The forest deepened around them, darker now that night had fallen, with only slivers of moonlight managing to slip through the thick canopy above. The shadows stretched across the earth like reaching hands, and each step Eira took felt heavier than the last.
The path they followed was almost invisible, more instinct than trail. Thorne moved ahead like he belonged to the night itself, his steps soundless, his movements sure. It was like the forest bent to make way for him.
Behind him, Kaela and Torin scanned the trees with quiet vigilance. Lena flanked the rear, her footsteps light, her posture alert, yet unreadable. Eira found herself between them all, surrounded by people who walked like they'd known too much fear to ever feel safe again.
Her chest tightened with each breath. She was still trying to make sense of the truths that had begun to unfold, the word Mageborn still rang in her ears, weighty and unfamiliar. What did it even mean to carry that legacy? What did it mean that Thorne had once been the enemy?
"How much farther?" she asked, her voice thin and laced with nerves.
Lena didn't glance her way. "Not far."
Eira studied the woman beside her. Lena's features were sharp, her eyes always distant, yet there was something delicate hidden beneath the practiced cold. It wasn't trust exactly, but a fragile restraint, like the kind of silence you break only when you're sure no one will use it against you.
Thorne's voice broke through the quiet. "There's a hidden entrance ahead. Stay close. No one strays."
Eira nodded, even though her palms were clammy and her thoughts jumbled. A part of her wanted to ask more questions, but she'd already seen what silence had taught her. People like Thorne and Lena didn't speak unless they needed to. Their stories were buried like bones, but she could feel the weight of them all the same.
They pressed on. The forest air grew colder, the trees tightening around them as though trying to squeeze them out. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled, a lonely, echoing sound that seemed to mourn the quiet.
Then, Thorne stopped.
His hand rose in a signal and the group froze. Eira barely noticed the change in the atmosphere until then. It was subtle, like the shift in a dream when it turns to nightmare. The air grew tense, charged.
Thorne moved toward the base of a towering tree, his attention fixed on a boulder covered in moss and vine. He crouched, fingers brushing the earth. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the ground groaned softly as the stone shifted, revealing a narrow, sloping tunnel hidden beneath.
Eira stepped forward, her breath catching. "Is this… the safe house?"
Thorne didn't look at her when he answered. "It's more than that. This is where the Mageborn hid what the world wasn't ready for. Their last refuge."
Kaela stepped beside him. Her voice was resolute. "If the Veil has found it, we'll make our last stand here."
Lena glanced at the tunnel. "We go in or we die out here. Either way, the line's already drawn."
Eira hesitated, her hand brushing against the cold rock. This wasn't just a place. It felt like a boundary between who she had been and who she might become. With a shallow breath, she followed Thorne into the earth.
The passage swallowed them quickly, the tunnel walls narrowing and the air growing damp. The darkness felt suffocating, but the deeper they went, the more Eira noticed something else. The walls shimmered faintly, not with torchlight, but with veins of blue crystal that pulsed softly, like a heartbeat.
She didn't know if it was her magic reacting or if the tunnel itself was alive.
When they finally reached the chamber below, Eira stopped in awe. The space opened up into a vast underground hall. The air buzzed with faint energy. Shelves lined the walls, packed with scrolls, books, and relics. Strange devices, most of them broken, sat atop stone tables. And everywhere, the blue glow lit the room in soft, flickering light.
Eira whispered, almost to herself. "This is their legacy."
Thorne stood still, his gaze sweeping across the room like a man seeing ghosts. "It's where they stored the truth. What they were, what they feared… what they hoped to pass on if they ever returned."
There was a heaviness in his voice, one she hadn't heard before. Regret, maybe. Or longing.
"Did you ever think you'd come back?" she asked him quietly.
He gave the faintest shake of his head. "No. I never thought I deserved to."
Eira studied him, and for the first time, she noticed the tension in his posture wasn't just caution. It was guilt. Deep and raw.
Lena moved along one of the walls, fingers brushing across the edges of ancient tomes. "We need to move fast. The Veil doesn't stop."
Kaela joined her, pulling open drawers and lifting aged parchments. "There has to be something. Anything."
Eira turned to Thorne. "You said there was something you were looking for. A key?"
He nodded. "The Mageborn spoke of an artifact, an amplifier. It doesn't just awaken your power. It reveals its true shape. Without it, you're fighting with only half your strength."
Eira's eyes widened. "And with it?"
Thorne looked at her, and for a moment, he didn't seem like the cold soldier she had first met. He seemed… afraid. "With it, you can tear the Veil from the inside. But it can also break you."
"Then why find it?" she asked, heart hammering.
"Because if we don't, they'll win."
Kaela's voice came from across the room. "We need to split up. If we search together, we'll miss something. But don't touch anything glowing red. That means it's cursed or trapped. Or both."
Lena chuckled, dry and low. "Nothing like ancient magical death traps to keep you on your toes."
They fanned out.
As Eira moved through the room, she trailed her fingers across cold stone and old leather-bound books. She wondered about the people who had last walked these halls. What they sacrificed. If they knew their time was ending. She could almost hear their whispers, lingering between the shelves.
Everyone here was haunted, she realized. By pasts, by choices, by silence. But they were still moving. Still fighting. Still breathing.
She stopped in front of a carved pedestal, half-covered in dust. Resting on it was a cracked circlet, its surface etched with symbols that shimmered faintly under the light.
She reached out, but before she could touch it, Thorne was beside her.
"Not that one," he said, voice quiet but firm. "It belonged to someone who tried to use the key without understanding it. The price was… everything."
Eira drew her hand back. "How do you know that?"
He didn't answer at first. Then he said, barely audible, "Because I saw it happen."
Something passed between them then, unsaid but understood. Everyone here had blood on their hands. Everyone had lost something. And yet here they stood, risking more.
It didn't make them heroes.
But maybe it made them human.
"Come on," Thorne said gently. "We still have a chance to change what comes next."
Eira nodded, following him deeper into the chamber.