

CAPTIONThe serpent knew nothing of the poison sleeping in his heir's blood. A god's strength had just armed a man's rancour.

BALLOON“I feel everything... The earth... the seals... and their coming end.”

CAPTIONThey came in a crash of lightning and embers. Héréclès, Solkanaus and Lord Dragus. But the time of men had outrun the time of gods.

BALLOON“Stop the rite! By the sky of Terra, do not let the exile pass on his breath!”

CAPTIONThe old god's power, armed by a mortal's rancour, was already beyond understanding. A battle here would have broken the world.

BALLOON“Too late, blind keepers... The throne of the abyss is mine now!”

CAPTIONBefore the rock closed again, a mage of the Sacre cast the last spell: the Seal of the Replacement of the Heart. An imperfect breach... the only promise of his future death.

SFXKRRRSHHH-ZZZAP!

BALLOON“Let your immortality be broken! Let your accursed heart one day be torn out of you!”

CAPTIONShabakan vanished into the bowels of Terra. To hold back the inevitable, the gods and the guilds would forge the eternal watch: the institution of the Fourteen Seals. So was the Sacre born.

BALLOON“The Amber Gate will hold only if we bind together every pillar of this world... Let the oath begin.”

CAPTIONThe throne was cold, as if the stone refused to hold the warmth of a king worn down by grief. In the palace gloom, a son's absence weighed heavier than the crown.

CAPTIONRastacan... The noble prince carried off by the serpent's curse.

CAPTIONThe mage broke the silence with a measured step, carrying in his hands the echo of a forgotten secret.

BALLOON“My lord... We have found what we were seeking. The relic of the dawn.”

CAPTIONA glow of azure and crystal escaped the black wood. The Sword of Nerecleiss.

BALLOON“The curse can be broken. We can bring your son back to the light!”

BALLOON“Rastacan... My child...”

BALLOON“Summon the eight sacred warriors! Let the quest to deliver the Serpent King begin!”

CAPTIONSo opened the age of redemption... and the waking of the fourteen keepers of Terra.

CAPTIONAt the heart of the Temple of the Sacre, the twelve doors had opened. Fourteen guilds summoned to answer a king's death throes. But one chair remained empty.

BALLOON“Silence! Layseriuss and the Red Force have chosen the shadow. We shall choose the Eight without them.”

BALLOON“Why break the seals, Herald? Rastacan has slept for three centuries beneath the Amber Gate. To wake the prince is to free the serpent.”

BALLOON“The old king is losing his reason. His son is a man no longer... He is Shabakan's flesh!”

BALLOON“If the prince is corrupted, our blades will finish him! But we will not bend before fear!”

BALLOON“ENOUGH! The guilds have sworn allegiance. Let us move to the naming of the champions!”

SFXKRAAANG!

CAPTIONThe Winged Ones chose Kael. The Dead Sea offered Morvena. Jade and the Mountain named Aelith and Thordrim. Then came the turn of the Black Power.

BALLOON“To walk in Shabakan's darkness, you will need a monster. The Black Power sends Draven.”

CAPTIONEight souls bound by an oath of steel and blood... ready to march towards the abyss.

CAPTIONAt dawn, the royal palace breathed ash and agony. The Eight Sacred Warriors advanced towards the throne, carrying on their shoulders the faltering fate of Terra.

BALLOON“Come forward... This is no longer the hour for quarrels.”

CAPTIONEight ill-matched souls kneeling before a strengthless sovereign, united by a decree but divided by centuries of hatred.

BALLOON“A necromancer... Balrog has dared to send a master of shadows.”

BALLOON“Majesty, Draven has accepted the oath. If he betrays us, our blades will cut his life short on the spot.”

CAPTIONThe royal mage stepped forward, silver blade in fist. Blood ran over the casket, black and burning under the torchlight.

BALLOON“I swear to recover the sword of Nerecleiss.”

SFXTCHIIK...

BALLOON“We swear to break the prince's curse and bring him back to the light!”

BALLOON“It is done... The blood oath cannot be broken. If one of you abandons or betrays, the magic will strike you all down.”

BALLOON“What?! Our lives are chained together?!”

BALLOON“You knew, demon of shadows...”

CAPTIONEight fates forged in a single breath, condemned to win together... or to perish of one same blood.

