“Then there’s only one way to find out.”
We stand on opposite sides of the hole, staring at one another.Sweat drips down Kael’s face, his tunic like a patchwork of light and dark grey.We watch as the shadows trace the lip of the entrance, then vanish into the dark.
I let out a huff of breath and roll my eyes.“I’ll go first then, shall I?”
“Ladies first,” he smirks, though the expression doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
I sit on the edge, my feet dangling over the void.I should feel terrified of what I’m about to step into.But I’m not.
Cold, damp air rises from the depths—a scent steeped in the era of the first stars, smelling of stone that remembers the taste of blood.My heart beats wildly against my ribs, but it isn’t fear.It’s excitement.
I take one last look at Kael, his face caught in the agonising space between his old faith and this new fear.
Then, I let go.
30
SEREN
The fall steals my breath.
For a heartbeat, there is only the rush of air and the thud of my pulse.Then the darkness catches me—not hard, but soft, as if it had been waiting.The shadows cradle me, slowing my descent until my feet touch slick stone.
They slither away, and I frown, trying to remember a time when they felt this…tangible.I’ve landed in a chamber vast enough to swallow the Guild Hall whole.Every breath carries the biting blend of brine and tempered steel.
Thin streams of light needle through cracks in the ceiling, catching on droplets that hang like stars before vanishing into the black pool.A soft echo of trickling water rings out—the stone walls crying for the secrets they hold.
“Where are we?”I whisper, my voice drowning in the silence.
Home,she breathes, her words slithering down my spine.The first root.The wound they built the city over.
Warmth blooms across my chest as my pendant responds.Faint runes carved into the walls offer a reply, glowing a deep crimson like embers under ash.The floor slopes toward a pool at the centre, its surface like glass, reflecting a night sky that holds no stars.
Behind me, a splash.Kael.
He surfaces, gasping, water streaming from his hair.Muttering profanities, he wipes the wetness onto his tunic.Neither of us speaks.The silence here is an oppressive blanket that absorbs all sound.
Our eyes turn as one to the circular pool.Kael flinches, rubbing his wrist, while my pendant answers with a bloom of heat.
“This must be the shrine,” I mutter, my hand over my heart as I will the heat at my chest to cool.
“I don’t understand.I’ve studied the records of the city for years, I’ve never read about this before.”
Phantom fingers stroke the inside of my mind:Historical amnesia.
“I guess the Light built over this so long ago that those who remembered have passed.”Stones dig into my soles as I move towards the water.The closer I get, the louder my pulse becomes until I realise it isn’t my heartbeat at all—it’s the water, throbbing in rhythm with my breath.
“Do you feel that?”
“Yeah, it feels like a heartbeat,” he says.He follows me to the edge, his hand catching my arm.“Careful.”
Shadows skim the black glass, sending ripples in their wake.“It feels…alive.”
“It feelsold.”His voice trembles despite his stoic stature.“We have no idea what it is.We should approach with caution.”
Caution.I don’t feel the warning.I feel a calling—a pull toward something that feels dangerously like home.An amused hum escapes me, and I search Kael’s face.His eyes have darkened into steel, his brow furrowed so deep it casts a shadow over his gaze.
“Don’t tell me the shadow-scholar is scared of a little black water.”
