The passage beyond the statue narrowed into a tunnel, no more than a man's width across. The walls shimmered faintly, as if laced with a mineral that caught the light of the relic and bent it in strange, dancing patterns.
As Kalious and Malious pressed forward, the air began to warm, not from the relic, but from the chamber ahead.
The tunnel opened into a vast underground atrium. Pillars of white stone reached up into the darkness, their tops lost to shadow. Fire pits burned in metal sconces along the edges, though no flame had been lit by the boys. They were burning as if waiting.
In the center of the room stood a wide platform, surrounded by fragmented pieces of stone and crystal. It looked like something had exploded there long ago, violently. The walls bore the scorch marks of unnatural flame.
Malious walked slowly to the platform's edge. "A relic was broken here."
Kalious picked up one of the crystalline shards. It pulsed faintly as he touched it, then went cold. "Or destroyed."
Malious looked around the room. "A battle?"
Kalious shook his head. "A betrayal."
He didn't know how he knew. He just did. The moment he stepped onto the platform, the air shifted. Whispers began soft, indistinct voices echoing through the chamber. They weren't words, not yet just memories.
And then....
Pain.
Kalious stumbled forward, clutching his chest. His vision blurred, and the atrium vanished.
He stood in a memory, not his own. The atrium was whole. The pillars were gold. The air shimmered with the energy of dozens of Sovereign warriors standing in a ring around a central figure.
Malious?
No. A younger man, cloaked in silver and shadow. Eyes too familiar. A mirror of Malious but twisted.
"Why do you fear what I've become?" the man said to the king.
The Sovereign King stood firm, staff glowing. "Because it cost you your soul."
The silver-cloaked figure smiled. "It bought me the future."
A blast of black flame erupted from his hand.
Kalious collapsed.
Malious caught his brother just before he hit the ground.
"Kalious!"
The relic fragment burned hot in his pack. The whispers grew louder. The walls began to tremble.
"Get up," Malious said through clenched teeth, dragging Kalious to his feet.
The fires around the room flared as shadow pooled from the cracks in the floor.
Kalious gasped, eyes wide. "It was him. The one who attacked us. He was… one of us. A Sovereign. The king's own blood."
The shadow surged.
Malious drew his blade. "Then he's not the only one we're going to bury."
The relic pulsed again, casting white light across the growing darkness.
And the battle for truth began.