The wind tore at Kael's cloak as he stood frozen, eyes locked on the stranger. Lorent stepped beside him, blade drawn but trembling slightly, not from fear, but anticipation. Seris's fingers tightened around the circlet at her brow, where a faint pulse of heat warned her something old and watchful had awakened.
The stranger stepped closer. He was lean, wrapped in a tattered coat that shimmered oddly in the shifting light. His silver hair moved like smoke, eyes gleaming violet beneath the hood. "You've already opened the wound," he said, voice laced with an ancient bitterness. "Now let's see if you can survive what bleeds from it."
"Who are you?" Seris demanded. Her voice held authority, but beneath it, the threads of unease were taut.
The man tilted his head. "Once, I was called Vaelir. I served the Crown before it shattered. I walked with your ancestors… until they betrayed their oaths."
Kael stepped forward, his blade angled low. "If you served the Crown, why stand in our way?"
"I don't," Vaelir said simply. "But the path ahead does not want you. And it will test you. Break you. Unless…"
"Unless what?" Aeren asked, his bow already drawn, one arrow glowing faintly with runes.
"Unless you let go of your old loyalties. The world you're trying to rebuild is buried beneath its own lies."
The air crackled. Behind them, the ancient gate groaned louder. A dull light shimmered in its frame, pale, like dawn trying to break through ash.
Lorent muttered, "Something's moving inside…"
Before anyone could speak, the gates burst open.
Dark wind howled out, no air, no dust, just… voices. Whispers, screams, chants in languages long dead. The magic struck them like a wave. Kael stumbled back, clutching his temple as visions poured in: cities aflame, silver-winged beasts overhead, children with burning eyes… and Seris, dressed in gold and weeping blood.
"Kael!" Seris's voice rang through the chaos, grounding him. She gripped his shoulder, steadying him, her touch a tether to the present.
"What, what is this place?" Lorent gasped, staring past the gate. The ground within shimmered with shifting illusions, ruins that changed shape, sky blinking between twilight and fire.
"It's a trial," Vaelir said. "A proving ground. It remembers every oath broken on its soil. Every betrayal. That is what you stepped into."
"And why are you here?" Kael snarled.
"To see if you survive it."
With that, Vaelir stepped through the gate and vanished into the shifting shadows.
Seris hesitated only a moment before following, jaw set, her silhouette glowing faintly as the circlet shimmered. Kael grabbed Lorent's arm and nodded toward Aeren, who still had his bow ready. "We go together. No one splits."
Inside, the Hollow Gate was a world unto itself. Illusions came alive; Kael saw faces from his past flicker before him: comrades long dead, his father with a blade through his chest, Seris walking away from him in the old world, saying nothing.
Seris flinched as the whispers intensified in her ear. The circlet pulsed against her skin, and suddenly she stood in a memory, not hers, but someone else's. She was kneeling in the ash of a battlefield, blood soaking her dress, and a dark figure offered her a crown she didn't want.
"Take it," the voice murmured. "Or your people will be forgotten."
She tore herself back to reality, panting.
Kael caught her. "You saw it too?"
"Something like it. This place… it digs through us."
They pressed deeper. The gate wound into a maze of shattered halls and broken towers, overgrown with glowing vines and arcane roots. Symbols flickered on the stones, echoes of the old kingdom.
As they reached a wide chamber with collapsed columns and murals of forgotten kings, a hum began. A low, bone-deep vibration.
Vaelir appeared again, standing atop the ruins. "This is where the first vow was broken. And the first rebellion began."
"What vow?" Seris asked.
"The vow to bind magic only to the worthy. Your ancestors broke it. They made magic a weapon, not a gift."
Kael stepped forward. "Then help us fix it. Don't hide behind riddles and tests."
Vaelir's gaze softened. "I test you because you might be the last ones who can. But first, you must pass."
At that, three figures emerged from the side arches, phantoms of the past, robed in smoke and shadow. Their faces were twisted masks, but their magic was real. One raised a hand, and the chamber exploded into motion.
Kael met the first with steel, spinning low to dodge a blast of force, countering with a vicious uppercut. Lorent dashed to his side, spears clashing against unnatural blades.
Seris called out a word, one she didn't remember learning, and light burst from her hand, forming a shield around Aeren as he took aim at the tallest figure.
The battle was brutal, chaotic, beautiful.
Every strike seemed to echo through the walls, every wound deeper than it should have been. But they fought as one.
Kael and Seris, back to back.
Lorent and Aeren guarding the flanks.
Vaelir watching from above.
Then, silence.
The phantoms collapsed into ash. The magic waned.
Seris fell to her knees, heart pounding. Kael knelt beside her, placing a hand over hers.
"We passed," he said.
"For now," Vaelir replied. "But the true gate lies deeper still."
The walls behind him cracked open, revealing a spiral staircase winding down into glowing darkness.
"Come," Vaelir said. "You've earned the right to descend."
They didn't move at first.
For a moment, only the sound of their breathing filled the chamber, ragged, uneven, alive. Seris leaned against the stone, her hair damp with sweat, eyes fixed on the spiral staircase.
Kael watched her in silence, the torchlight softening the harsh lines of her expression. She'd fought like flame itself, untamed and brilliant, but now she looked… tired. And something else he couldn't name.
He crouched beside her. "You alright?"
She gave a short, breathless laugh. "Define alright."
He smiled, small but real. "Still standing. That counts."
Aeren wandered closer, brushing ash from his sleeves. "I don't know about you lot, but I vote we rest before we follow silver-hair into glowing doom."
"I second that," Lorent added, sitting down heavily with a grunt. "Next time, can we face something that bleeds normally?"
Kael's gaze shifted to Vaelir, who stood at the top of the spiral stairs like a ghost refusing to vanish. "He said we passed. But what if this was the easy part?"
Seris turned her face toward him, eyes unreadable. "Then we do what we've always done. Keep going."
Kael nodded slowly. "Together."
She hesitated, just for a breath, before answering. "Together."
The word echoed between them.
For the first time in days, Kael reached for her hand. She let him.
Down below, the staircase waited.
Whatever came next, it would not be gentle. But it would be theirs.