The stone path twisted downward into the mouth of the Ravenspine Caverns, a long-forgotten mine that cut deep beneath the mountains. Nicolette's flame pendant glowed faintly in the shadows, casting eerie patterns on the walls.
"This doesn't feel like a resting place," she muttered.
Kael grunted as he helped her lower into the cavern. "It isn't. According to the Warden, the second key lies beneath. Guarded."
They had traveled two days since the basin. The pendant had stopped pulsing outwardly—but inwardly, Nicolette could still feel it stirring. Her power didn't rest. It watched, waited, whispered.
Inside the cavern, the air grew thick. Not cold, but heavy—like it remembered screams.
---
Deep within the mine, the walls changed. What began as rough stone gradually turned smooth, marked with etchings and faded runes. A great hall opened before them, lit dimly by strands of blue crystal veins in the walls.
"What is this place?" Nicolette asked, stepping lightly.
Kael swept dust off an old pillar. "Old magic. Pre-Veil. This was once a sanctum."
As they stepped further in, the silence broke.
Tap… tap… tap.
Nicolette froze. "Did you hear—"
"I did."
A figure stepped from the far shadows—a young boy, barefoot, eyes milky white, skin ash-pale.
Kael's sword was out in a blink. "Stay behind me."
But the boy didn't move closer. He tilted his head, then whispered, "You brought fire… You shouldn't have."
Nicolette felt her flame flicker.
The boy raised his hand, and from the walls, shadows spilled forth—humanoid shapes, eyes glowing red. They didn't walk. They drifted.
"What are they?" she asked.
"Echoes," Kael growled. "Twisted memories. This place is cursed."
The echoes surrounded them, hissing in forgotten tongues. One lunged.
Kael struck it down with a cry—but it reformed in seconds.
"They don't die!" he shouted.
Nicolette looked to the flame pendant. "Then maybe I shouldn't fight them like you do."
She closed her eyes and stepped forward.
Kael shouted her name—but stopped when the pendant flared. A burst of golden-red flame shot out in all directions—not to destroy, but to purify.
The echoes screamed as they dissolved, the runes on the walls glowing brightly once more.
The boy stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. "You are not like the others."
"I'm not here to take what isn't mine," she said softly. "Only what I was called to find."
He turned and pointed toward the far chamber. "Then go. But the stone remembers. And the third is already watching."
Before she could ask what that meant, he vanished—just a puff of ash in the windless cave.
---
In the inner chamber, they found a pedestal of obsidian with an orb resting atop it. The flame pendant tugged toward it.
Kael watched her. "Ready?"
"I have to be."
She reached out—and the moment her hand touched the orb, her mind was pulled into darkness.
---
She stood in a mirror world. The cavern gone. The sky black, split by purple lightning. A shadowy figure stood opposite her—same height, same face, but eyes of fire and a voice made of many.
"You seek the second key?" it asked. "Then you must understand the cost."
Nicolette narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"
"I am what you become… if you lose yourself."
The ground split, and flames erupted, engulfing them both. The shadow lunged—but Nicolette didn't run. She met it with her own light, letting the pendant's power pour out of her chest, blazing like a sun.
The darkness screamed.
---
She collapsed on the cavern floor, gasping.
Kael caught her before she fell. "What happened?"
She looked at the orb—it was now embedded into her pendant, right beside the first.
"I passed."
Kael's brows drew together. "Barely."
They both turned toward the exit. But as they walked away, neither noticed the etchings on the wall had shifted.
The third key… was awake now.