The ruins didn't look like much.
Cracked stone. Faded banners. Dust and silence.
The air was heavy — but not with danger. With disappointment.
Seraphina stood beside the Queen, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.
"This is supposed to be one of Ashura's secret sites?""Looks more like a forgotten temple."
Scattered guards dozed near broken columns. A few sat playing dice, barely paying attention to the overgrown path.
Not the tight security they were expecting.
🕯️ A Missed Opportunity?
"Could be false intel," Seraphina muttered. "Or bait."
"Or maybe this place isn't important anymore," the Queen said.
Behind them, the brother approached with his hood pulled low.
"The other two sites we scouted?" he said. "Fortified. Heavy guard rotations. Enchanted barriers. Breaking in would take an army."
The Queen sighed.
"Then this one must be the scrap pile."
"Let's leave," Seraphina said. "We're wasting time."
The Queen hesitated.
Then looked once more at the doorway before them — stone sealed, ancient writing carved across the arch.
"...Let's look inside anyway. Just in case."
"Why?" Seraphina asked.
"Because Ashura guards what he understands."
"And this…?" she said, eyes narrowing.
"He doesn't understand."
📜 Inside the Ruins
The interior was colder than expected.
Torches flickered dimly. Dust rose with every step. Scrolls lay in piles across rusted shelves. Statues stood broken, their faces erased.
Ancient tablets lined the walls — all of them engraved with twisting, lost script.
The Queen walked slowly, fingers brushing the carvings.
She paused.
Her eyes widened just slightly.
"I recognize this root glyph," she whispered.
"You can read it?" Seraphina asked.
"Barely. But this isn't just history… it's theory."
She knelt beside an etched slab, sweeping dust off with her hand.
"This… this doesn't describe a sealing spell."
"Then what is it?"
"It's an interference construct."
"A spell that bends a soul's connection to reality."
She looked up — and for the first time in weeks, her voice held urgency.
"Ashura didn't seal him with his own spell."
"He used something older."
🧠 Ashura's Mistake
Years ago, Ashura's researchers tried everything to decipher this site.
But the language was lost. The structure? Too complex.
Eventually, they gave up.
"Useless."
"Waste of manpower."
"Seal's already working — who cares how it works?"
So the guards were pulled.
And over the years, this place became forgotten.
Ashura had made his biggest mistake:
Underestimating what he didn't understand.
🛡️ Taking the Knowledge Home
The Queen didn't hesitate.
"Gather everything."
"Scrolls, tablets, fragments — everything that isn't nailed down."
"We'll study it in my court. I'll summon the elder scholars."
"If this place holds the truth… then it's time someone understood it."
Seraphina looked around.
"You think this will help us break the seal?"
"No," the Queen said.
"I think this will help us understand why it was never supposed to be broken in the first place."