LIRAAs soon as we stepped into the temple, something changed.The air turned heavy. My chest felt tight, like I couldn’t breathe deeply. The ground seemed to shift beneath my feet, even though I knew it wasn’t moving. The walls were covered in dark vines, and the fog didn’t float anymore—it crawled.“This place is wrong,” I said quietly.Caius walked beside me. His hand stayed near mine, steady and strong. I could feel his tension. He didn’t speak, but his eyes scanned every corner, watching for danger.Behind us, Morgana whispered spells under her breath. A soft glow surrounded us—her protective shield. Dain led the way through the ruins, his sword ready, and Aldric followed close behind him.We reached the center of the temple. There, sitting on a stone table, was a black box.It wasn’t big. It looked simple at first glance. But strange symbols moved across its surface. They glowed faintly, as if something inside was trying to get out.When I took a step forward, my heart started b
CAUISThe air felt heavier with every step—thicker, denser. Not like mist, not even like magic. It was something older. Something breathing.It clung to my skin like oil and filled my lungs like ash.The Veil was no longer just leaking through the seams of the world—it was bleeding. Crashing down around us like a dying god trying to take everything with it.Shadows skittered at the corners of my eyes, never fully forming, always just a little too fast to see. I didn’t acknowledge them. We all knew what they were.Tricks. Probes. Warnings.The Veil was trying to make us turn around. To falter. And it was getting desperate.I hadn’t realized how loud silence could be until we’d crossed that line—where even the wind was afraid to move, where breath sounded like thunder, and a heartbeat could give away your position to things that didn’t belong in this world.Fenrir was bound.Still.The ache of that binding hadn’t left me. It pulsed behind my ribs like something broken that hadn’t yet ac
LIRAThe path twisted forward—jagged and pulsing, like it had a heartbeat of its own.With every step, the world grew quieter. Not peaceful… but empty.The kind of silence that pressed against your ears and made you question if you’d gone deaf. Even our breathing felt muffled, like the air refused to carry sound. The fog no longer just obscured things—it swallowed them. Whole trees vanished just feet ahead, the outlines bleeding into the gray void like ink in water.Beside me, Caius’s steps slowed, his head tilting slightly. “The Veil’s losing its grip on its own illusions.”“What does that mean?” Elias asked, voice low and tightly drawn.Dain answered from the front, his tone steady, his eyes glowing a faint and steady red. “It’s unraveling. Bleeding into reality to hold us back.”He didn’t sound afraid.The air around him crackled—alive, charged with something ancient. It bent away from his body, retreating like mist before a flame. Even the Veil seemed reluctant to touch him. The p
LIRA“You have to fight it,” Morgana growled, drawing a runed dagger and slicing her palm. The blood shimmered gold. “Stay with yourselves. Anchor.”The warriors obeyed without hesitation, cutting shallow lines across their skin. Blood—real blood—was a reminder. A tether. The Veil couldn’t mimic its warmth or scent. Not perfectly.Pain kept us grounded.We marched on.Each step heavier than the last, as if the fog had weight, dragging at our limbs. The Veil pressed closer now, not only around us but inside us, crawling behind our eyes and whispering in the hollow places of our minds.“Turn back,” it hissed, over and over.“You’re not strong enough.”“You won’t make it.”“You’ll die here, just like the others.”And yet, we did not stop. We could not stop. Because somewhere ahead—just out of reach, just beyond the next heartbeat—the dagger waited. The key to everything.And if we didn’t retrieve it… there would be nothing left to fight for.Caius’s hand was a constant in mine, strong an
LIRAThe deeper we went, the quieter the world became.No birdsong. No crunch of boots. Just fog and breath. The mist thickened with every step, wrapping around us like silk soaked in ice. It blurred the edges of everything—trees, faces, even thoughts. I blinked, trying to focus, but the ground kept shifting, like it couldn’t decide what shape it wanted to be.“Hold formation,” Caius said softly, his voice more of a growl than a command. I felt his hand tighten around mine.Behind us, the twenty warriors followed in silent pairs, weapons drawn. Morgana led the group, her steps unwavering. She hadn’t spoken since the memory eater appeared and vanished—like it had only wanted to say hello.Each step deeper made the air thinner, the light dimmer, like we were being swallowed whole. Fog coiled around us, thick and silver, dragging its fingers across our skin, into our lungs, through our thoughts.I clung to Caius’s hand, not just to stay close but to stay anchored.“I can’t see the trees
LIRAWe all felt it.The change.The weight in the air.The land was wrong.And then we saw it.The Ashen Veil.It rose before us like a tidal wave of mist—thick, dense, and completely still. A shimmering curtain of fog stretched across the landscape, swallowing the forest whole. Trees disappeared into it and returned twisted, their trunks warped, their leaves a dull gray. The fog pulsed faintly… like it breathed.We stopped.No one had to give the order. We simply knew—this was the threshold. Beyond this point, the real danger began.Dain’s voice came from behind. “We’re close. This is where the horses stop.”I pulled my horse to a halt.One by one, the others followed.Morgana dismounted first. She stepped forward without hesitation and placed her hand on a jagged obsidian stone nestled at the edge of the Veil’s border. With a silver blade, she sliced her palm and pressed her blood against the rock. Ancient words slipped from her lips like wind through bones.The fog rippled.A sliv