CAPTIONBeneath the silent abyss, the Temple of Sylphides stood like a spectre of stone. But the water had not been enough to drown the imprint of evil.

BALLOON“That symbol on the gateway... A wave interlaced with scales?”

BALLOON“Shabakan defiled this sanctuary before it sank. The accursed serpent corrupted Sylphides himself.”

CAPTIONInside, the foul air stank of ancient rot. On the thousand-year-old frescoes, the face of the god of the wave had been masked with black ink.

BALLOON“The altar is stripped bare... The blade of Nerecleiss is not here!”

BALLOON“Of course it is no longer here.”

CAPTIONFrom the crumbling pillars sprang the shadows of the Red Force. The renegade guild had not come to parley.

BALLOON“I am Vargath, lieutenant of Layseriuss. The sacred blade belongs to us now.”

BALLOON“Give it back, traitor, or your bones will join the rubble of this temple!”

BALLOON“It is in a safe place. But before you hear any more, Héréclès the Bloody claims his tribute: your blood!”

SFXSHHK-SLASH!

BALLOON“On guard! Do not let them close in!”

CAPTIONIn the desecrated sanctuary, iron crossed iron for the offering of the scarlet god.

CAPTIONIn the sunken nave, steel and spells answered the scarlet fury. Kael and Morvena cut without faltering, but it was Draven's black magic that froze the blood of the living.

BALLOON“Rise again... Serve the cause that condemned you.”

BALLOON“Back, vermin! No traitor will stop us!”

SFXVRRR-SHRAAASH!

CAPTIONVargath did not strike to fell, but to take. With lightning speed, his twin blades marked the champions' flesh with a furrow of fire.

BALLOON“The blood is spilled! The scarlet god's pact takes root in your veins!”

SFXTCHAK! TCHAK!

BALLOON“Aaah! This burning... this is no simple wound!”

CAPTIONOn their arms, the flesh closed in a fierce purple glow, leaving the indelible mark of the serpent and the dagger: the seal of Héréclès the Bloody.

BALLOON“What have you done...? This is a mark of possession!”

BALLOON“You now carry the gaze of Héréclès. Wherever you go on Terra, the god of blood will claim his tribute.”

BALLOON“The blade of Nerecleiss is buried in the atium mines of the Isle of Whirr. The Tessarians of Darkness await you... if you survive your own blood.”

BALLOON“Whirr... A den of monsters and outcasts.”

CAPTIONMarked by blood, the Eight Warriors looked out over the abyss. The quest for the sacred sword was leading them straight into the wolf's jaws.

CAPTIONRising from the black waters of Dragon Bay like a rotten tooth, the Isle of Whirr received the outcasts in the silence of a tomb.

BALLOON“Quiet anchorage in the cove. Not a word, not a torch. The whole island has ears.”

BALLOON“The air is heavy... The shadows of this forest do not move with the wind.”

BALLOON“The Tessarians know we are coming. Stay together.”

CAPTIONUnder the stifling vault of the jungle, every rustle of a leaf rang like a trap being set.

CAPTIONIn the hollow of the cliff opened the old dwarven mines, abandoned for centuries to the cultists of darkness.

BALLOON“Rotten timber and raw atium... The dwarves fled this place for a good reason.”

BALLOON“The blade of Nerecleiss is humming deep in these galleries. It is waiting.”

BALLOON“I once swore never to go down into that hell again. Once the threshold is crossed, there will be no falling back.”

BALLOON“Let them come. My sword thirsts for answers... and for blood.”

CAPTIONGuided by the icy glow of the atium, the Eight Warriors pressed on into the Tessarians' den.

CAPTIONDeep in the bowels of Whirr, the atium door barred the way to the sanctuary. An impassable barrier... except for the one who knew its darkness.

BALLOON“Stand back. The Tessarians recognise their own blood.”

BALLOON“You bear their marks... You always were one of them!”

BALLOON“I infiltrated their cult for Balrog ten years ago. Open your eyes: I came to destroy what they built.”

CAPTIONOn the stone altar lay the sacred blade of Nerecleiss, disfigured by the miasma of the accursed serpent.

SFXKRRRSHHH-ZZZT!

BALLOON“Arrrgh! It burns... The corruption is eating the celestial steel! But it will not escape me!”

