Draevyn gave him a stiff nod. “Do it.”
Atlas’s hands weaved subtle movements, and from his fingertips, darkness peeled away from the torchlight, unraveling into thin, writhing streams. They slithered forward along the cave floor and walls, darting into narrow passages. The crew watched, their stares uneasy, as the shadows vanished into the black.
“Uhhh, Jak,” Riven muttered under his breath, pressing his hand against the wall.
“Riv, what the hells did we say about touching things?” Jak barked. But then he looked closer, golden eyes wide. “Oh gods. The markings… they’regone.”
Others glanced to the walls, their whispers swelling. Where the runes matching Esmyra’s markings had once been etched into every inch of rock, there was nothing but bare, smooth stone. It was as if the cave itself had been scrubbed clean.
Draevyn’s jaw clenched, the fire in his palm burning hotter. “What could this possibly mean?”
Jak stepped up to his side, placing his palm on the wall. They looked at each other then. “Maybe this is a sign Esmi was right, and the wards really are down.”
“I’m lost,” Atlas drawled. “What are you looking for exactly?”
Draevyn ran a hand through his hair in frustration and turned to address them all. “While I know most of you weren’t present for our first little adventure in this shithole, when we were here before, there were runes carved into the walls. They were identical to the ones marking Esmyra’s skin. Because of this, her presence acted like a key, unlocking hidden gateways and passages that moved us further into the cave and eventually into Maerinys.”
They all glanced around, staring at the rocks.
“And well, as you can see, they’re no longer here.” He turned back toward the direction they were headed. “We press on. We’re losing moonlight.”
The words spread ripples of dread through the crew as they followed him deeper into the dark.
The tunnel widened, the sound of their footsteps echoing. Draevyn lifted his flame higher as they stepped into the clearing—the same place where he and Esmyra had once fallen through.
He remembered the feel of stone giving way beneath him as he tackled her out of the way from the falling boulders. Then came the plunge into blackness, and the icy lake that met them at the bottom.
But now… the cliff wasgone.
The space yawned open in front of them, but the sheer drop didn’t exist. The jagged maw that had swallowed them was now filled in, smoothed over as if the earth itself had risen alongside Maerinys to mend its wound.
Draevyn froze, a cold knot tightening in his gut. His flame sputtered for half a second as confusion gnawed at him.
“What the hells?” Jak whispered from beside him, and when he looked down, he watched as the owl shifter’s stare whirled in all directions. “Did we take a wrong turn?”
“No,” he whispered, taking a step forward. “But at least it seems the wards are gone.”
Atlas stepped forward and lifted his hand, shadows coiling and spilling from his fingertips like smoke once more. They slid across the stone, creeping ahead into the darkness, fanning out along walls, across the new stretch of solid ground where the cliff had once gaped open.
The crew held their breath, watching the tendrils vanish into the farthest recesses of the cavern.
“The passage continues on for a few miles,” Atlas said. “I sense no signs of life yet.”
Draevyn’s jaw tightened. He knew better than any of them that no life didn’t necessarily mean no danger. Still, time was strangling them. With the blood moon burning overhead, they didn’t have the luxury of crawling through the dark.
“Good,” he said, though the word tasted bitter. “Then we move.”
He didn’t wait for anyone to debate and broke into a run as they all followed suit. The cave swallowed them again, one twisting passage after another for several miles as they sprinted through.
The path sloped lower with every stride, the air thickening with the cave’s humidity. Draevyn’s flame stretched long against the walls, and then he noticed the rough stone of the cavern giving way tosomething unnatural. The cave was narrowing once more, but these walls appeared to have been hollowed out, smoothed and polished.
His gut tightened as the memory of this place came rushing back.
And then came the proof of a charred husk slumped against the wall, limbs curled in upon themselves. It was one of the hundreds of twisted corpses he and Esmyra had left behind.
“What in all hells isthat?” Jak bellowed.
“Krechuums.” Draevyn slowed, his steps crunching over old bones before they all finally came to a halt, out of breath.
