Chapter 96 up
The wind grew stronger the higher they climbed.
It howled through the canyon like a restless spirit, carrying dust and the distant echoes of collapsing stone from the ruins of Velkaris below. The narrow path carved into the cliff twisted upward in uneven spirals, forcing them to move slowly despite the urgency pressing against their backs.
Kael climbed first, gripping the jagged rock with practiced ease. He tested every foothold before shifting his weight, knowing that one careless step could send them tumbling into the abyss.
Behind him, Elara followed with careful precision.
Corvin trailed several steps lower, muttering under his breath as loose gravel slid beneath his boots.
“I am never,” he said between breaths, “coming to another ancient ruin again.”
Kael glanced down briefly.
“You said that the last time.”
“Yes,” Corvin snapped. “And I meant it then too.”
Another rumble echoed from the depths of Velkaris.
All three of them froze.
The sound rolled upward through the canyon like distant thunder trapped inside the earth. It was deeper now—longer, heavier, as if something enormous had shifted beneath thousands of tons of stone.
Kael grimaced.
“Still digging.”
Elara felt the shard beneath her cloak pulse again.
The warmth had changed.
Earlier, it had felt like a faint heartbeat.
Now it felt like a warning.
She pressed a hand against her chest, feeling the faint glow through the fabric.
Corvin noticed immediately.
“It’s reacting again.”
“Yes.”
“To the Devourer?”
Elara hesitated.
“…Not only that.”
Kael frowned as he climbed.
“What does that mean?”
She wasn’t entirely sure.
The warmth inside the shard seemed to spread outward, seeping into the air around them like invisible threads. Every time the creature below moved, the shard responded.
But there was something else.
Something older.
Something watching.
They continued climbing.
The path grew steeper as it curved along the canyon wall. Sections of the trail had crumbled during the collapse of Velkaris, forcing them to navigate narrow ledges barely wide enough for a single foot.
Dust clung to their clothes.
The wind tugged at their cloaks.
Below them, the ruined city shrank slowly into the distance.
From this height, the crater at the heart of Velkaris looked like a black wound carved into the earth.
Corvin paused to catch his breath.
“I still cannot believe that civilization built an entire city just to hold a monster.”
Kael shrugged.
“People build stranger things.”
Corvin glanced toward the crater.
“The Heart was not simply a prison. It was a sacrifice.”
Elara remembered the vision.
Hundreds of people standing in the temple.
Their lives bound to the glowing sphere.
She spoke quietly.
“They gave themselves to keep it sealed.”
Corvin nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
Kael scratched the back of his neck.
“That’s… unsettling dedication.”
They climbed in silence for several minutes.
The canyon walls rose higher around them, casting long shadows across the path as the sun began to drift toward the western mountains.
Eventually the trail widened slightly, forming a small ledge where the rock curved inward.
Kael stopped there and leaned against the wall.
“Rest.”
Corvin gratefully sank onto a flat stone.
“My legs are made of sand.”
Elara remained standing near the edge of the ledge.
From here she could see the entire canyon.
The mountains stretched endlessly across the horizon, their jagged peaks cutting through the pale sky.
Velkaris lay far below.
Silent.
Broken.
But not entirely dead.
A faint tremor rippled through the earth again.
Corvin noticed it too.
“That makes the fourth one.”
Kael sighed.
“If that thing keeps moving like this, it’s eventually going to dig itself out.”
Elara’s fingers tightened around the shard hidden beneath her cloak.
“That’s not what worries me.”
Corvin looked up.
“What does?”
She slowly removed the fragment.
The crimson shard glowed softly in the fading sunlight.
But this time the light was different.
It flickered.
Like a candle struggling in the wind.
Corvin leaned closer.
“That’s strange.”
Kael crossed his arms.
“Let me guess. More terrifying ancient magic?”
Corvin ignored him.
“The energy pattern is unstable.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means the shard is trying to connect to something.”
Elara felt the warmth spread across her palm.
The moment her skin touched the glowing surface, the world shifted again.
Her vision blurred.
The canyon vanished.
Suddenly she stood in Velkaris once more.
But not the ruined city she had seen earlier.
This Velkaris was different.
Night had fallen.
Torches burned along the streets, casting flickering shadows across the stone walls. The air was filled with shouting voices and the distant sound of bells.
People were running.
Guards in dark armor hurried toward the central temple, their faces grim.
The ground trembled violently beneath their feet.
Elara followed the crowd through the streets.
She knew this was another memory.
Another echo from the past.
When she reached the temple, she saw the Heart blazing brighter than ever before.
The crimson sphere pulsed wildly above the stone pillar.
Cracks of energy rippled across its surface.
The armored man from her previous vision stood before the Heart.
His face was older now.
More tired.
He turned as if he could see her.
“It is happening again.”
Elara stepped closer.
“What is?”
“The prison is weakening.”
A deafening roar erupted from beneath the temple.
The entire structure shook.
The Heart flared violently.
The armored man’s voice became urgent.
“The Devourer is not the only one.”
Elara’s breath caught.
“What do you mean?”
The man pointed toward the distant horizon beyond the city walls.
“Others are waking.”
The vision flickered.
For a brief moment, Elara saw something impossible.
Far beyond the mountains surrounding Velkaris—
Another red light burned.
Then another.
And another.
Like distant stars glowing across the world.
More Hearts.
More prisons.
The man’s voice echoed as the vision began to collapse.
“If one seal fails… the others will follow.”
The world shattered.
Elara gasped as she returned to the canyon ledge.
Kael caught her shoulder immediately.
“Easy.”
Corvin knelt beside her.
“What did you see?”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“There are more.”
Corvin’s expression darkened.
“The other Hearts.”
“Yes.”
Kael rubbed his temples.
“I had a feeling that was coming.”
Elara looked toward the distant mountains.
“In the vision… I saw them.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
Corvin stood slowly.
“But enough to hold something far worse than the Devourer.”
The wind swept through the canyon again.
Far below, the ruins of Velkaris groaned as another piece of the crater collapsed inward.
A low roar echoed upward from the depths.
The creature was still alive.
Still trapped.
But no longer alone in the world’s darkness.
Kael stared toward the horizon.
“So let me get this straight.”
Corvin folded his arms.
“I’m afraid to ask.”
Kael sighed.
“We destroyed the magical prison holding one ancient monster… and now the rest of the prisons around the world might start breaking too.”
Corvin nodded grimly.
“That is a very accurate summary.”
Kael looked back down toward the shattered city of Velkaris.
“Well.”
He tightened the grip on his sword.
“We really made things worse, didn’t we?”
Elara stared at the glowing shard in her hand.
The faint crimson light flickered like a dying ember.
But somewhere far away—
Other lights were beginning to stir.