The stairway opened like a wound in the earth—spiraling downward into the dark, its edges slick with moss and time. Kael stepped cautiously, the light from Elira's torch casting long shadows against the stone walls. Behind him, Tovan moved with wary precision, one hand on the hilt of his sidearm, the other trailing along the wall as if it might betray them at any moment.
"It's too quiet," Tovan muttered. "Old ruins don't stay this still. Something's off."
Kael didn't respond immediately. The weight of the Echoheart pressed warm and faint against his chest, pulsing in sync with his heartbeat. He wondered—not for the first time—whether the relic was truly a guide or something more. It felt almost alive, its rhythm matching his own too perfectly. Was it attuning to him... or reshaping him? The sensation was like a whisper just beyond hearing. Something below called to him. He just didn't know why.
Elira, ever the peacemaker, broke the tension. "We've come this far. Let's not turn back when we're this close to answers."
The stairway ended at a crumbling archway. Beyond it, a vast subterranean hall opened—supported by ancient pillars, worn by water and time. Motes of blue light shimmered in the air, casting an ethereal glow. The air itself seemed to hum with dormant magic.
Kael stepped forward, boots crunching against gravel and old bones. The brittle snap beneath his feet made him pause—were these the remnants of long-forgotten explorers, or something older? A flicker of unease tightened his chest. He crouched briefly, brushing dust away from a fractured skull, curiosity wrestling with caution. The air was thick with history, and it gnawed at the edges of his thoughts. Still, he moved onward, drawn by something deeper than fear. A shiver crawled down his spine. Disturbed, cautious, and curious all at once, he turned slowly, taking in the chamber.
Across the far wall, faded murals stretched floor to ceiling—depictions of armored figures wielding strange relics, their forms frozen in mid-battle. The sky above them cracked with lightning shaped like runes.
"This... this is the Old War," Kael whispered. "Relicbearers. They were real."
"Or someone really wanted us to believe they were," Tovan said, frowning. But even he couldn't hide his awe.
Kael took a few more steps before the Echoheart pulsed again—harder this time. A sharp breath escaped his lips, and suddenly he was somewhere else.
Not in the chamber. Not now.
The world flickered.
He saw flames. Screams. A figure cloaked in light hurling a crystalline sphere into a shattering sky. Runes exploded. A woman's voice—anguished, powerful—shouted something he couldn't understand. Then darkness.
He gasped, stumbling. Elira caught his arm. "Kael?"
"I saw... I don't know. Something from the past. Like a memory that wasn't mine."
Tovan's eyes narrowed. "That relic's digging into your head."
Kael steadied himself, sweat beading on his brow. "Maybe. But I think it's trying to show me something. Warn me."
At the center of the room lay a great circular mosaic, mostly intact. Symbols of relics, runes, and constellations spiraled inward, ending at a sun-shaped core.
"This looks like a seal," Elira murmured. "A locking mechanism?"
Kael knelt, touching one of the outer stones. The Echoheart hummed again.
Instinct took over. He began moving the pieces, aligning symbols by feeling more than logic. Each turn of a stone echoed in the chamber, and light began to fill the mosaic. A low rumble followed.
Tovan drew his weapon. "What did you just wake up?"
The floor trembled. From behind one of the broken pillars, a massive shape emerged. Stone and rusted metal, vaguely humanoid, its chest marked with the same sun emblem as the seal. Its eyes ignited with blue flame.
A relic guardian.
It moved with surprising speed for its size, slamming its arm down where Kael had stood a moment ago. He rolled aside, winded, heart hammering. The roar of stone shattered the air.
"Elira! The joints!" Tovan shouted, firing into the gaps of the guardian's armor. Sparks flew, but it barely staggered.
Kael reached for the Echoheart, willing it to respond.
The warmth surged through him, and suddenly, the world slowed—just for a heartbeat. He saw the arc of the guardian's swing before it moved, the shift of rubble beneath Elira's boots.
Echo vision.
He shouted, "Left flank, now!" as the Echoheart flared with searing heat against his chest. Time dilated—each droplet of dust suspended in the air, each spark from Tovan's bullets casting long, slow arcs of light. Kael could hear the groan of the guardian's servos like thunder underwater, smell the sharp tang of ozone and stone grinding against stone. He felt the pulse of the relic coursing through his limbs like an ancient rhythm, guiding him—not just to move, but to act with purpose.
Is this what it means to carry a relic? he thought, even as adrenaline surged. Is it just power—or is it purpose?
Elira dove, blade slicing through exposed gears. The guardian roared, staggering. Kael darted in, pressing his hand to its core. The Echoheart reacted with a burst of blinding light. The guardian froze—then collapsed into a pile of inert stone.
The chamber fell silent again.
They stood in the stillness, panting.
"What... was that?" Elira asked.
Kael looked down at his hand, the Echoheart's glow fading. "A glimpse of what's to come."
Tovan stepped forward, nudging the fallen guardian with his boot. "Whatever it is, it's dangerous."
"Maybe," Kael said. "But it's also our only lead."
Beneath the guardian's remains lay a rusted coffer. Elira pried it open, revealing fragments of parchment, an old insignia, and a broken brass plate. Etched onto its surface: Vareth.
Kael's breath caught. The name stirred something—an echo in the back of his mind, like a word he'd once heard in a dream but could never place. A chill crept down his spine, unprovoked yet familiar. It clung to him like an omen.
"Vareth." He said it aloud, the syllables bitter and strange. "Why does that name feel like it matters?"
Before anyone could speak, a faint clicking echoed from a tunnel deeper within the shrine.
Tovan raised his weapon again. "We're not alone."
Kael looked ahead, toward the dark passage, his fingers curling around the relic.
The Echoheart pulsed again.
And this time, it wasn't alone.