The winds howled as the group stood at the jagged cliff's edge, the ruins of the sanctuary behind them still echoing with the scent of ash and memory. The skies had darkened—clouds roiling like waves—mirroring the turmoil that now churned within each of them. Liam's eyes remained on Aeris, whose revelation had left the group more silent than the graveyards they had passed through.
She sat alone on a blackened stone, her fingers brushing lightly over a talisman that shimmered faintly—an emblem from her past. The silence around her was not isolation, but preparation. There was more to say.
Kael was the first to step forward. "You were one of them. One of us. A realmchild hidden in the human world. How long have you known?"
"Since the dreams began," Aeris whispered, her voice barely audible. "Since the visions returned. I used to think they were just echoes. Nightmares. But the more I remembered, the more I knew I couldn't run from it. Not anymore."
Nyra crossed her arms, shadows playing across her summoner's robe. Her summoned spirit—a hawk-like creature with glowing feathers—hovered above protectively. "That means you knew about the Hollow Citadel. And the real reason Elira and Nytherion fell."
Aeris didn't answer immediately. Instead, she reached into her pack and retrieved a bundle of aged, weathered parchment. She spread it across the stone before her. Intricate lines. Hidden markings. A map, but not of any place they had walked before.
Liam leaned in, and his breath caught.
There was the shape of their world—the familiar sprawl of the realm—but beneath it, etched in gold thread and ink faded with time, was another layer. An underworld. A place forgotten.
"The Hollow Citadel isn't just a place," Aeris said. "It's a prison. Built by the ancient ones before the spellbook was shattered. It holds more than just memory. It holds the truths they wanted buried."
Kael's grip tightened on his blade. "And Nytherion? He's tied to it?"
She nodded. "Elira was one of the chosen guardians. Nytherion… he was meant to guide her. To protect her. But something found him before she could. Corrupted his path. Made him believe she had betrayed him."
Nyra's eyes narrowed. "So when we saw his fury… his darkness… it wasn't fully him."
"No," Aeris said. "It was the part of him that was broken."
Liam exhaled deeply. The visions were making more sense now—the pain he felt through Elira's memories, the moment she was separated from her beloved. Her cries weren't just for a lost love, but for a lost future.
But there was more.
From the center of the map, Aeris drew her finger along a golden path that twisted downward into a sigil: a sun eclipsed in black.
"This," she said, "is where we must go. The Hollow Citadel. The next fragment isn't just a piece of power. It's a key. One Elira may have left behind when she was forced to flee."
Liam stepped forward. "How do we get there?"
Kael scoffed softly. "Let me guess — no portal again."
Aeris offered a small smile. "Correct. The only way down is through the Spine of Thorns. A buried path beneath the realm's crust. Dangerous. Forgotten. Filled with remnants of the old wars."
Nyra's spirit hawk let out a screech, its feathers sparking faintly.
"If we go," she said, "we risk waking more than just memories. The enemies bound beneath… they were never fully destroyed. Just caged."
Liam clenched his fists. "Then we go prepared. We've come this far. We can't stop now."
The journey toward the Spine began at dawn. With rations dwindling and magic suppressed by the increasing presence of shadow, every step felt heavier than the last. Yet with each challenge, the team grew tighter—each shared glance between Kael and Nyra, each protective movement from Aeris, every word of encouragement from Liam—they were no longer strangers bound by purpose.
They were family forged by fire.
By the second night, they reached the rift. A massive crevice that split the mountain's roots like a bleeding wound. Below, darkness churned like smoke over boiling water.
"This is it," Aeris said. "The descent begins here. Once we're in… there's no turning back."
As they secured ropes and lit enchanted torches, Liam paused to take one last breath of fresh realm air. Then he turned to Aeris.
"When we reach the Hollow Citadel… what are we really going to find?"
She didn't answer at first. But then, she looked up at him, and for the first time, her voice cracked.
"The truth, Liam. And maybe… the pieces of ourselves we've all been running from."
The descent was chaos.
Twisting rock paths. Falling debris. Echoes of screams that didn't belong to any living creature. Shadows danced along the walls, whispering words in dead languages. The further they went, the colder it became — not from lack of heat, but the draining of hope.
Then came the attack.
A screech split the air. From the stone walls burst creatures—twisted, winged beasts, like gargoyles with burning eyes and molten claws.
Kael surged forward, blade spinning in arcs of wind. Each swing sent gusts that carved through the dark, sending monsters crashing back. Nyra summoned a series of flaming spears from her magic circle, hurling them one after another.
Liam, reaching deep into the fragment's energy within him, unleashed a wave of force that knocked three attackers into the ravine below.
Aeris stayed behind, clutching her talisman, whispering an incantation that glowed beneath her skin. She wasn't just holding back. She was guiding them.
And then — silence.
The last of the creatures fell. Their bodies turned to stone as they hit the cavern floor, crumbling to dust. The group was battered, bruised, but alive.
They moved forward.
Toward a faint light at the end of the tunnel.
A city. No… not a city.
A tomb.
The Hollow Citadel rose from the depths like a ghost ship at sea. Towers shattered. Statues with weeping eyes. Chains made of shadow wrapped around its core. And in the center… a door with a symbol they all knew.
The sun. Eclipsed in black.
Aeris stepped forward.
"This… is where everything changes."