In the ancient hollows of the Crescent Vale, where the sky weeps lavender at dusk and the moon bleeds silver over broken ruins, there exists a word not spoken, but remembered: Antarvwsna.
This is not a word from any known tongue of man, elf, or drakefolk. It is a whisper—a seed buried in the soul’s deepest cavern, said to awaken only in those who tread the path between dream and death. Scholars of the Luminari Arcanum refer to Antarvwsna as a “soul resonance,” while the mystics of the Scorched Choir call it “the inward flame that does not burn, but yearns.” But what is it truly? A language? A force? A lost divinity?
Let us descend through the veils of myth and madness and seek the truth behind Antarvwsna.
The Lost Tongue of the Unborn Flame
Legends from the elder cultures of the Yvandar Wastes tell of a time before Time—a Pre-First Age known only as the Cradling. In this chrysalis of existence, the world had not yet unfurled its name. It was here that the Sibilant Ones, beings of pure intention and undivided self, wove the first languages—not for speech, but for shaping reality.
Antarvwsna is believed to be the last word of that lost tongue. The “echo of creation’s doubt,” as some scribes phrase it. It was not spoken but felt. Those who bore it were not taught it; they remembered it in moments of extreme peril or ecstatic peace. A shepherd on the edge of death, a child laughing alone in the forest, a seer staring into the void—all might utter Antarvwsna in a tongue they do not know, and never again repeat.
Runes attributed to this proto-language have been unearthed in forgotten ruins—etched in obsidian tombs, etched into bone, and even burned into the living bark of the Sentient Trees of En’qualeth. When pieced together, they hint at an idea, not a word:
“The self that sleeps beneath the self.”
The Doctrine of the Hollow Flame
Religious orders across the Free Shards have all attempted to appropriate Antarvwsna into their mythic frameworks.
The Order of the Hollow Flame, an ascetic sect of flamewalkers and dreamsmiths, teaches that Antarvwsna is the divine seed left behind when the gods abandoned the mortal coil. According to their doctrine, every soul contains a spark—a “hollow flame”—that is inert until awakened by either profound suffering or transcendent enlightenment. When the flame stirs, the bearer begins to perceive the “second world”—a mirror realm of thought, intention, and forgotten truths.
Initiates into the Hollow Flame often undergo voluntary sensory deprivation, imbibing the milk of the Silent Bloom and chanting the name Antarvwsna for hours—sometimes days—until their minds shatter or their inner fire speaks. Most never return. Those who do are changed. Their eyes glow with emberlight, their voices resonate with an unnatural harmony, and they begin to speak in verses not heard since the Cradling.
It is whispered in the Ember Psalms:
“Only through Antarvwsna may the furnace of the self forge truth.”
The Curse of the Second Voice
Not all who hear Antarvwsna are blessed.
In the shadow-slicked pages of the Codex Malhalion, a forbidden tome thought destroyed during the Purge of Veilbinder Keep, there is mention of the Dvivra, or “Second Voiced.” These are individuals who, upon awakening their Antarvwsna, begin to hear another voice speaking with equal clarity in their mind—one that knows them, argues with them, predicts their actions, and sometimes seizes control of their will.
The Codex theorizes that Antarvwsna may be a bridge, not a destination—a conduit between the conscious self and a shadow self formed of suppressed memories, ancestral trauma, or even echoes from parallel lives. Those who become Second Voiced may eventually lose the ability to distinguish their true will from the whisper of the other. Some go mad. Others become vessels for something else.
The famed duelist Ilyana the Mirror-Slayer once confessed before her death:
“Every cut I made, I heard her cheering. And I knew it was me—but older, darker, and hungrier.”
Antarvwsna as a Magical Source
In the arcane systems of the shattered realm of Myrr, magic is typically drawn from external sources—ley lines, celestial bodies, or contracted spirits. But certain high arcanists—particularly the enigmatic Weavers of Elt Shaar—have demonstrated a form of sorcery known as self-sourcing, where the spellcaster fuels their power from within.
They claim that this is only possible through the full awakening of Antarvwsna. The resulting abilities are unpredictable: spells that rewrite memories, conjurations that manifest personal fears, or time-bending incantations that reflect the caster’s regrets and hopes. In the Arena of Echoes, one such self-sourced mage—calling himself simply “Vwsnari”—defeated twelve archmagisters not with spells, but by making them relive their worst choices until they surrendered.
When asked what he drew upon, he said:
“Only the part of me that never stopped screaming.”
The Prophecy of the Re-Speaking
Perhaps the most tantalizing (and terrifying) legend tied to Antarvwsna is the Prophecy of the Re-Speaking—a passage found within the amber vaults of the Dreaming Archivists. It states:
“When a thousand tongues remember the name they never knew, the world will weep backwards, and the First Flame shall question its birth.”
This suggests that Antarvwsna is not just a fragment of lost lore, but a trigger—a metaphysical failsafe woven into reality itself. If enough beings remember it, speak it truly, the veil may be torn, the gods may return—or be unmade—and the age-old question of selfhood and divinity will be faced anew.
Whether that is salvation or oblivion remains unclear.
Final Thoughts: The Echo that Waits
Antarvwsna is not merely a mythic term. It is a mystery wrapped in blood and breath—a riddle whispered by unborn stars. Whether it is a key, a curse, or a code hidden in our souls, its presence lingers across every culture, every dream, every scream swallowed by silence.
So the next time you wake in the middle of the night with a word on your tongue you do not recognize, do not speak it aloud.
Unless you are ready to meet the self that waits behind your eyes.