They found it just after dawn.
Not by sight, but by sensation. The Ember Path narrowed to a thread of fire beneath the moss, then veered sharply toward a rise of earth wrapped in tangled roots and mist. Eira stepped forward, the shard in her chest warm against her skin. The moment her boot touched the incline, the mist retreated.
And stone revealed itself.
Half-swallowed by the hill, a circular archway stood, rimmed with runes too ancient to decipher. Not ruins exactly but a doorway, hidden.
Lena let out a breath. "It's real. This place… it wasn't just a legend."
"More than that," Kaela murmured. "It's been protected. Look at the carvings, this isn't decay. This was sealed."
Thorne scanned the tree line. "And yet someone left it open just enough for us to find."
Eira stepped forward. As her hand brushed the stone, the runes lit with a warm, steady pulse. The earth rumbled softly, and with a slow groan, the stone door began to slide inward.
A breath of warm air spilled out. Not foul. Ancient. Alive.
They descended carefully, torches in hand.
What lay beyond the threshold was unlike anything they'd seen.
The passage opened into a chamber vast enough to hold a village. Its walls were carved with flowing symbols and sculpted reliefs of Mageborn figures, some casting fire, others shaping wind, water, stone. A great dome arched overhead, cracked in places, but still intact. At the chamber's center sat a low pedestal of blackened stone with a bowl of crystal embedded into it.
The bowl glowed faintly.
"It's a sanctuary," Lena whispered. "A hidden sanctum."
Torin walked in slow circles, staring at the carvings. "Why hide it?"
Eira's fingers traced the edge of the bowl. The shard in her chest thrummed in response.
"Because it wasn't just a sanctuary," she said. "It was a forge."
Kaela turned sharply. "A forge?"
"Not for weapons," Eira added. "For magic. For knowledge. It's like this place breathed power into whatever was brought here."
Lena moved to a cracked mosaic along the far wall, brushing away dust. "This… this shows Mageborn linking shards together. Sharing their magic to awaken something."
Thorne's jaw tightened. "Then someone else may be trying the same."
The moment the words left his mouth, a faint vibration passed through the ground.
Not from below.
From above.
⸻
Maelis watched from the trees. Below, the clearing sat still, the entrance now partially concealed by thick brush. Her scouts had spotted the group hours ago, trailing behind them with patience. She hadn't expected them to find the sanctum but she welcomed it.
A forge of magic. Of course the girl would be drawn to it.
The tracker returned, silent and pale.
"They're all inside. Only one remained at the entrance. The quiet one."
"Thorne," Maelis said. "Let him watch."
She lifted a hand, signaling the others. Her soldiers moved with quiet precision, surrounding the rise from all angles, their boots soft against the moss, blades unsheathed.
Maelis crouched near the path's edge. She could feel it now, the heat of the shard Eira carried.
Still warm. Still whole.
"Bring her to me alive," she said softly. "Harrower wants her broken, not dead."
Then, with a motion, the trap closed.
⸻
Below, Eira felt it before she heard it.
The shard pulsed not with guidance, but warning.
She turned sharply. "Something's wrong."
Kaela was already reaching for her dagger.
Above them, stone grated. Dust fell from the dome as something shifted near the entrance. Torin ran back toward the stairs, but Thorne's voice cut through the chamber.
"Down! Now!"
A blast of light exploded from the corridor above. One of Maelis's warriors had breached the entrance just before Thorne cut him down. But more followed.
Eira's hands flared with power, fire curling around her fingers. "We can't fight them all in here."
"We're not going to," Kaela snapped, pulling Eira toward the back wall. "There's always another exit in places like this."
"And if there isn't?" Lena asked, voice tight.
Kaela's eyes narrowed. "Then we make one."
Torin grabbed Lena's hand. "Move. I'll cover the rear."
They sprinted toward the far end of the forge. Behind them, shadows descended the stairway in droves, silent warriors, their blades glowing faintly with magic. One threw a spear of crackling red energy.
It struck the floor near the pedestal and the forge responded.
The crystal bowl erupted in light. A shockwave rippled through the chamber. Runes lit up along the walls. Dust lifted into the air like mist.
Eira turned, eyes wide. "It's waking up."
Maelis's voice echoed down the stairwell. "You should've stayed hidden, little spark."
And then a hiss of pressure from behind. Lena shouted, pointing toward a break in the stone.
A passage revealed itself, narrow and dark, but unmistakably a way out.
"Go!" Eira shouted. "I'll hold the entrance."
Thorne grabbed her wrist. "Not alone."
The room trembled again as the forge flared once more. Stone cracked. Flames rippled across the ancient carvings, lighting the whole sanctum in a golden glow.
As they fled into the hidden corridor, Maelis's soldiers poured into the room just as the forge reached its peak.
The pedestal shattered.
And with a final, violent pulse of light, the entire chamber collapsed.
⸻
Above, Maelis staggered back as fire and dust erupted from the rise. Her soldiers reeled. The ground buckled beneath their feet. Roots tore from the earth.
She watched, stunned, as the hidden sanctum caved in on itself, swallowing stone, flame, and all signs of the forge.
Her tracker coughed beside her. "Did they die in there?"
Maelis didn't answer at first.
Then: "No."
Her voice was ice.
"She's still moving."
Far beneath the ruins, Eira ran, flames flickering in her palm, the air thick with dust and echoing with ancient whispers.
The Path was no longer guiding them.
Now, it was protecting them.