BALLOON“Draven, take it and let us fall back! The air is turning toxic!”

CAPTIONOut of the mineral void rose a voice from beyond the grave, cold as death.

BALLOON“DRAVEN. THE TRAITOR HAS RETURNED. YOU MURDERED MY PREDECESSOR... YOU WILL FEED MY CLAWS!”

BALLOON“The Great Tessarian... He has completed his metamorphosis.”

BALLOON“By the abyss... That is a man no longer, that is a demon of atium!”

BALLOON“Fall back now! Do not close to hand-to-hand, the mine is collapsing!”

BALLOON“RUN, RATS OF THE SACRE! YOU CARRY OFF A BLADE THAT WILL DEVOUR YOU FROM WITHIN!”

SFXBOOOM-CRAAAK!

CAPTIONUnder the crash of crushed rock, the heroes fled the accursed den, clutching a victory that tasted of ash.

CAPTIONFacing the flood of the void, the necromancer raised his soul as a last rampart.

BALLOON“Die with your illusions of redemption, traitor of Balrog!”

BALLOON“Hold fast behind me! He will lay a hand on none of you!”

SFXSKRRRSHHH-ZZZT!

BALLOON“DRAVEN!”

BALLOON“TOGETHER! STRIKE WITHOUT MERCY!”

BALLOON“FOR TERRA AND FOR THE SACRE!”

SFXKRAAA-BOOOOOOM!

BALLOON“By the breath of the waters of Sylphide, close this wound... Stay with us!”

BALLOON“It is too late... But the veil... has torn. I no longer feel the serpent's hold. My soul is free.”

BALLOON“Sleep in peace, Draven. Your sacrifice will never be forgotten by the Fourteen Guilds.”

BALLOON“Rest in peace, my friend.”

CAPTIONThe servant of shadows went out a martyr of the light.

CAPTIONEscaped from the chasm of Whirr, the six survivors reached the shore. But the victory carried the venom of the void.

BALLOON“The sacred steel is fighting the miasma... If we do not contain this energy, it will devour the whole island.”

BALLOON“It is broken and defiled by Shabakan. Only the original sanctuary of Nerecleiss can wash away such a sacrilege!”

CAPTIONNo time to dress their wounds. The blood of Héréclès burned in their veins, and the king of Terra was drawing his last breaths.

BALLOON“By the circle of the White Moon... Let the way to the alabaster sanctuary be opened!”

BALLOON“Ready yourselves for the transfer. The darkness will grant us no respite.”

SFXFZZZH-KRAAA!

CAPTIONAt the summit of the Isle of the Sacre, the crystal nave blazed with a starlit clarity. Before the thousand-year-old effigy, the corrupted iron was offered to divine judgement.

BALLOON“Goddess of crystal, here is your blade disfigured by the serpent! Grant us your grace to guide our stroke!”

SFXSHHH-GLAAASS!

BALLOON“Warriors of the Sacre... The brilliance is reborn, but the prince is dying in the abyss. Go down beneath the fourteen, where the man and the monster are one.”

BALLOON“The fault is opening under our feet... Towards Rastacan's lair!”

CAPTIONBlessed by the celestial light but promised to eternal darkness, the heroes plunged towards the heart of the underworld.

CAPTIONBeneath the broken nave of Nerecleiss, the depths of Terra opened into an abyss of black stone. A cyclopean maze carved by millennia of hatred and silence.

BALLOON“Keep your torches low. In these galleries, the echo travels faster than death.”

BALLOON“The rock itself is breathing... Rastacan's domain is no realm of men any more, it is a living sepulchre.”

CAPTIONFrom the ebony faults sprang the spectres of the void: the misshapen offspring born of Shabakan's nightmares.

SFXSSSHHH-SKRAAASH!

BALLOON“They are coming out of the rock! Hold their flanks!”

BALLOON“Their souls are already burned away... Only the purified iron of Nerecleiss can tear this mist apart!”

CAPTIONBeyond the echoing caverns stood the den of the Accursed King: a fortress of desolation forged in blood and ebony stone.

BALLOON“Look at those towers... Like giant talons ready to crush the sky.”

BALLOON“That is no palace... That is a titan's cage.”

