It was darker in the forest, almost as if the leaves on the branches above were scheming to block out the light. Each step Aria took felt heavy, the ground soft beneath her boots. That whisper from a few seconds ago still seemed to linger around, a strange sensation that they weren't alone.
Elias stood next to her, silent yet edgy. His concentration was zero, his eyes shifting from tree to tree. Aria could sense that he, too, felt the presence that had stirred in the depths of the forest—a presence tied to the veil. The weight of their journey pressed on her, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more waiting for her, something personal.
"Do you think it's close?" Aria asked, her voice low.
Elias nodded without looking at her. "We're nearing the heart of the forest, where the oldest magics linger. If the source is anywhere, it will be here."
The trees around them began to change—no longer familiar and inviting, they grew twisted, their trunks gnarled and misshapen. The air felt thick, charged with a strange energy that made Aria's skin prickle. It was as if the forest was alive, watching them with unseen eyes.
Aria tightened her grip on her dagger, her fingers trembling slightly. She wasn't afraid of the woods themselves—she had grown up playing in forests like this—but there was something different about this place. It felt as though it had a memory, an awareness that stretched back centuries.
"There's something here," Aria whispered, her breath catching as she glanced at Elias.
His expression was unreadable, but his jaw tightened as he scanned the forest. "We're close, he replied, his voice barely audible. "Be ready."
Aria's heart pounded in her chest as they ventured deeper into the woods. The trees appeared to reach out for them, their limbs intertwining like bony fingers. All of the shadows appeared to shift; every rustling of leaves gave her goose bumps.
And then they spotted it.
In the distance, just past the thick canopy of trees, a weak glow pulsed like fading coal. Aria gasped and took a step forward, and the air around them started to get really cold. The glow grew brighter, illuminating a stone structure that had been hidden by the trees—a circle of ancient stones, much like the ones they had seen earlier, but larger and more imposing.
Elias stopped abruptly, his eyes narrowing as he studied the structure. "This is it," he said, his voice tensed. "The heart of the veil."
Aria sensed some type of attraction when she looked at the stones. They were ancient, their surfaces etched with symbols that seemed to shift and change in the dim light. The air around them buzzed with energy, and Aria could feel the power of the veil thrumming beneath her skin, as though it were calling to her.
"We should be careful," Elias warned, stepping forward cautiously. "The veil is weaker here, and that means we're vulnerable to whatever's on the other side."
Aria nodded, her heart racing. She could feel the weight of the veil pressing down on her, growing heavier with each passing moment. It was like the fabric of reality was wearing thin and stretching out and fraying at the edges.
As they drew near to the stone circle, the ground beneath their feet seemed to pulse with a low vibrating hum. Aria hesitated, her instincts screaming at her to turn back, but she forced herself to move forward. The lure of the veil was too much to resist.
Elias crouched down next to one of the stones to look at the old engravings. His fingers traced the symbols as if searching for a clue, a key to unlock the secrets of the veil. "These markings" he said "were as old as anything I've ever seen. This is where the veil was first anchored."
Aria watched him, her chest tight with anticipation. "What do we do?"
"We need to reinforce the veil," Elias said, his voice steady but strained. "But we can't do it alone. There's something else—something missing."
Aria frowned, glancing around the stone circle. The air felt electric, charged with unseen forces. "What's missing?"
Before Elias could answer, the ground beneath them rumbled, a low tremor that made the stones shudder. Aria's breath hitched in her throat as the earthquake grew stronger, the ground rolling under her feet. Something was happening—something powerful.
Suddenly, the glow around the stone circle flared, blindingly bright. Aria put her arm up in front of her face and took a step back as the light consumed them. She could hear Elias calling her name, but his voice was lost in a mighty roar like that of a great wind rushing through the trees.
The light was spinning around her and drawing her into the middle of the stone circle. Aria fought against it, her body shaking with the power of the energy that enveloped her. It was as if the veil itself was reacting to her presence, recognizing her in a way that was both frightening and exhilarating.
Then, as suddenly as it had started, the light dimmed once again, and the roar died. The earth stopped moving for her, and Ariana fell to her knees, panting. Her heart was beating out of her chest, and her hands trembled as she attempted to gain her balance.
Elias was right next to her the next second, looking at her with worried eyes. "Aria! Are you alright?"
"I... I don't know," she says, shaking. She could still feel the pull of the veil, stronger now than ever before, as if it were trying to draw her deeper into its secrets.
Elias's brow furrowed as he helped her to her feet. He said, "Something's wrong," and he glanced back at the stone circle. "The veil shouldn't have done that,"
Aria glanced at him, fear gripped her. "What does it mean?"
Elias's jaw clenched, his eyes dark with worry. "It means we don't have much time. The veil is weakening faster than I thought."
Aria's stomach twisted in knots. The veil had been too strong, too ancient, and she had felt that magic, and it had frightened her. However, beyond that, she realized that Elias was correct; their time was running out.
"What do we do now?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Elias's expression hardened. "We find Dominic. H
e's the only one that could possibly know how to end all this.