---
The descent was steep.
Sieris moved silently down the narrow stone stairs, each step worn with age and heavy with lingering magic. The air was damp and cold, thick with the scent of ancient moss and something older—faintly metallic, like dried blood and iron. As she moved deeper, the glow from her token dimmed. Yet her vision remained sharp, the darkness parting before her like a curtain.
*Void Eyes,* one of her inherited racial traits as a Shadowborn half-elf. In darkness, her perception sharpened beyond human limitations. Traps, illusions, even mana trails left behind by spellcasters all became faintly visible to her. It was one of the gifts that made her such a feared assassin in the old world. Here, it had saved her life more than once.
The corridor ended in a cavern that opened like a yawning wound beneath the forest. The ceiling was domed, covered in glowing fungal veins. A stone monolith stood at its center, cracked but upright. At its base, a circle of warding sigils had been shattered.
She approached cautiously, eyes narrowing.
*Old magic. Sealing magic.*
This wasn't just a hiding place—it had been a prison.
And now it was broken.
She knelt, fingers tracing a symbol burned into the stone. It flared faintly at her touch, responding not to her mana, but to the token she bore.
That disc hadn't been a gift. It had been a key.
---
Above, in the forest canopy, Yuki opened his eyes.
"The seal site. It's been disturbed."
Sylvaeria blinked, rising beside him. "Sieris?"
He nodded. "She's inside."
He extended his senses deeper into the forest, brushing against the residual magic in the earth. What he felt there chilled even his vast soul.
*Corruption.*
Something had once been bound there—a spirit or perhaps a creature too dangerous for the forest to contain. And now, it stirred.
"She won't last alone," he said, wings unfolding slowly. "Not against what sleeps beneath."
Sylvaeria hesitated. "Are you worried for her?"
"No," he murmured. "But I am curious."
---
In the cavern, Sieris stood before the monolith, heart steady, thoughts sharp.
She drew her dagger—Obsidian Fang—an enchanted relic bound to her soul. The weapon shimmered with a soft black glow, its edge capable of cutting through spirit flesh and magical bindings.
She whispered an incantation, activating one of her personal skills:
**Veil Step – Rank S**: A shadow-walk ability that lets her move between flickers of darkness, essentially teleporting short distances. In tightly enclosed environments, it made her unstoppable.
She reappeared beside the monolith, where a second symbol now pulsed. Her dagger hovered over it.
*One strike. No mistakes.*
She plunged the blade in.
The world convulsed.
A roar of spiritual backlash exploded outward, the monolith cracking open like an egg. A blinding pillar of corrupted light surged upward, tearing through the dome and erupting into the forest sky.
---
Yuki staggered as the pulse hit him.
"She broke it," Sylvaeria gasped.
He nodded grimly. "And now something's waking up."
He leapt from the branch, his body twisting into a blinding arc of white light as his wings expanded. Sylvaeria followed a heartbeat later.
Below, the earth began to scream.
---
Sieris crouched behind the fractured monolith, her body burned by the wave of mana backlash. Her cloak was half-shredded, and blood stained her gloves.
But her eyes were calm.
From the split stone, a figure emerged.
It looked like a man at first, but its body was draped in unraveling robes and smoke. Chains hung from its arms, burning with ghost-fire. Its face was a shifting mask of countless expressions—joy, sorrow, rage, serenity—cycling too fast to comprehend.
It looked down at her.
"Bearer of the key," it rasped.
Sieris stood, teeth clenched, blood trickling from her lip.
"I came for answers."
The spirit tilted its head. "Then offer your name, child of the silent oath."
She hesitated.
"...Sieris."
The spirit smiled with a thousand mouths. "Then let us begin."
---