CAPTIONTen metres of black amber standing like a verdict. Fourteen thousand-year-old seals watching over the threshold where the man and the monster contend.

BALLOON“The Fourteen Seals of the Guilds... See how the one of Nerecleiss catches fire as the blade draws near!”

BALLOON“So this is where everything is decided. Behind this amber waits the prince... or the monster.”

BALLOON“Steady your minds. To cross this threshold, every seal will demand its tribute of will.”

CAPTIONAt the touch of the celestial steel, the seal of Nerecleiss burst into a rain of azure sparks. The first lock had just given way.

SFXKRAAASH-SHIING!

BALLOON“The sacred steel has bitten the amber! The goddess's seal is broken!”

BALLOON“One down... But the amber is still holding!”

CAPTIONThe breaking of the first circle sent a shock wave through the thirteen remaining glyphs. In the darkness of the threshold, something woke.

SFXRUUUUMBLE-VROOM!

BALLOON“The other seals are burning with a black fire... The gate is throwing back our assault!”

BALLOON“Hold your positions! Shabakan has felt the fracture!”

CAPTIONThrough the burning gap escaped a monstrous wail, torn between the prince of old and the corrupted titan.

BALLOON“LEAVE... OR CROSS THIS THRESHOLD TO DIE! MY SOUL IS NOTHING BUT A BLAZE NOW!”

BALLOON“Do you hear? The man is still fighting under the monster's scales.”

BALLOON“Whether he fights or yields, we have no way out now but to go in.”

CAPTIONWith a mineral groan, the ten metres of black amber gave way. The Six Sacred Warriors stood facing the den of the Serpent King.

SFXGROOOONCH-KLANG!

BALLOON“Forward! For Rastacan... and for Terra!”

BALLOON“Bare blades and raised shields. The Supreme Battle begins.”

CAPTIONAt the heart of the infernal dimension, under a blood-red vault, stood the scourge of three centuries of curse. Fifty metres of black scales and broken chains: Rastacan, the Serpent King.

BALLOON“Form the circle! He is breaking his last fetters!”

BALLOON“By the celestial forge... That is a man no longer, that is a living mountain!”

BALLOON“Finish me... I beg you... I cannot hold him back any longer...”

BALLOON“FOOLS OF THE SACRE! YOU COME IN HERE TO FEED MY BLAZE! YOUR FLESH BELONGS TO THE SHADOWS!”

CAPTIONTwo souls imprisoned in the same flesh. A prince begging for death, and a fallen god thirsting for carnage.

BALLOON“Hold on, Rastacan! We came to break your chains!”

BALLOON“Grundar, Morvena, pin the coils to the ground! Elyndra, blind the red eye!”

BALLOON“By the brilliance of the White Moon... Let the light disperse the beast!”

SFXKRAAA-SHHHOOOM!

BALLOON“His scales are hard as diamond! Kael, get up on his flank!”

BALLOON“Take that, ebony monster!”

SFXSHIING-ZZZAP!

BALLOON“For the dying king and the memory of Terra... Set this soul free!”

CAPTIONCleaving the titan's poisoned breath, the sacred steel of Nerecleiss rose to deliver the supreme blow.

BALLOON“Thank you... warrior...”

CAPTIONUnder the impact of the divine steel, Shabakan's ebony heart split with a cry that shook the foundations of the abyss.

BALLOON“CURSED BE THE BLADE OF NERECLEISS! YOU ARE BREAKING MY ETERNAL BOND!”

SFXKRRRSHH-CRRAAK!

BALLOON“The gem is giving way! The hold is cracking!”

BALLOON“Three centuries... of darkness... It is over... I can breathe...”

CAPTIONThree centuries of possession ended in a tearing of light and ash. The monster became a man again, and the shadow found its spectral form once more.

BALLOON“YOU WILL NOT TEAR THIS REALM FROM ME!”

SFXSHHH-VROOO!

CAPTIONRobbed of a body, the accursed god threw himself at the living, hungry for new flesh to devour.

BALLOON“I NEED A HOST! ONE OF YOU WILL BE MY NEW VESSEL!”

BALLOON“Shields up! Do not let his breath touch you!”

BALLOON“Back, beast of the void! You will lay a hand on none of us!”

BALLOON“Your reign of nightmare ends here, Shabakan. Rastacan is free!”

