I looked around, my breath uneven, heart still racing from what I had just experienced.
"Liora? Kael? Althea?" I called out, voice echoing into the darkness.
No response. Just silence. The kind that pressed on your chest like a weight.
Everything was pitch black. No flicker of magic. No glimmer of light. Nothing.
Panic started to crawl under my skin. I forced myself to stand, shaky legs barely cooperating. One hand trailing along the cold stone walls, I took slow steps forward, careful not to trip.
"I need light," I whispered to myself.
My fingers searched desperately through the folds of my cloak until they brushed against something smooth and cool—Lumos Crystalis.
I whispered the activation phrase, "Lumen flare."
The crystal pulsed in my palm, a soft glow blooming into steady light. It pushed back the suffocating dark, inch by inch, like the night itself was afraid of it.
And that's when I saw her.
Althea.Lying motionless on the cold floor, her face twisted in fear even in unconsciousness.
My heart clenched.She was stuck in it too… whatever this was.Her own nightmare. Her own curse.
"Althea!" I called out, rushing to her side. "Wake up, it's me—it's Elaris!"
But she didn't move. Didn't flinch.
It was like she was trapped inside her mind… just like I had been.
I knelt beside her, shaking her shoulders gently."Althea, please," I whispered. "Wake up."
Nothing. Just a soft, ragged breath. Her lashes trembled—like she was fighting something in her sleep.
This place... it wasn't just showing us our past.It was feeding on it. Twisting it.
I held up the Lumos Crystalis, watching the light flicker across her.
She was trapped. And if this place was anything like what I'd just escaped…
I couldn't leave her there.
I closed my eyes.Clutched the pendant around my neck.And focused.
"Take me there," I whispered into the silence. "Wherever she is… take me in."
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the light dimmed—not because it faded, but because the darkness got thicker.
It wrapped around me like smoke. Cold. Heavy.
And suddenly, the floor disappeared.
I wasn't in the shrine anymore.
I recognized the setup instantly.
The temple's sacrifice ritual.
I whispered the activation phrase again, "Lumen flare."
The Lumos Crystalis in my hand pulsed, flooding the corridor with silver light—and there she was.
Althea. Lying on the cold stone floor, arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to hold her soul inside. Her white robes were damp with sweat, sticking to her skin. She looked smaller—fragile, broken.
"Althea?" I stepped closer. "Are you okay?"
She didn't hear me. Her lips moved, but she wasn't speaking to me. Her eyes—wide, glassy—stared into a nightmare I couldn't see.
Suddenly, the light around me dimmed. Shadows pulled apart like curtains revealing a memory… no, a ritual.
I saw her younger self now, standing at the center of a cold stone chamber. The air felt wet, metallic—like blood had been spilled here too many times.
Figures in temple robes surrounded her, faceless and silent. In their hands, glowing rods carved with ancient runes—black magic symbols pulsed through them.
One of them stepped forward and hissed:
"Faith requires sacrifice."
The child Althea flinched. "Please… I don't want to—"
But her protests were cut off by the sharp crack of pain. She didn't scream.
She couldn't.Her mouth was stitched shut by magic.
Runes glowed on her arms, legs, across her spine. I could almost feel it—each burn, each carve, each ritual mark that had left scars on her back.
Then… her voice echoed from the floor beside me.
"The temple everyone worships—the one people say helps the poor, blesses believers, and guides the faithful?" Her voice was quiet. "It's not what they think. Behind those walls, they perform twisted rituals. Dark, painful rites designed to create the 'perfect saintess.'"
I turned, realizing it was present-day Althea whispering in her sleep the same thing which she told us a today revealing the temples secret, trapped in the vision.
"Those scars on my back? They aren't from battles or accidents. They're from the temple's rites—scarring me, breaking me, shaping me into what they wanted. No one knows the truth. I don't even know how much of me is left beneath all of this."
Her body trembled as the scene before us changed again. I saw her strapped to an altar now. Blood dripping onto white marble. Her hands clenched into fists.
The head priest raised a blade—not to kill her, but to carve one final symbol into her back.To finish their "masterpiece."
"No—NO!" I screamed and grabbed her hand in the real world. "Wake up! Althea, please—wake up!"
Her body arched with a choked cry. Her eyes snapped open, wide and wet.
"Elaris…" she gasped.
I pulled her close, holding her tightly as she sobbed.
"I'm not them," I said quietly. "I won't ever let them hurt you again."
She didn't respond—not right away. But her grip tightened. She needed to hear that, even if she didn't believe it.
And I?I needed to believe I meant it.
Because even now…I wasn't sure if she was a victim, or a trap dressed in scars.