They left the Ardent Caves before sunrise, the air charged and brittle. Elara hadn't spoken much since her vision. Something about it still clawed at the edge of her mind something she couldn't quite grasp.
Kael led them north, into the hills beyond the forest's end, where ancient ruins slept beneath moss and silence. At their heart stood a crumbling tower, half-swallowed by time.
"Is this where you trained?" Elara asked, stepping over broken stone.
Kael nodded. "This was once the Library of Mirrors. Before the Council purged the old records, the Wyrn mages hid forbidden knowledge here."
"Like what?"
Kael looked at her. "Maps. Of places erased from memory. Gateways… and the path to the Heart Gate."
Inside the tower, they found it.
The map was etched into a slab of obsidian beneath the floor, hidden under layers of illusion. With Elara's touch, the magic peeled back, revealing a glowing web of runes, stars, and points of convergence.
"This doesn't look like our realm," Elara said softly.
"It's not," Kael replied. "It's the realm beneath, Miradien. The Shadowfold. If the gate opens fully, our world and that one will collide."
Elara traced a finger along the path etched in starlight. "And this is where we go?"
"To the Rift of Solas," Kael confirmed. "The last known seal. If it's still intact, we might have time to reinforce it."
"And if it's not?"
Kael didn't answer.
Instead, he pulled something from his satchel, a pendant, shaped like a crescent moon, carved from bone and stone.
"Your mother left this for you. Said you'd need it when the stars begin to burn."
Elara took it, the weight of it grounding her. The stone pulsed faintly in her palm, warm with ancient magic.
"She knew this would happen," Elara whispered.
"She tried to stop it," Kael said. "And now… it's your turn."
Outside, clouds gathered like bruises in the sky. A storm was coming of more than just wind and rain.
And Elara knew:
This was no longer just a journey.
It was war.