The descent was silent except for the creak of rope and the soft crackle of Kael's torch. The stone walls around them were slick with moisture, carved with strange markings—half eroded, half alive. They looked more like veins than engravings.
Selene descended just above him, her blade strapped tight, her breath calm but alert.
After several minutes, their boots touched solid ground. The pit opened into a massive underground cavern, wide enough to fit a city inside. Dust drifted in the torchlight, but far off in the distance, something glowed faintly—a faint blue shimmer.
Kael took the lead.
The air was heavy, thick with a scent like old rain and ash. With each step, his Thorn mark pulsed, not in pain, but in rhythm—almost like it was matching a heartbeat not his own.
Then they saw it.
Buildings, half-sunken into the stone floor. Towers leaning sideways. Bridges snapped in half. But it wasn't ruins in the ordinary sense. It felt preserved, as if time itself had stopped here, holding its breath.
And at the very center of the underground city stood a black obelisk, taller than any tower above, glowing faintly with inscriptions that moved like flowing water.
Selene whispered, "What is this place?"
Kael stepped forward, eyes wide. "I've been here. Not in this life, but I remember this. This was the heart of the world once."
As they approached the obelisk, the ground shifted slightly. A faint vibration passed beneath their feet, and the inscriptions on the tower lit up, reacting to Kael's presence.
The Thorn on his chest blazed to life.
Suddenly, his vision blurred again—and he stood not underground, but at the height of the city's glory. The buildings around him were whole, golden banners flying from spires. People cheered in the streets.
A woman in white stood at the foot of the obelisk, waiting. She looked directly at him, eyes filled with sorrow and something deeper—accusation.
Then everything burned again.
The golden streets turned black. The banners were swallowed by flame. Screams, war horns, betrayal.
And Kael stood at the center of it all.
When he came to, Selene was holding him upright. "Kael!"
"I remember her," he whispered. "She… knew me. And I failed her."
Selene looked at the obelisk. "You said this was the heart of the world. Then maybe we're not just here to remember it. Maybe we're here to fix what you broke."
Kael nodded slowly. "Or to finish what I started."
The obelisk pulsed once more, and deep within the ruins, a door opened.
And the city exhaled.