The darkness within the old quarries was absolute, as if it were a thick substance wrapping around everything. The passages were narrow, carved into the hard black rock, with low ceilings that forced the three of them to crouch in some places.
"These quarries were the source of the stones used to build the Third City," whispered Lemon, using a small light to illuminate the way. "But they were sealed off centuries ago after the incident."
"What incident?" asked Aliana.
"It's said that a group of workers dug too deep and found… something. Something that forever changed how they perceived pain."
"And that's how the Cult of Pain began in the Third City," said Nayari, pointing to carvings on the walls depicting people in various states of suffering, their faces expressing a strange blend of agony and ecstasy.
"Not exactly," Lemon corrected. "The Third City was always dedicated to pain and healing, ever since the formation of the Seven Cities. But what they discovered here shifted their philosophy from using pain as a means of healing to venerating it as an end in itself."
Aliana suddenly stopped, placing her hand on the wall. "Do you feel that? The pulse."
There was indeed a strange vibration coursing through the rock, a slow, steady rhythm, like the heartbeat of a giant deep within the mountain.
"It's the third crystal," said Nayari, her orange crystal glowing brighter with each pulse. "It's in pain."
They continued their descent through a maze of passages, steadily heading deeper into the mountain. The temperature began to rise gradually, and the air grew heavy, laden with a strange metallic scent.
Suddenly, the tunnel opened into a massive cavern within the mountain, an underground cathedral of sorts. Its towering ceiling was adorned with glowing red crystals, and its floor consisted of multiple tiers connected by staircases carved directly into the rock. At the heart of the cavern stood a colossal structure of black metal, shaped like a giant vertical ring, surrounded by smaller rotating rings of glowing red crystals.
"The Temple of Inner Pain," whispered Lemon, a mix of reverence and fear in his voice.
"There," Aliana pointed to the core of the metallic structure. "The Third Guardian."
Suspended within the central ring, held aloft by thin strands of red light, was a figure—a slender, nearly naked body, head bowed forward, with long blond hair obscuring the face. From the figure's forehead, precisely where the brow should be, emanated a deep crimson crystal, pulsing powerfully and sending waves of energy into the surrounding structure.
"They're torturing him," Nayari said in shock. "They're using his pain to power their machines."
"There are guards," Lemon warned, gesturing toward figures moving across various levels of the cavern—men and women wearing red masks and dark robes, armed with long spears tipped with glowing heads.
"How do we reach him?" Nayari whispered.
Aliana quickly surveyed the scene. "The lower platform seems the least guarded. We can sneak through those side openings and reach the central supports of the structure."
"And after that?"
"We'll improvise."
With utmost caution, they crept away from their vantage point, following a winding side path that descended to the lower level of the cavern. The shadows were thick here, providing ample cover for their movements.
As they got closer, a strange sound began to reach their ears—a low, continuous moan, emanating from everywhere and nowhere at once.
"The sound of his suffering," Nayari whispered, her hand resting on her crystal. "It's feeding the entire cavern."
They reached the base of the metallic structure and hid behind a massive stone pillar. From there, they could see the Third Guardian more clearly, as well as the guards moving in regular patterns around the structure.
Suddenly, a large door on the far side of the cavern opened, and a small group entered: a man in a dark red robe and a half-mask, followed by a figure in a completely white robe and a featureless white mask.
"The White Nexus," Aliana whispered. "And the other one looks like the high priest of the temple."
They watched as the group advanced to a raised platform in front of the metallic structure. The high priest gestured with his hand, and the metallic rings began spinning faster, causing the Guardian's moans to intensify.
"They're increasing the pain," Lemon said through gritted teeth. "They're demonstrating the power of the device."
"We need to move now, before they take him," Aliana decided.
"But the guards—"
"I'll distract them," Nayari interrupted Lemon, her eyes glowing a deep orange. "My crystal feeds on dreams; I can create an illusion."
She closed her eyes, focusing on her crystal, which began to emit a powerful light. Suddenly, fiery orange specters emerged from the crystal, taking shape in the air as massive flaming birds that soared through the cavern.
Shouts of surprise and fear erupted from the guards, who began running in different directions, trying to fend off the illusory creatures.
"Now!" Aliana shouted, darting toward the metallic structure, with Lemon close behind her.
They reached the base of the structure, and Aliana dashed to the inner platform, directly beneath the central ring. But from there, there was no clear path to reach the Guardian suspended above.
"How do we get to him?" Lemon asked urgently.
Aliana touched her blue crystal, which was now glowing brilliantly, resonating with the pulses of the red crystal above.
