The wheels of the transport hummed over cracked roads, a low, steady rhythm that matched no heartbeat. Dust coiled behind them like a ghost tail.
Nola sat by the window, staring out at the distant silhouette of the Karthlow Ruins, jagged and skeletal against the pale sky.
No one spoke much.
Vera drove.
Tris and Ari cleaned their weapons in silence. Felix flipped through a booklet of glyph diagrams. Nola simply watched as the world became more lifeless with every passing mile.
When they reached the edge of the ruins, the car rolled to a stop.
Before them stood the remnants of an ancient civilization—tilted pillars, crumbling domes, broken statues half-swallowed by vines. Wind whispered through the debris like a voice from another age.
"No signs of activity," Vera muttered, scanning the entrance.
"Perfect place for a ghost to hide," Tris said, eyes narrowed.
The group stepped out of the car, boots crunching against gravel and shattered tiles. Moss clung to the steps leading up to the inner sanctum. The sky hung dull and grey, as if holding its breath.
"This place feels... hollow," Ari whispered.
"It's not," Felix said. "It's watching."
As they crossed the courtyard, Nola paused.
Something… shifted.
There was no sound, no wind, no creak of stone. Just an invisible change in pressure, like stepping onto a frozen lake.
CRACK.
A shadow above.
Nola's eyes shot up.
"MOVE!" She shouted.
A massive boulder plummeted from above the archway, aimed right at the center of the group. Time thinned. The others scattered, barely registering what was happening.
But Vera didn't flinch.
She raised her hand, fingers blazing with pale blue glyphs.
"Fracture Ray."
With a snap of her wrist, a focused beam of compressed magic surged upward, slicing the boulder mid-descent. It exploded into dust and shards, the force rattling the entire courtyard.
Fragments slammed into the surrounding columns, shattering them.
Silence returned, thicker than before.
Tris coughed, brushing rubble off his shoulder. "Well. That answers that."
"He knew we were coming," Felix muttered, scanning the high ledges. "That wasn't just a trap. That was a message."
Ari drew her blade. "He wants us to keep walking."
Nola stared at the spot where the boulder would've landed. If Vera hadn't acted fast, they would've been crushed. No mercy. No warning. Just death.
"This place is a tomb," she whispered.
"Then let's make it his," Vera said, eyes like iron.
She led them forward, slower now, more cautious. Every stone could be a trap. Every shadow a lie. But the mission had started.
And in the ruins of the past, the hunt had begun.
The air deep in the ruins was stale, heavy with the scent of old dust and dried moss. Vines crept along the walls like veins, and every step echoed too loud, too sharp, in the silence.
The group moved slowly now.
Felix traced his hand along a broken wall, reading glyphs half-worn by time. "These weren't defensive structures. This place was ceremonial."
"Then why all the traps?" Nola asked.
"Someone twisted it," Vera replied. "Turned it into a lair."
They stepped into a wide hall, its ceiling partially collapsed, shafts of light piercing through like sacred rays onto the fractured floor. Crumbled statues stood in solemn vigil along the sides, their expressions eroded into blank stares.
Then, a crunch.
Something shifted ahead.
Out from behind a column shuffled a squat, stone creature, barely up to Tris's waist. Its eyes glowed with faint blue light. Its joints clicked like mismatched gears.
It let out a shrill mechanical screech and hurled a chunk of rock at them.
Ari raised her shield, deflecting it with a dull clang. "Hostile."
"Oh come on," Tris said, already nocking an arrow. "That's what passes for security?"
The little golem charged, movements jerky and almost comedic.
Tris scoffed.
He loosed a single arrow. It pierced the golem's glowing eye socket and lodged deep into its cranium. With a hiss of expelled air and a grinding creak, the thing collapsed, crumbling into dust and fragments.
"Pathetic," Tris muttered, slinging his bow. "If this is the worst we're facing, we'll be back before-"
The ground trembled.
A low rumble grew beneath their feet, shaking the very pillars. Dust fell from the ceiling like ash. In the distance, behind an altar-like structure, stone slabs began to rise.
One. Then two. Then five.
Each figure that emerged dwarfed the first golem tenfold. Eight feet tall at least, broad like siege towers, their eyes ignited with fierce red light. Their joints hissed with steam. Thick arms ended in blunt hammers or spiked maces fused to their frames.
And they were marching.
"Oh no," Felix whispered.
The lead golem let out a guttural grinding noise, like metal screaming in protest.
"Tris," Vera said coldly. "You might want to keep your mouth shut."
The archer blinked. "Uh. Right."
The golems began to move faster, mechanical groans echoing through the vast hall. Each step cracked the ancient floor. One of them slammed its weapon-arm into a fallen statue, reducing it to rubble in a single swing.
"Formation!" Vera shouted.
Ari took front, shield raised. Felix raised glowing sigils mid-air, preparing counter wards. Nola summoned her flames into her palm, eyes narrowed.
Tris sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Lesson learned."
The lead golem lunged, and the battle began.
It swung down with thunderous force. Ari blocked the blow, barely—his knees buckling under the impact. Vera retaliated with a crescent arc of light magic that sliced across its chest, cracking the stone armor.
But the others had closed in.
One launched a spear of rock from its arm like a projectile. Felix diverted it mid-air with a gravitational rune, the force snapping nearby vines as the rock embedded into a column.
Nola danced between two of them, launching streaks of white fire. One caught a golem's leg and exploded, causing it to stagger.
"They're slow but they learn," she shouted. "They're adapting to our spacing!"
"They're not mindless," Felix added, ducking a swing. "They're coordinated. Like soldiers."
"Because they are soldiers," Vera said grimly. "Ancient guardians. Made to defend the dead."
Another golem roared and sent a shockwave through the floor, knocking Felix off his feet. Tris shot another arrow, it bounced off the chest plate of a second golem harmlessly.
"Okay," he muttered. "Maybe not so pathetic."
Vera leapt high, slamming a blade of light down into the back of one of the monsters, cracking its core. As the golem fell, it let out a hollow, mechanical death-rattle.
But more were coming from the deeper chamber.
A dozen red eyes blinked awake in the shadows.
And the ruins shook again.