The walls pulsed with an eerie blue glow, the strange carvings shifting as if alive. Kael's breath was steady, but his heartbeat pounded in his ears. This place—wherever they were—felt ancient, untouched by time yet waiting for something.
Rion ran his fingers across one of the glowing symbols. "It's warm," he murmured.
Maren kept her blade drawn, scanning the corridor ahead. "Stay focused. We don't know what's down here."
Kael stepped forward, his shard flickering faintly in response to the strange energy surrounding them. It wasn't like the power of the Dominion. This was something older. Something different.
The passage ahead was narrow, forcing them to move single file. The deeper they went, the colder the air became. Every few steps, Kael swore he could hear whispers—soft, distant, but unmistakably real.
Then the floor trembled.
A deep rumble echoed through the corridor, and the walls shifted again, the carvings twisting and rearranging themselves.
"We need to move," Kael said, quickening his pace.
But before they could take another step, the ground beneath them gave way.
Kael hit the ground hard, the impact knocking the air from his lungs. Dust and debris filled the air, making it hard to see. He groaned, pushing himself up.
"Everyone okay?" he called out.
Maren coughed. "Alive."
Rion groaned from nearby. "I think I bruised everything."
Kael shook the dust from his hair and looked around. They had fallen into a vast chamber, unlike anything he had ever seen. Massive stone pillars stretched into darkness, and at the center of the room stood an altar, covered in the same glowing symbols as the walls.
The air felt thick, charged with energy.
Then—
A low hum filled the chamber. The carvings along the walls flared brighter, and the whispers grew louder.
Kael instinctively reached for his shard, but the moment he touched it, pain shot through his arm. His vision blurred, and suddenly, he wasn't in the chamber anymore.
He was somewhere else.
A battlefield.
The sky burned red, and the ground was littered with bodies. Warriors in armor unlike any he had seen before fought against massive, monstrous beings. Shards of light and darkness clashed in the sky, explosions shaking the earth.
At the center of it all stood a lone figure. Cloaked in black, wielding a blade that pulsed with raw power.
Kael felt his breath hitch.
This… this wasn't just a vision. This was the past.
The cloaked figure turned, and though Kael couldn't see his face, he felt a presence—ancient, powerful, and familiar in a way he couldn't explain.
Then, the figure spoke.
"The cycle must be broken."
Kael gasped as the vision shattered, reality snapping back into place. He collapsed onto his hands and knees, his body trembling.
Maren was at his side in an instant. "Kael! What happened?"
"I… I saw something," he rasped. "A war. A battle against something beyond us."
He looked up at the altar.
Something was waiting for them here.
And it had been waiting for a long time