She let out a huff that was almost a laugh. “Now is really not the time, Kae.”
“Such a filthy mind, pet,” he said with a crooked smile, already ripping the shirt into long, crude strips.
Then, the ground groaned beneath them, again, vibrating in her bones.
“Another attack.” Fenn moved faster than thought, one arm hooking under her knees, the other bracing her back and lifting her.
“Ahhh!” Pain lanced through her ruined arm at the movement.
“Hold on,” Fenn muttered, looking for escape.
The earth split open behind them, a column of molten flame slicing up from the ground. Pivoting, he dodged the eruption by inches, then launched upward—boots scraping rock as he slammed his claws into the wall, holding them aloft, above the flames now incinerating the ground below.
Kaelith spun in his wake, body moving like water. He ducked beneath a burst of heat and smoke, twisting sideways as a shard of burning rock tore through the air where his head had been. Then he was there, half-clinging to the wall beside them, the serpents beneath his skin lashing out to anchor him in the stone.
“The traps are likely made for Hollow-born or followers of the enemy.” His voice was a hiss as he quickly wrapped the strips of bloodied fabric around Rynna’s mangled arm, binding it tight.
Fenn nodded. “Everything is resistant to Source power. Any who tried to grip the wall in that way would quickly fall and die.”
The fire roared below, heat rising in suffocating waves as the wall holding them up shuddered, stone groaning like something alive, like itwantedto shake them loose. Fenn's grip tightened, fingers biting deeper as Kaelith braced with a hiss, the serpents beneath his skin digging further into the rock. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the wall went still, and the scorched floor began to rearrange itself. Chunks of stone slid back into place with a sound like bone grinding in its socket.
What had been chaos moments ago now eased into order, revealing a set of stairs unfolding from the far side of the chamber, descending in a tight spiral.
“Do we just…” Rynna gnawed at her lip.
“Yes.” Fenn adjusted his hold, tucking Rynna tighter against himself with one arm.
She tried to protest, but the pain gnawing through her arm turned her voice into a broken croak. Then he jumped, air rushing past in a hot, ash-laced gust, until his feet struck the stone below with a jarring thud. Landing in a crouch, he absorbed the impact with practiced ease, keeping Rynna shielded in his embrace.
Above them, Kaelith released the wall, the serpents beneath his skin bursting free just before his feet hit the ground beside them.
The flames had retreated, and the path forward waited.
Fenn started forward, still carrying her.
“Put me down,” Rynna muttered, her voice steadier this time. “I can walk.”
He hesitated, just a second, then obeyed, lowering her gently to her feet. Biting back a wince, she cradled her bandaged arm against her body, finding her balance before nodding once. And together, they descended.
The walls pulsed with dim light, and the carvings changed, now showing the arrival of the enemy. It was a shadow that descended from the stars, bringing the first signs of the Source in long, coiling tendrils. At first, the shifters welcomed the power. Then came the assimilation, and elemental forms turned brittle, corrupted. Bloodlines were severed. Beast-forms lost.
Kaelith stopped mid-step. “It didn’t just bring the Source. Itusedit to rewrite the world. To change the code of power itself.”
Fenn’s expression darkened. “And once they realized it, the shifters fought until they were extinct.”
“Not all extinct.” Rynna’s working fingers traced his arm as they crossed an unseen threshold, opening into the final chamber.
“Oh my…” she started as light pooled from nowhere, revealing walls carved in a perfect dome, every line bending toward the center, toward—
A sphere of liquid radiance suspended above the stone floor, floating. Around it, strands of crystal stretched from floor to ceiling, weaving a shimmering cage of power older than language. Rynna’s heart beat, and the sphere seemed to answer, pulsing in perfect time with each thrum, as if the chamber itself had found her rhythm.
The glow filled her vision—blue at first, bright and clean—then, without warning, the color warped. Sickly green splashed before her.
The chamber wavered, stone rippling like water under a storm, and air pressed against her skin until it wasn’t the chamber around her anymore. Cold iron cut into her wrists, and the smell of dead blood filled her nose, metallic and sour. Surrounding her, the orb crowded in, and through it came taloned fingers, sliding past her ribs, digging inside.
She screamed. And theypulled, revealing a thread of her soul stretched and flayed…
Pain erupted in a blinding wave.
