They followed the runes down.
What began as a narrow staircase, half-swallowed by earth and moss widened into a spiraling corridor of stone lit by ancient lanterns that flickered to life at Eira's touch. The Ember Path dimmed behind them, its golden glow replaced by the cool pulse of magic carved into the very bones of the ruin.
The air grew colder the deeper they went, thick with dust and time.
Lena walked ahead now, fingers grazing the etched walls. "This wasn't just a sanctuary. This was a sanctum. A gathering place for Mageborn before the Purge."
Kaela stayed close behind, blade drawn. "Then why was it sealed?"
"No one sealed it," Eira said softly. "It hid itself."
At the heart of the underground hollow, they found the remnants of a great chamber, circular, with arched ceilings and faded banners that hung limp from the stone. Ash was scattered across the floor, but the walls still shimmered faintly with inlaid crystal veins. Magic hummed through the space, quiet but alive.
Torin eased himself down onto one of the half-broken stone benches, wincing as he stretched his leg. "We'll rest here for a few hours. Let the villagers catch up."
Lena turned quickly. "They're close?"
Thorne nodded. "Took them through the low pass while we cleared ahead. Safer that way."
As if on cue, the sound of footsteps echoed through the corridor. Moments later, the first of the villagers emerged , mud-streaked, hollow-eyed, but moving. A few children ran forward and collapsed beside the fire Lena had kindled from mageflame.
One of the elder men, Miraen, limped forward and dropped to his knees near Eira. "We saw the smoke before you returned. We thought we'd lost you."
"You didn't," Eira said, placing a steady hand on his shoulder. "And you won't."
He nodded shakily. "We followed the symbols like you said. Every time the path faded, someone in our group, someone with even a flicker of magic could see the next mark. It was like the land wanted us to keep going."
"Because it did," Lena murmured.
The villagers settled into the wide space of the chamber. Some found comfort in the quiet hum of power. Others kept close to the walls, wary of being too near something they didn't understand.
Eira knelt near the center of the floor, where a low pedestal stood, covered in dust. She brushed it off, revealing a seal, half-sun, half-flame encircled by runes.
She looked to Lena. "Can you read it?"
Lena squinted. "Old dialect, but… I think it says, 'The flame remembers. The flame returns.'"
Before Eira could respond, Kaela straightened abruptly, gaze sharpening toward the far tunnel.
"Someone's coming."
Thorne had already moved to the outer edge, one hand on his blade, eyes narrowed. "Not villagers. Too fast. Too silent."
Eira stood quickly. "Maelis."
Kaela's expression hardened. "She's closing in."
The chamber's magic pulsed once, reacting to the tension.
Torin growled. "We should collapse the entrance."
"No," Eira said quickly. "Not while the villagers are still exposed. We move. Now."
Kaela nodded. "There's a corridor branching north. I scouted ahead earlier, leads to a fissure. Might open to the forest again."
As the group began to move, children were lifted onto shoulders, wounded helped to their feet. Eira stayed near the front, her shard glowing brighter with every step.
Behind them, a distant rumble.
Maelis had arrived.
⸻
Meanwhile, in the upper forest…
Maelis crouched beside a stone arch choked in roots, fingers tracing a faint smear of blood on the stone. Behind her, a dozen cloaked Veil agents fanned out across the clearing.
"She passed through here an hour ago," the tracker said. "The villagers too."
Maelis closed her eyes briefly, listening not with ears, but with the shard embedded near her collarbone. The dull stone pulsed faintly, answering something deeper beneath the earth.
"She's in the hollow," Maelis whispered.
Harrower's voice crackled from a polished obsidian shard she held in her palm. "Proceed with care. You're near a convergence. Don't wake what sleeps."
"It's already waking," Maelis said. "The Path is stirring."
"And the girl?"
"She'll run. I'll let her, for now."
She crushed the comm-stone in her fist and stood. "Seal the exits. Burn the forest above the eastern ridge. I want the fire to push them underground. Let her see what it feels like to have no choice."
The agents moved swiftly, vanishing into the trees like smoke.
Maelis turned back to the cracked archway. "I wonder, little sister… if you'll break before the end. Or become what you're meant to be."
⸻
Back in the Hollow…
The ruin trembled.
As Eira's group followed the twisting passage north, another chamber opened before them, larger than the last, and filled with standing stones etched in runes that shimmered like firelight.
Lena gasped. "It's a Flamecircle."
Thorne narrowed his eyes. "What's that?"
"It's where Mageborn gathered to choose leaders. To forge pacts. This is sacred ground."
Eira stepped into the circle. Her shard thrummed so hard it ached.
And then without warning, she collapsed.
The light vanished.
The room plunged into shadow.
From the darkness, a voice not of this world whispered through her mind:
"Flameborn. Chosen. Return."