Chapter 121 The Price of Keys

Chapter 121 The Price of Keys
The structure seemed to breathe.
The closer we got, the more impossible that feeling became to ignore.
The black roots pulsed slowly around the gigantic construction, like living veins spreading through the dark stone. The golden runes engraved on the door glowed at irregular intervals, faint… but conscious.
The wind had died down again.
Not even the mist moved.
Kael was the first to break the silence.
“This wasn’t in the records.”
His voice was lower than usual.
Conrad dismounted slowly without taking his eyes off the structure.
“Because no one came back alive enough to record it.”
My stomach clenched.
The voices inside my head had stopped completely since we saw the door.
And that scared me more than the whispers.
It was as if…
something was waiting.
I dismounted carefully, immediately feeling the baby move.
A warm wave coursed through my belly.
The runes on the door responded instantly.
They shone brighter.
Kael held his breath.
Conrad turned quickly to me.
“Maya.”
But before I could say anything, the ground trembled beneath our feet.
The roots around the structure began to move slowly.
The guards retreated immediately.
Swords being drawn echoed through the dead clearing.
My heart raced.
“She recognized you,” Kael murmured.
I couldn't answer.
Because I felt it too.
The connection.
Too strong now.
Like invisible threads pulling something inside me toward that door.
Conrad quickly approached and took my hand.
“Don't come any closer.”
I nodded…
but my body didn't fully obey.
I took another involuntary step. The golden runes exploded in light.
The baby reacted violently.
I gasped.
Pain shot through my belly as symbols began to slowly emerge from my skin, glowing beneath the fabric of my clothes.
Kael's eyes widened.
"The runes…"
Conrad immediately gripped my waist.
"Maya, look at me."
But it was getting difficult.
The voices returned.
Not the monstrous ones.
Just her.
The heiress.
"Finally…"
The sadness in her voice almost destroyed me.
I slowly raised my eyes to the door.
And for a brief instant…
I saw a woman standing before it.
Long dark hair.
A golden dress covered in blood.
One hand pressed against her pregnant belly.
She watched me like someone who had waited centuries.
Then she disappeared.
Conrad noticed my state immediately. “What did you see?”
My throat tightened.
“She was here.”
Kael approached the door carefully.
Then he touched one of the runes.
Nothing happened.
The symbols remained unlit.
Conrad tried again soon after.
The runes reacted slightly this time, emitting a faint glow before dying again.
Kael frowned.
“They responded to royal blood.”
“But not enough,” Conrad concluded.
All eyes slowly turned to me.
My heart raced.
The baby moved again.
Stronger.
As if recognizing this place.
I took another step.
The roots trembled violently.
And then…
the door began to open on its own.
A deep sound echoed through the entire forest.
Stone scraping against stone.
Darkness slowly emerged from behind the opening.
Cold.
Infinite.
Wrong.
The guards tensed immediately.
Kael gripped his sword tightly.
But I could barely breathe.
Because something within that darkness…
was staring back at me.
Then the voice rose again.
This time clear.
Ancient.
Powerful.
“The successor has arrived.”
The world seemed to stop after those words.
“The successor has arrived.”
The voice echoed not only through the clearing…
but within me.
My chest tightened violently.
The runes scattered across the door pulsed again, now in perfect harmony with the symbols gleaming beneath my skin.
Conrad immediately positioned himself in front of me.
Instinctive.
Protective.
But even he seemed shaken.
“Who’s there?” his voice echoed firmly in the dead forest.
No answer came.
Only the faint sound of roots moving around the structure.
Like giant serpents slowly awakening.
Kael watched the dark opening of the door without lowering his sword.
“This isn’t ordinary magic.”
No.
I felt it too.
This was too ancient.
Old enough to make my own magic seem small.
The baby moved strongly again.
And, in that same instant…
the darkness inside the door began to shift.
Images slowly emerged in the void.
Like reflections in black water.
Conrad stood motionless as he recognized them.
The former king.
Younger.
Still healthy.
He walked through the exact same clearing where we were now.
But he wasn't alone.
The woman from the vision stood before the door.
The heiress.
Even from a distance, I could feel her exhaustion.
She was pregnant.
And terrified.
“You don’t understand what you’re trying to open,” her voice echoed through the vision.
The former king smiled.
Arrogant.
Ambitious.
“You hid enough power to transform the world.”
“No.” She shook her head slowly. “We hid it because some things should never cross.”
The shadows within the door trembled violently.
As if reacting to her words.
Conrad stiffened beside me.
His jaw clenched.
Pain piercing his golden eyes.
Because now he was seeing.
The truth.
His father pressed on anyway.
Ignoring the warnings.
Ignoring her fear.
“The balance between light and shadow belongs to the Elyrions,” he declared. “I can control it.”
The heiress began to cry.
Not from weakness.
From despair.
“That’s exactly what they said before the first fall.”
My blood ran cold.
First fall?
Then the vision changed abruptly.
The door behind her began to crack.
Liquid shadows exploded from the opening as horrific screams echoed from the infinite darkness.
Something tried to get out.
Something enormous.
I saw only fragments.
Claws.
Eyes.
Impossible teeth.
The baby reacted violently inside me.
I gasped in pain.
Conrad immediately held me.
“Maya!”
But I couldn't look away.
Because the heiress was still fighting.
Alone.
She pushed the former king back as golden light exploded from her own body.
Giant runes appeared all over the clearing.
Seals.
Prisons.
Sacrifice.
Then I understood.
She didn't open the rift.
She trapped herself in it.
Voluntarily.
Tears streamed down my face before I even realized it.
"She was trying to save everyone…"
Kael remained completely still upon hearing that.
And Conrad…
Conrad looked destroyed.
My vision began to slowly fade.
Shadows devouring everything around.
The heiress turned her face directly to me then.
Even if it was just a memory…
I knew she could see me.
Her golden eyes met mine.
Sad.
Exhausted.
And then she spoke.
Directly to me.
“The second key doesn’t open the door.”
Silence fell instantly.
My heart raced.
“Then what does she do?” I asked, almost voiceless.
The sadness in her eyes seemed to deepen.
“She chooses who will be left behind.”
The forest air vanished from my lungs.
Conrad gripped my hand tightly immediately.
But it was too late.
Because in that instant…
I understood the true price of the keys.