The seal split down the middle with a grinding roar, sending plumes of sand cascading into the darkness below. A column of cold air blasted upward, smelling of ancient stone and something metallic—like blood.
The inhuman silhouettes were closer now, sprinting across the dunes with unnatural speed. Their limbs bent wrong. Their eyes—if they were eyes—burned faintly red.
Zain didn't think.
He jumped into the opening.
He landed hard on a sloped ramp of stone, sliding down into a vast chamber lit by floating orbs of blue fire. Walls stretched higher than any cathedral, carved with spiraling runes that pulsed faintly at his approach.
The heartbeat rhythm was louder here, resonating in his bones.
Dum. Dum. Dum.
At the center of the chamber stood a pedestal.Upon it—the crystal from his vision, spinning slowly, tendrils of black mist curling off its surface.
He stepped closer. The manuscript in his bag grew warm, almost vibrating.
the crystal spoke.
Not aloud—directly into his mind.
"Keyholder. Welcome back.
His knees buckled. "Back?"
Images flooded his head—flashes of the wizard's life: forging weapons from light, sealing away knowledge too dangerous for kings, watching cities burn when the Vault was last opened.
Then—the sound of footsteps above.
The Shadow keeper had entered.
The crystal's voice grew sharper.
Take me, and they will follow. Leave me, and they will break the seal anyway."
Zain's hand hovered inches from it.
The first Shadow keeper leapt down from above, landing in a crouch. Its face was smooth, featureless, except for a mouth—too wide, full of jagged teeth.
It hissed.
Zain grabbed the crystal.
A surge of power tore through him, setting his vision ablaze in gold. The chamber walls lit up with runes. The Shadowkeepers froze, hissing louder as if burned by the light.
The crystal whispered one last thing before the world
dissolved into white fire:
> "Run, and remember."