The silence was consuming, a void that filled every corner of the grand temple. Lysandra's heart pounded against her ribs as she stared at the empty space where the High Priestess had stood moments before. Her words echoed in her mind, "darkness does not wait for anyone...".
Shaking herself free from the trance-like state, Lysandra stumbled toward the temple's exit. The grand doors loomed ahead, towering and foreboding. Each step felt heavier, as though the shadows themselves were clinging to her.
As her hand brushed against the cool iron handle of the door, the ground beneath her feet began to tremble. The torches lining the walls flickered violently before extinguishing once more, plunging her into absolute blackness.
Then came the voice—a deep, resonating tone that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. "Awaken."
Lysandra gasped, spinning around, but there was nothing. Only the darkness and that single word, lingering like a command etched into her very being.
"Awaken." The voice came again, louder, more insistent.
She tried to cry out, but her voice was swallowed by the abyss. The trembling beneath her feet grew more violent, and the air seemed to hum with an unseen force. Suddenly, a piercing white light erupted, blinding her, and her surroundings dissolved into nothingness.
Lysandra's eyes snapped open, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She was no longer in the temple, nor even in the sacred city of Vaelthar. Instead, she was lying on the coarse, sandy floor of a tent, her vision adjusting to the dim light of a flickering lantern.
"Lysandra! Finally! You've been out cold for hours," a voice broke through the haze. It was sharp, tinged with impatience but laced with undeniable relief. A figure leaned over her—a man with piercing green eyes and a mischievous smirk that could only belong to Draven, the group's rogue.
The tent flapped open, and another figure entered, their presence radiating calm authority. It was Kael, their leader, his voice cutting through the lingering fog in her mind. "Good, she's awake. We're running out of time. The ruins won't wait for us."
Lysandra struggled to sit up, the remnants of her dream clinging to her consciousness. But was it truly a dream? The weight of the High Priestess's words still pressed on her, and somewhere in the back of her mind, a whisper lingered—a warning she couldn't yet comprehend.
______________________
Ardyn
The world around him pulsed with strange energy, and Ardyn opened his eyes to a ceiling that seemed made of solid shadows. The towering columns that framed the entrance of the ruins loomed around him like silent guardians. He blinked, trying to shake off the dizziness, while the echoes of familiar voices pulled him back to reality.
"He's waking up!" Lira's voice was the first to cut through the fog in his mind.
Ardyn groaned, sitting up with effort. His body ached as if he'd run a thousand miles, but his mind felt even heavier. The illusion had been so real. He ran a hand over his face, caked with dust, tasting the metallic air.
"That... was something," he muttered, as Sariah moved closer, inspecting him with a mix of curiosity and concern.
"You were out for more than ten minutes," she said. "We thought we lost you for good."
Jyn, standing beside her, only nodded, the faint blue glow in his hand fading. "An old trap. It seemed to link directly to your mind. Whatever it was, it was made to confuse and entrap."
Ardyn looked to the ground, the carvings beneath his feet flickering weakly before vanishing entirely. He stood up with Zakar's reluctant support. The bronzed warrior avoided eye contact, but Ardyn could sense the relief in his stiff movements.
"Thanks... but next time, maybe leave me in the illusion," he said with a wry smile. "It was more comfortable than this."
Lira scoffed from behind him, adjusting her crossbow with practiced ease. "You're saying that now. But you'd better prepare, because that trap was just the reception."
Ardyn's eyes scanned the surroundings. The air seemed alive, vibrating in invisible waves. The walls were covered with carvings that appeared to move when not directly observed. Each tilted column defied the laws of physics, while symbols glowed and disappeared like fleeting shooting stars.
"I know that was a scare," he began, his voice gaining strength. "But look around us. This place is unique. There are riches beyond imagination waiting here, just waiting for fools like us to find them."
Zakar crossed his arms. "Or waiting to devour us alive."
Ardyn shrugged, his eyes gleaming with dry humor. "Maybe. But what a story it would make, don't you think?"
Lira chuckled. "Only if we survive to tell it."
Ardyn moved forward, lighting a lantern with a gentle tap on the crystal base. The golden light danced across the dark walls, revealing more intricate details. "Well, then, let's make sure we survive. Stay alert. Jyn, keep checking for traps. Sariah, guide us with your archaeological instincts. And Lira... just keep being you."
The group exchanged hesitant glances before nodding. Slowly, they began to move, exploring the outskirts of the ruins with greater caution.
The silence of the ruins was unnerving as they moved deeper into the stone labyrinth. Every step felt like an intrusion on an ancient secret. Ardyn led the way, his boots crunching against the broken stone floor, each step echoing in the vast emptiness. The walls, covered in faded and shifting carvings, seemed to watch him, their images flickering and changing with every blink.
"Stay close," Ardyn called back over his shoulder, his voice low but steady. "This place... it doesn't like visitors."
Sariah, walking beside him, pulled a loose strand of dark hair behind her ear. Her black leather gloves creaked with each movement as she scanned the walls, murmuring to herself as she cataloged the bizarre symbols. Her sharp eyes missed nothing. A scholar at heart, she found beauty in the ruins even if the danger made her skin crawl. But she couldn't resist a smirk as Ardyn gave an exaggerated shiver.
"You're just afraid of the dark, aren't you?" she teased, her voice a mix of concern and amusement.
Ardyn grinned back at her, keeping his eyes forward. "It's not the dark that's the problem—it's what hides in it."
Jyn, walking just behind, adjusted the glowing orb strapped to his belt, casting a dim but steady light. His face was pale, eyes narrowed in concentration, always the quietest of the group. His long, spindly fingers tapped rhythmically against his staff, an ancient artifact passed down through his family, marked with runes that hummed faintly when touched by his magic.
