LOGINRebecca's POVGoing into the ruins took longer than it looked from above when we saw it.What had looked like a short path from the cliff revealed itself to be something like a never ending entrance. I could hear the sounds of small stones move under our boots as we walked. The closer we got, the larger the city became.It wasn't a city. Not really. Cities felt alive. This felt abandoned. Forgotten. Waiting.The broken towers stood from the earth like the bones of something very big. Pathways almost collapsed under different layers of green substances that showed the place was old in its own way. Entire streets had disappeared beneath roots thick enough to swallow houses whole.Or so they appeared.I couldn't write off the feeling that we were being watched. The mark on my shoulder actively warm under my shirt. It was not painful, it was recognition.The sensation unsettled me more than any warning could have.Matthew moved ahead of the group, his eyes constantly looking at roofto
Rebecca’s POVMorning arrived quietly.Not with birdsong or sunlight.Just the slow dissipation of shadows among the trees.The fire had already burned down to ashes. The dampness in the air carried the scent of earth and pines. Everything looked calm.Too calm.I was the first one to spot Matthew who was some yards away from me and looking intently at the floor. It made me feel uneasy just from his stance. I forced myself up and made my way over."What do you see?"He simply stepped aside.My stomach tightened.The clearing where we had fought the Erased the night before was empty.Completely empty. No bodies, no blood, no broken weapons, no signs of a battle.Nothing.For a few seconds I simply stared. I knew exactly where the creatures had fallen. I remembered every strike, every scream, every shadow that had dissolved beneath our blades, but now it looked as if none of it had ever happened.The others joined us moments later.Tyler frowned."What happened?"Matthew clenched h
Rebecca's POV I woke up before everyone else. For a few seconds, I didn't know where I was. The forest was quiet. Too quiet. The fire was dying near the center of our camp but burning a little under a layer of ash, now showing weak orange light across the clearing. Above us, morning light was coming through the trees, making the road a little clearer as the fog covered the place. No shrine walls, no shifting corridors. No ancient runes watching from the darkness. Just trees. Fresh air. Open sky. It should have felt like freedom. Instead, my chest felt heavier than ever. I pulled my knees closer and stared into the fire that was burning off. Sleep hadn't helped, every time I closed my eyes, I saw Emily, the first Bridge, the blood-red moon, the ancient courtyard, the Erased chanting while they tore pieces of a woman from existence. And Emily's voice. I failed her. The memory refused to leave me, my hand went toward the mark on my shoulder, the skin beneath my shirt felt
Garrick's POVThe silence was beginning to irritate me, not because I was afraid but because I was bored.I sat alone against the cold wall, staring at the place where the doorway should have been. Hours already passed since the witches sealed me inside the room. Maybe longer.Time felt different when there was nothing to measure it against with.No sunlight, no voices.no movement. Just stone.Stone and anger.I ran my hand across my face and laughed quietly. I could hear myself laugh from the echo. Pathetic. After everything I had done for them, after every battle, every sacrifice, every order I had followed. This was how they repaid loyalty.Lock the dangerous dog in a cage.My jaw tightened. They still didn't understand, I wasn't dangerous because I wanted power. I was dangerous because I was willing to do what they refused to do.The difference mattered.At least it used to.Something moved across the wall. I looked up immediately. I saw nothing, just shadows.For a moment.
Rebecca’s POV The forest felt too wide, after days of being trapped inside the shrine, the endless trees and dark sky above us should have felt comforting. Instead, every shadow seemed deeper. Every sound felt sharper. We had escaped, but none of us looked relieved. The small campfire burned in the center of our clearing, throwing orange light to our tired faces. Matthew sat nearby sharpening his blade in slow, steady strokes. Ezekiel remained on watch near the treeline, his posture relaxed but alert. Tyler sat opposite me, resting against a fallen tree, and I couldn't stop staring at his side. The wound should not have looked that good. Not yet. The flesh that was torn had almost completely closed. The swelling inside the bandage then had vanished. Even the color of his skin looked healthier. Tyler noticed me watching and smiled. "You're doing it again." He said. "What?" I asked. "Looking at me like I've grown a second head." He continued. I looked away. "You were dying."
Rebecca's POVThe clearing outside the shrine felt a bit unreal. For days now, we were surrounded with stone, darkness, and endless corridors that seemed determined to never let us go. Now there was open air above my head.Trees looking toward the sky, moonlight reflecting through thick branches, the scent of the earth and the environment replaced the old smell of ancient ruins.It should have felt like freedom, instead, it felt like standing in the eye of a storm.Nobody spoke much after we left the shrine. We were exhausted, not the kind of exhaustion sleep could fix, the deeper kind. The kind that rested into your bones after too much grief.Tyler sat by a broad tree near the fire, adjusting the bandage under his shirt with care, the improvement in his condition was impossible to ignore.Only a day ago, he could barely stand, now he was moving on his own, still injured, still weak, but healing faster than he should have been.I caught him looking at his side again, his eyebrow
Lira’s POVI couldn't stop looking at him. Every time I passed the main hall, my eyes found their way back to the same place.Kael sat bound against a stone pillar, wrists tied behind his back. Dried blood on one side of his face, but could not be seen again as one stared into dark hair that
Rebecca’s POVThe shrine had now become a maze with no mercy. The corridors rolled into one another endlessly, ancient stone walls closing in until the air around us felt very different…very unusual. The marking and runes around us seemed to reflect light in a different way when I was not lo
Lira's POVThe healing wing was supposed to be a place of recovery, now it felt like a graveyard that hadn't realized it was dead yet.I moved between cots on automatically, changing bandages, handing out water, whispering reassurances I wasn't sure I believed myself. The people that were wou
Rebecca's POV The shrine seemed determined to swallow us whole from the inside. Ancient corridors went into another endlessly beneath the mountain, stone walls covered in carvings worn out because of time. Every passage looked the same. Every turn felt wrong. The deeper we went, the more the sil