BALLOON“By the light of Terra... Let this sanctuary become your tomb!”

BALLOON“Thank you... noble champions of Terra...”

CAPTIONRisen from his ordeal, the fallen prince looked upon his rescuers. The beast was driven out, but the final seal was still to be forged.

CAPTIONRobbed of his throne of flesh, the serpent god was turning into a storm of void. Iron could not cut what no longer had a body.

BALLOON“WRETCHED MORTALS! THIS WORLD WILL BE MY FEAST OR MY SEPULCHRE!”

BALLOON“Our blades bite nothing but air! He is immortal as long as he is not sealed inside a body!”

BALLOON“The prophecy of Nerecleiss... The sword demands a heart to shut the beast away!”

CAPTIONOf the dark elf prince there remained only the shadow of a man. But in his eyes shone the resolve of the kings of old.

BALLOON“Do not give your lives... It was my vanity that fed this scourge.”

BALLOON“This time I will no longer be his — it falls to me to keep him in the night.”

BALLOON“Rastacan, no! You have barely broken three centuries of torment!”

BALLOON“This time I will not be his puppet. I will be his eternal gaol.”

BALLOON“By the oaths of the Sacre and the white light... Bind the spirit to the flesh!”

SFXFZZZH-VROOOM!

BALLOON“The shadow is resisting... Kael, lower the blade to guide the arcane backflow!”

BALLOON“NO! I WILL NOT GO BACK INTO THAT CAGE OF FLESH!”

CAPTIONThe divine steel fixed the titan's spirit in the prince's flesh. The Sacre had found its eternal keeper: a willing king watching over the chasm.

SFXKRAAANG-SHIING!

BALLOON“It is done... Go, noble warriors. Close the Amber Gate behind you.”

BALLOON“Your sacrifice will never be erased, Warden King. Terra will know peace through your watch.”

CAPTIONBreaking the silence of the abyss, the five survivors came up out of the bowels of the earth. The sky of Terra, washed clean of its bloody miasma, welcomed their return.

BALLOON“Breathe... The air no longer carries the smell of sulphur.”

BALLOON“Rastacan keeps watch in the eternal night. Thanks to him, Terra sees daylight at last.”

BALLOON“Look over there... They are waiting for us at the Temple.”

CAPTIONBefore the fourteen banners gathered in the high wind, the peoples and the masters of the orders looked upon the price of deliverance.

BALLOON“The Sacred Warriors have returned! Has the Serpent King perished?”

BALLOON“The monster is chained, and the throne of flesh stands empty for ever.”

CAPTIONOn the steps of the Temple of the Sacre, the heroes' testament swept away the fallen crowns to forge the alliance of the future.

BALLOON“No monarch will reign alone over Terra again! On this day is born the Republic of the Fourteen Guilds: fourteen equal voices, united to keep the seals and build the peace!”

BALLOON“LONG LIVE THE REPUBLIC OF THE SACRE!”

BALLOON“Rest in peace, steel of Nerecleiss... Your work is finished.”

BALLOON“As long as the world turns, we will watch over the keeper's sleep.”

BALLOON“The road goes on... under a new sky.”

CAPTIONThe celestial steel returned to its anvil, the watchers took up their guard, and the winds of Terra carried the names of those who saved the world.

CAPTIONTen years later. In the deepest reaches of the abyss, silence kept the heroes' sanctuary.

BALLOON“The fourteen seals are intact, Elyndra. Ten winters and the gate has not trembled.”

BALLOON“The seals hold the rock. But when night comes, the stone groans under the weight of his soul.”

CAPTIONThrough the ten metres of black amber filtered a stifled breath, the echo of an endless agony.

BALLOON“I am still... fighting...”

BALLOON“For how much longer, Warden King? A century? A thousand years?”

BALLOON“Until the flesh gives way... and the world forgets its debt.”

CAPTIONBut in the charred ruins of the palace, Shabakan's venom refused to die.

BALLOON“The ebony shard was waiting for you, Father of Serpents... Soon the hour of waking will strike.”

SFXVRRR-HUMMM...

BALLOON“I am still... fighting...”

BALLOON“Not for much longer, child of flesh...”

CAPTIONFate was not waiting for the consent of men. In the eternal night of Terra, the Sacre was only beginning.