"I know what to do," she said, then looked at Lemon. "Stay here and keep watch. I'll need your help when I bring him down."
"What are you going to do?"
Instead of answering, Aliana leaped onto the nearest metallic column and began climbing with surprising agility, moving between the supports as if she had done it a thousand times before.
"Warrior memories," Lemon thought, realizing she was drawing on skills stolen by Cairn before their merging.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the cavern, the White Nexus observed the chaos—the fiery illusory birds—and immediately understood what was happening.
"She's here," he said to the high priest. "The Memory Keeper has arrived. We must extract the crystal now."
"But the procedure takes time," the high priest protested. "Separating the crystal from the Guardian improperly could destroy the entire device."
"There's no time!" the White Nexus snapped, rushing toward the central platform and pulling a strange tool from his pocket—a scalpel-like device that glowed with a cold white light.
By this time, Aliana had reached the level of the suspended Guardian. Up close, he looked even more wretched—his body thin and pale, covered in both old and fresh scars, his head hanging as if unconscious.
"Guardian," Aliana whispered, extending a hand to touch his shoulder. "Can you hear me?"
The Guardian slowly lifted his head, revealing the face of a young man, perhaps in his early twenties, strikingly beautiful despite his pallor and exhaustion. His crimson eyes glowed like his crystal, and his cracked lips parted in a faint, weary smile.
"Memory Keeper," he whispered, his voice hoarse. "I saw you… in my pain. I knew you would come."
"I'm going to get you out of here," Aliana promised, attempting to touch the strands of light binding him, only to pull her hand back in pain. "Ah! They're hot!"
"They can only be broken… by the power of the crystals," the Guardian murmured. "Yours… and hers."
"Nayari!" Aliana called out. At the bottom of the cave, Nayari was still focused on her illusion, fiery birds multiplying and soaring everywhere. She heard Alyana's call and looked up. She immediately understood what was needed and began climbing the metal structure from the other side, heading toward the guardian and Alyana.
But the white Pivot was faster, closer. He leaped onto the central platform and began climbing with astonishing speed, his surgical tool in hand.
"You will not take the third crystal!" he shouted angrily. "The Eighth City will not be completed! We have protected the world from chaos for five hundred years, and we will not let Cairn and his shadow destroy everything!"
The Pivot reached a level close to the third guardian and began extending his hand toward the red crystal on its forehead.
"No!" Alyana screamed, rushing toward the Pivot and shoving him forcefully.
The Pivot clung to a metal support but lost his tool, which fell to the ground below, where Limon quickly retrieved it.
"Nayari! Now!" Alyana shouted.
Nayari reached the guardian's level from the other side and managed to get to him. She looked at Alyana, and they communicated without words. Each placed a hand on one side of the light threads binding the guardian, and simultaneously, they touched their crystals.
Something extraordinary happened: a dual beam of light shot out from the blue and orange crystals, meeting halfway toward the red crystal on the guardian's forehead, which began to glow with immense power.
"Gods of pain!" exclaimed the High Priest from below. "What are they doing to the Source?"
The light threads binding the guardian began to unravel and evaporate like water on a hot surface. Simultaneously, the entire metal structure started to shake, and the metallic rings slowed their rotation.
The white Pivot, who had regained his balance, tried once more to reach the guardian, but Alyana rushed at him, pushing him away forcefully, causing him to lose his footing and fall onto one of the side platforms.
The third guardian was finally freed from his bindings and fell downward, where Limon caught him with difficulty.
"We need to get out of here!" Limon shouted to Alyana and Nayari. "The priests are gathering!"
Indeed, dozens of priests in red robes were assembling at the bottom of the cave, some beginning to climb the metal structure toward them.
Alyana and Nayari quickly descended and met up with Limon, who was carrying the weakened guardian.
"This way!" Nayari pointed to a small, barely visible side passage in the cave's shadows. "I saw it in a dream!"
The group ran toward the passage as shouts of anger and pursuit grew louder behind them. They entered the narrow passage, which sloped steeply downward, propelling them quickly away from the cave.
"Where does this lead?" Limon asked, panting from carrying the guardian.
"To the deepest level," the third guardian replied weakly. "The river beneath the mountain."
"A river?" Alyana questioned.
"The River of Pain... it flows from the Third City to... the outside."
After minutes of rapid descent, they heard the sound of rushing water. The passage suddenly opened into a smaller cave, where a fast-flowing black river shimmered with strange red reflections.
"There are boats," Limon pointed to two small wooden boats tied to the riverbank.
