The path to the Keywrought was a wound in the earth — jagged and raw, as if the land itself had been ripped apart to hide a secret.
Elias led the way, moving with a calm that belied the storm of memories buried beneath his gaze. Kaien and the others followed, silence stretching between them like a fragile thread.
"You ever wonder why I chose to bury it here?" Elias finally broke the quiet, voice low.
Kaien glanced back. "Because no one would dare come to a place like this?"
Elias smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Partly. But also because it's the one place where reality is thinnest. Where the Veil's power can't reach."
Iria scoffed. "Thin reality or not, it's still a hell of a climb."
The cliffside twisted beneath their feet — ancient stone, slick with moss and the remnants of frozen storms. As they ascended, strange sigils carved into the rock pulsed faintly with blue light, casting eerie shadows.
Solryn's breath steamed in the cold air. "This is old magic. Pre-Convergence, maybe older."
Kaien felt his shadow stir uneasily.
At the summit, they came upon a cavern mouth, half-sealed by crystalline formations that shimmered with lightning and ice — elements dancing in endless, impossible balance.
Elias stepped forward. "The Keywrought's prison."
Iria drew her dagger, blade flickering with flame. "And our next battlefield."
Inside, the cavern walls throbbed with pulsing energy. The air was thick with power — old and raw, like the heartbeat of the world itself.
At the cavern's heart, resting atop a pedestal carved from pure obsidian, lay the Keywrought.
The crystal key glowed softly, its shifting hues mesmerizing. Kaien reached out, shadow trembling at his fingertips.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them trembled.
"Get ready," Elias warned.
From the darkness beyond the cave's entrance, shapes emerged — cloaked figures whose eyes burned with fervent light. The Shrouded.
The Ardent Veil had found them.