The air grew still as Hine and the Silent Soul ventured deeper into the labyrinthine caverns beneath the ruins. Torches flickered against the damp stone walls, their flames weak and hesitant, as if reluctant to illuminate what lay ahead. The silence pressed heavy, broken only by the rhythmic echo of their footsteps.
Hine's mind was restless. The murals they had discovered above still lingered in her thoughts. Images of the Heavenly Principles towering over Teyvat's rulers, of Archons bound in reverence and rebellion alike, danced vividly in her mind. She could not shake the feeling that the ruins had been meant for her to find.
Her fingers brushed against the pendant hanging around her neck, the shard now cool and quiet against her skin. It had been her lifeline during the battle with the Night Beasts, its warmth closing her wounds with an almost divine precision. She had felt its power, but she still did not understand it. Not fully.
The Silent Soul's voice broke the quiet. "You feel it, don't you?"
Hine glanced at him, eyes narrowing. "Feel what?"
"That pull. The shard answering to you," he said. His voice was calm, almost detached, but his eyes told a different story. They glinted with something sharp, as though he were weighing his words carefully.
"I don't know what you mean," she said, though the denial tasted hollow. She did feel it. Every step, every thought, every beat of her heart seemed in tune with that piece of crystal. It was like carrying a sleeping storm within her chest.
The Silent Soul stopped abruptly. The tunnel widened into a chamber, its ceiling lost in shadow. Strange symbols, carved in a language older than the winds, spiraled across the walls. The faint hum of ancient energy vibrated through the stone, resonating in Hine's bones.
"Your blood," he said at last, his voice soft but edged with something almost reverent. "It is not ordinary."
The words struck her harder than she expected. She blinked, trying to understand. "What are you saying?"
He turned toward her fully now, his silhouette framed by the pale glow of the ruins. "There is a reason the shard chose you. A reason it listens when you call. The power you carry... it runs deeper than you know."
Hine's chest tightened. "You're saying this is about my bloodline? About Mavuika?"
"Yes," the Silent Soul replied. "And no. Your sister was chosen because of what you both are, but you... you are different. There is something ancient in you, something that even the Heavenly Principles themselves could not fully erase."
She took a step back, the weight of his words crashing down like a wave. "Erase? What are you talking about?"
He hesitated, his gaze drifting toward the swirling symbols on the wall as if searching for an answer there. "Long ago, before the Seven, before the Archons even took their thrones, there were those who challenged the order of Celestia. The blood of one of them runs through your veins."
The room felt colder suddenly, the torchlight flickering wildly as if stirred by an unseen wind. Hine's mind raced. She had heard legends whispered in distant villages about beings older than gods, about wars waged not for land or worship but for freedom itself. But those were myths, nothing more. Weren't they?
"You're telling me I'm one of them?" she asked, her voice trembling despite her efforts to steady it.
"No," the Silent Soul said firmly. "Not one of them. But their legacy lives in you. It is why the shard responded. Why the Night Beasts hesitated when they should have killed you. It is why every step you take is drawing you closer to the truth, whether you are ready or not."
The cave pulsed faintly, as though agreeing with his words. The shard at her neck grew warm, its soft light leaking through her clenched fist as she instinctively gripped it tighter.
"What truth?" Hine demanded. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
The Silent Soul tilted his head, studying her. "That, Hine, is for you to discover. But know this. Power such as yours is never without cost. There will be those who want to use you. Those who will fear you. And those who will kill you rather than let you uncover what you are."
Her throat felt dry, her voice barely above a whisper. "And you? What do you want from me?"
He paused for a long moment. "To make sure you survive long enough to choose."
Silence swallowed the chamber. The torchlight dimmed, shadows lengthening like claws along the walls. Hine stared at him, searching for some sign of deceit, but there was none. Only that calm, almost painful sincerity.
The shard pulsed again, this time steady and warm, as if offering reassurance. But it did little to settle the storm inside her. She thought of Mavuika, her laughter echoing in memories now tinged with a thousand unanswered questions. What had her sister known? And why had she never told her?
She turned away, staring at the glowing symbols, and a strange determination settled over her. She might not understand everything yet, but she knew one thing: she could not turn back now.
"We keep moving," she said quietly, her voice steady despite the tremor in her hands.
The Silent Soul inclined his head, his expression unreadable. "Then we move."
As they stepped out of the chamber and back into the winding tunnels, the ruins seemed to hum louder, as if acknowledging her choice. Hine tightened her grip on the shard, her pulse matching its quiet rhythm.
Somewhere in the darkness ahead, answers waited. And she was ready to find them, no matter the cost.