The silence of the night pressed down like a heavy shroud. In the distance, an owl hooted, its cry echoing through the forest canopy as if warning of something unseen. Aria moved carefully, each step deliberate, her breath slow and controlled.
She wasn't alone.
From the moment they had crossed the threshold into the ruins of Eldryn, she had felt it—eyes watching, unseen presences shifting between shadows. The air was thick with ancient energy, almost tangible, and it pulsed with a rhythm that didn't match her own heartbeat.
"Don't stray," Kael whispered beside her, his voice barely audible. "Whatever's here… it remembers us."
They moved deeper into the ruins, broken stone pillars rising around them like the ribs of some long-dead beast. Faint glyphs still glowed along the moss-covered walls—runes of an older time, a language neither of them could read but both could feel. Aria brushed her fingertips across one of the symbols and flinched. A vision flashed before her eyes—a war-torn sky, flames devouring cities, and a pair of golden eyes weeping blood.
"What did you see?" Kael asked quickly, steadying her.
"I'm not sure," Aria murmured. "But it wasn't just memory. It was a warning."
A sudden gust of wind tore through the ruins, extinguishing Kael's lantern. Darkness swallowed them.
For a few breathless seconds, they stood motionless, listening. Then came the sound of footsteps—not theirs. Slow. Deliberate.
Kael reached for his blade. "We need to move."
They ran—dodging rubble, racing through collapsed archways—until they found shelter in what looked like an old sanctum. Inside, the air was warmer, somehow more alive. A great stone relief stood in the center, depicting a woman cloaked in feathers, her hands outstretched as if offering something to the heavens.
"That's her," Aria whispered, staring at the carving.
"The Raven Queen," Kael said.
Aria stepped closer, a magnetic pull drawing her in. "She's holding something…"
Embedded in the stone was a shallow depression, and within it, a small crystal pulsed with soft violet light.
Before Kael could stop her, Aria reached out.
The moment her fingers touched the crystal, the room vanished.
She stood in a void, weightless, surrounded by swirling threads of light. And there, in the distance, stood the Raven Queen herself—eyes like stars, voice like the wind.
"You have come far, child of the old blood," she said. "But the path forward is not one of survival—it is one of sacrifice."
Aria trembled. "What do you want from me?"
The Queen smiled.
"To awaken the world… you must first awaken yourself."
Then everything shattered into light.