The sky was still painted in shades of lavender when Kaen's team boarded the transport glyph at dawn. A flash of light enveloped them, and seconds later they stood at the edge of a scarred wasteland.
The collapsed rift site was a wound on the world itself. Cracks veined the earth in glowing crimson, and the scent of ozone and charred mana clung to the air. In the distance, black stone pillars jutted from the ground—remnants of an ancient ruin that had surfaced after the rift's destabilization.
Lirien led the group forward. Her eyes were sharp, senses on edge. "Stay close. Dimensional residue is unstable. Any wrong step could send you into a fragment zone."
Zian summoned a scout from her shadows, sending it gliding ahead like a whisper of death. "No signs of movement yet… but something's watching. I can feel it."
Kaen walked silently, hands in his pockets. His gaze wasn't on the ground—it was on the sky. The leylines shimmered faintly in the air, threads of old memory bleeding into the present.
"What exactly are we looking for here?" Mira asked, adjusting her gloves.
"Answers," Rin replied, activating her scan array. "But more likely… remnants."
Selene knelt near one of the cracked pillars. She ran her hand across it, fingers glowing with runes. "These weren't part of the original topography. This place… was pulled up from beneath."
"A buried city?" Kyel asked.
"More like a prison," Kaen murmured.
Everyone turned toward him.
Kaen stepped forward and pointed to the pattern etched into the earth around the collapsed rift. "These aren't natural ley fractures. They're chains. Binding sigils."
"So something was sealed here," Rayden said grimly.
"And now it's stirring," Zian added.
As they pressed deeper into the ruin, the air thickened. Whispers began to echo—not in sound, but in thought. Each member of the group heard different voices—memories not their own.
Rin staggered, clutching her head. "These echoes… they're pre-language. Emotion given form."
Kaen's steps slowed. He touched one of the rune-covered stones.
And the world blinked.
For a brief moment, the ruin shimmered into its original state: tall towers, radiant symbols, a great white tree standing at its center—its branches chained, its roots buried in shadow.
Then it was gone.
Kaen's eyes narrowed.
"She's reaching," he whispered.
And far beneath their feet, something ancient exhaled.