The blast hit like a thunderclap.
Cassius dropped into a crouch by instinct, his ears ringing. His heart, slow as ever, barely picked up pace - but his body still knew to brace for danger. Bits of debris pattered to the ground around him like hissing rain.
That wasn't far. Too close, in fact.
He blinked rapidly, trying to gauge the direction. The explosion hadn't come from the massive structure in front of him, but somewhere just beyond it - on the other side, maybe.
And then his eyes flicked back to the footprints.
Still faint in the sand. But they were there. Leading away from where he stood and toward the smoke curling into the star-scattered sky. Whoever made them… were they the cause of the blast?
He swallowed hard, the dryness of his throat catching at the motion.
For a moment, he just watched the thin trail of smoke. Then, slowly, carefully, he rose to his feet.
There was no point staying still. Not now.
He brushed the back of his wrist over his forehead and let out a low breath. Then he turned toward the source and began to move - following the faint indentations in the sand one cautious step at a time.
Whoever - or whatever - was out there… He was about to find out.
***
The structure had four sides - each one was steep, smooth, and sloping up into the starlit sky like the edge of a blade. Cassius kept to the shadows as he moved along its base, careful not to disturb the sand too much beneath his feet. The prints led him around, just as he'd suspected, to the opposite side from where he'd first arrived.
And then he heard voices.
He stopped just before the corner. Inch by inch, he leaned forward and peeked past the edge.
Three figures stood near the stone base, their shapes outlined by a faint orange glow - residual firelight from the blast still flickering low against the blackened sand.
The first was tall and lean, dressed in tattered desert robes, with a cloth mask pulled down around his neck. His arms were crossed, and he looked irritated as he glanced toward the other two.
The second was bulkier, strapped with gear - packs, wires, cylinders - like some kind of scavenger or demolitionist. His goggles were pushed up on his forehead, revealing a face dusted with soot.
The third was younger, twitchy with excitement, and visibly the smallest of the three. He carried something that looked suspiciously like a scanner - or maybe a relic detector of some kind - still faintly blinking in his gloved hand.
"I told you to be careful," the tall one muttered, voice clipped. "How much of the charge did you use?"
"Nearly half," the bulky one replied, shrugging. "It got the job done."
"Yeah," the smaller one cut in, eyes glinting. "The path ahead's open now, isn't it? We're closer to the treasure!"
'Treasure?'
Cassius narrowed his eyes. He hadn't expected that word.
Were they raiders? Hoarders? Some kind of treasure hunters?
And more importantly… this structure. Did it really contain something? Something worth blowing open?
His gaze flicked past them toward the blasted wall - where a narrow opening now gaped like a wound into the base of the construct.
"That's one way to enter, I guess…" Cassius muttered under his breath.
He stayed crouched as he watched the three figures disappear one by one through the blasted hole in the construct's wall. Their voices faded with each step, swallowed by the dark interior. Once the last boot vanished into shadow, silence returned.
Cassius reached into his pocket and pulled the device out once more. The small object remained cold to the touch, its surface still etched with those same pulsing lines - like veins of obsidian light. And just like before, it pointed toward the structure.
It still wanted him to go inside.
But everything about it felt… wrong.
Not just the strange way the device responded, or the unnatural stillness of the landscape around him. But the fact that someone else was here. People with explosives. People talking about treasure. People who didn't hesitate to tear through the unknown.
He had no idea who they were or what they were capable of. Were they Echo-bearers? Raiders? Test subjects like him? Or something worse?
Cassius gripped the device tighter.
The odds of them welcoming a stranger like him with open arms? Close to zero.
And yet…
This was the only lead he had. The only direction the trial had offered him. And the only thread he could follow in this endless, alien sandscape.
He stared at the opening in the construct for a long moment.
Then sighed. "Terrible idea."
***
Cassius lingered at the jagged opening. The trio had already gone in, with their voices swallowed by the dark. He waited - counted the seconds in his head until they bled into minutes. Just enough to give them a lead. Just enough to avoid running headfirst into them again.
Only when the silence returned did he step forward.
The air shifted as he crossed the threshold, thick with the scent of scorched dust and something older - like old parchment or dried blood long soaked into stone.
There was no visible light source. No lanterns. No artificial glow.
And yet, the path ahead was... strangely visible.
Faint white shafts of light pierced through the darkness in neat, surgical slashes - tiny beams that streamed in from pinprick holes in the ceiling above. They were perfectly placed, unnaturally precise, like the stars themselves had been arranged to shine through this place and no other.
Cassius glanced up.
Sure enough, the holes lined up with the sky beyond - each beam cast by a star in perfect alignment, as if the entire construct had been built not for the earth beneath it, but for the heavens above. The result was ethereal: corridors dim but not blind, their walls brushed in thin lines of cold starlight like veins running through black marble.
Cassius stepped forward again, eyes scanning the walls with cautious awe.
And then-
Click.
His foot pressed into something lower than expected. A stone plate, slightly loose. A mechanism.
His eyes widened.
A sharp hiss split the air - and before he could fully react, the walls came alive with movement. Panels slid open with the speed of a blink.
From both sides, arrows launched straight toward him.