He wasn't one for words, but his presence was an anchor. Every so often, his eyes darted toward the ceilings and the shifting patterns in the walls, alert for any sign of traps. His ability to sense magical disturbances gave them a unique edge in navigating this place. But even he couldn't hide the edge of worry in his eyes. The air was heavy with something he couldn't quite pinpoint.
Zakar, the towering bronze-skinned warrior, kept his gaze on their backs, his massive hand gripping the hilt of his blade with casual ease. His long, braided hair swung slightly with each step, his armor gleaming faintly even in the low light. "I don't like the way the walls move," he muttered under his breath. His voice, deep and gravelly, was always full of gravitas, but today, there was a slight tremor to it. "Too many places for things to hide."
Ardyn glanced back at him, his eyes dancing with humor despite the tension. "What, afraid of the walls? You've slain entire beast packs, but a little stonework is what makes you sweat?"
Zakar shot him a glare, but there was a trace of a smile playing on his lips. "You'll be the first one to run screaming, Ardyn. Just wait."
"Not if there's gold involved," Ardyn shot back with a grin, pushing forward as the group moved deeper into the labyrinth. His boots scraped the dusty floor, the echoes of their movements swirling in the emptiness.
Lira, still checking her crossbow with a meticulousness born of years of experience, rolled her eyes from the back of the group. "You both talk too much. Let's find something worth fighting for," she muttered, though the slight gleam in her eye betrayed her words. Lira was always the one to break the tension, wielding her sarcasm like a weapon, but when it came down to business, her focus was unmatched. She had a quick hand with her crossbow and wasn't afraid to use it. It was said that her aim was so accurate, she could hit a coin from fifty paces, but today, even she seemed on edge.
They passed through several narrow corridors, the air thick with dust and something... older. Ardyn's lantern flickered, casting shadows that danced along the jagged walls. The carvings seemed to shift again, as if reacting to their presence. The deeper they ventured, the stranger the symbols became—lines that writhed and stretched into impossible shapes, like faces that flickered and disappeared when looked at directly. They'd seen this before in the first chambers, but it was more pronounced here, as though the ruins were slowly coming to life.
"Should've brought more torches," Zakar muttered. His voice echoed in the tight space, and he scanned the shadows with a wary glance. "Something's off."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Ardyn said, his grin returning. "Guess the ruins know we're worth something after all."
Sariah paused, touching the wall lightly, her fingers tracing the strange symbols with an intense focus. "These markings... They're not just decorative," she said softly. "There's a pattern here. Almost like... they're guiding us."
"Guiding us to what? A tomb?" Jyn asked, his tone dry as he raised his staff to light their path further.
"Or to something far worse," Zakar added darkly, casting a quick glance over his shoulder.
"Don't be such a downer," Ardyn responded cheerfully, trying to push back the unease gnawing at the edges of his mind. "We'll find what we came for. And when we do, it's going to be worth more than all the fear in this place."
As they continued through the dark, the labyrinth of the ruins seemed to press in around them, alive with an ancient intelligence they could barely comprehend. The air seemed to hum, the stones themselves alive with history, whispering secrets they weren't meant to understand.
But for the moment, they were undeterred. This was their world—the ruins, the danger, the wealth—and they would conquer it, one step at a time.
The air grew heavier as they ventured deeper, each step reverberating in the tight corridors like a heartbeat. The faint glow of their lanterns painted the walls with eerie, shifting shadows. Sariah, holding a slender vial filled with a faintly glowing liquid, was the first to break the silence.
"Something's not right," she whispered, her voice barely audible. Her eyes darted around, tracing the symbols on the walls, but there was no answer, only the flickering light of their torches. "These symbols... they don't make sense. Not even the ones we saw earlier."
Ardyn stepped closer to her, peering at the ancient carvings. They looked... familiar, yet foreign. They twisted and danced, as though the rock itself was alive, and for a split second, he swore the symbols shifted when he wasn't looking directly at them.
"We've come too far to turn back now," Ardyn said, his voice firm. He clapped his hands together, drawing the group's attention. "Look, we know the risks. But we've survived worse, right? This place is a tomb, sure, but it's also a treasure trove. And the deeper we go, the better the rewards."
Zakar grunted, wiping a thin sheen of sweat from his forehead as he tightened his grip on his sword. "Just don't tell me you've forgotten about the last trap we barely escaped."
"Not forgetting," Ardyn replied with a wink. "Just choosing to remember that we're here for the riches. No time for second-guessing."
As they pressed forward, the walls seemed to close in, the passages narrowing until they had to walk in single file. The deeper they went, the more intense the silence became, broken only by their breathing and the occasional scrape of stone against their boots.
In the dim light, Jyn caught a glimmer from something ahead. "Over here," he called softly, lifting his staff to illuminate the space ahead. The group gathered around him, eyes widening at the discovery.
A small chamber, hidden behind a thin curtain of vines, revealed what seemed to be an ancient altar. Its surface was covered in dust, but the faint glow of crystals embedded within the stone hinted at something powerful.
Sariah knelt cautiously, her fingers tracing the intricate carvings along the altar. "This... this isn't just a relic. This is something much older."
Ardyn squatted down beside her, a grin forming on his lips. "Old, shiny, and worth a fortune. That's all I need to know."
As he looked up, something shifted in the air—a whisper too soft to catch, but it sent a shiver down his spine. "We're getting closer," he muttered, eyes glinting with excitement and suspicion.
The group exchanged uneasy glances. The pressure of the unknown pressed in on them. The treasure they sought was close, but so was whatever dangers lurked within these ancient walls.