"They are ritual boats," the guardian explained faintly. "Used to cast offerings into the river."
The sounds of pursuit echoed from the passage behind them—many footsteps running, angry shouts.
"No other choice!" Alyana decided quickly. "To the boats!"
They placed the third guardian in one of the boats, and Alyana joined him, while Nayari and Limon boarded the other. Limon untied the ropes securing the boats to the bank, and the black river's waters carried them away with astonishing speed.
As they surged through a dark tunnel, the black river's waters churning around them, the priests of the Third City appeared at the cave's entrance, furious and frustrated. At their forefront stood the white Pivot, his white mask reflecting the glow of the red crystals, his gray eyes coldly tracking the retreating boats.
"You will not escape," he whispered to himself. "The crystals will not unite. The Eighth City will never emerge."
The black river carried them swiftly through winding tunnels within the mountain, constantly descending. Controlling the boats in the rapid current was difficult, and they frequently collided with the tunnel walls, clinging to the boat's edges to avoid falling into the black waters.
After what felt like an hour of continuous flow, the tunnels began to widen, the ceiling rose, and the waters calmed slightly. Finally, the tunnel opened into a vast valley, exposed under the sky.
The sky was at the cusp of dawn, a faint pink light filtering through dark clouds. They managed to steer the boats toward the riverbank, where they finally stopped, exhausted and soaked but relatively safe.
Alyana helped the third guardian out of the boat. He was still weak but able to stand with her support. Up close, he was a slender young man, his face pale but strikingly handsome, his red eyes glowing faintly in the dim light, and his long blond hair clinging to his face, damp from the river.
"What is your name?" Alyana asked him gently.
"Saril," he replied weakly. "Or at least, that was what I was called before... before they took me to the temple."
"How long were you there?"
He looked up at the sky as if seeing it for the first time in a long while. "I don't know. Years, maybe. Time... pain makes time meaningless."
The red crystal on his forehead now glowed more softly, in harmony with Alyana's blue crystal and Nayari's orange crystal.
"What exactly did they do to you?" Limon asked angrily. "How did they use you?"
"The crystal awakened in my head on the Day of Great Remembrance," Saril explained. "I was... a trainee doctor in the Third City. But when the crystal appeared, I discovered it gave me the ability to absorb pain from others and transform it into healing energy."
He closed his eyes in anguish, recalling what had happened next. "But the temple priests found me. They saw my ability as an opportunity... an opportunity to generate immense energy from concentrated pain. They bound me to the device, and instead of allowing me to alleviate pain, they forced me to gather it, concentrate it, and redirect it."
"To power their temple and machines," Alyana said angrily.
"Yes. They used the energy to control the city, operate distillation stations, light the temples... and sometimes to dominate the minds of dissenters."
Nayari, who had been gazing at the valley around them, suddenly turned. "Where are we now? And where do we go next?"
"This is the Valley of Tears," Saril said. "The river flows from here to the Lost Sea, on the border of the Fourth City."
"The Fourth City," Alyana whispered, her hand resting on her crystal. "The City of Love."
"The fourth guardian is there," Saril confirmed. "I saw her in visions of pain... a woman with a green crystal, walking among the waves."
"Then that's our next destination," Alyana decided, looking up at the sky where the moon was still visible, slowly approaching the sun in the path of the coming eclipse. "We have no time to waste. We must reach the Lost Sea before the white Pivot does." "I... I'm not sure I can keep walking," Saril admitted.
"We don't need to walk," Lemon interjected. "The river will take us straight to the sea."
"But I must warn you," Saril said seriously. "The Lost Sea is not a safe place. It is said that the dead swim beneath its surface, and its waters reflect the deepest desires of the heart, making it deadly for those who cannot face themselves."
"Fitting for the City of Love," Nayari remarked with a peculiar smile.
Alyana turned to the group. "We'll take a short break here, regain our strength, and then continue our journey along the river. With three crystals now in our possession, we can withstand the challenges ahead."
"And what about the White Sentinel?" Lemon asked worriedly. "He won't give up easily."
"Certainly not," Alyana agreed. "But we have the upper hand now. He'll think we're heading to Idolith. He won't expect us to go directly for the fourth crystal."
As they rested by the riverbank, the three crystals—the blue, orange, and red—glowed together in a harmonious pattern, as if exchanging knowledge and power. In the sky, the sun and moon drew closer, setting a cosmic appointment determined by forces older than time itself.
The journey to the Eighth City had truly begun in earnest, and the countdown to the Great Eclipse quickened with every passing hour.