The tunnel wasn't a tunnel at all, Alain realized. In front, a massive stairwell was leading upward. Each individual step was massive, clearly not designed with humans in mind.
It looked more like a chamber, with both sides of the wall decorated with ritualistic paintings and carvings.
Before Alain could get distracted by the art, Kai'el stirred on his shoulder.
He murmured something Alain couldn't catch. His fevered breath brushed against Alain's neck, cold despite the heat radiating from the torchlit path.
Theo trailed close behind, the crunch of his boots uneven.
"This place feels wrong," he shivered. "I really hope we reach the top soon."
Alain didn't answer. The pendant beneath his shirt had started to hum again, faintly. It was leading him somewhere, pulling him upward through the winding path.
They passed a collapsed archway, its runes long faded. When Alain brushed his fingers along the stone, faint lines blinked awake, forming a script he didn't recognize.
For a heartbeat, the whole wall shimmered gold, as if remembering light. Then the shimmer spread.
Lines crawled outward from Alain's hand—thin, glowing filaments that raced along the carvings in both directions. The faint shapes carved into the stone came alive, filling with molten light.
What looked like dust a moment ago now blazed like stars scattered across the wall.
Theo stumbled back, shielding his eyes. "What did you do!?"
"I don't—" Alain's voice caught.
The carvings filled with light, like the wall itself seemed to breathe. The ancient murals unfolded like a tapestry rewoven, revealing a story no human had seen in millennia.
At first, the light formed shapes of humanoids, titanic beings molded from molten stone. Above it, a single name could barely be read.
The Jotnar, or Thurisaz in their language.
Alain realized this instantly. He had his suspicions. Back when he explored the town, it was filled with wilted mistletoe, a charm for the Jotnar that was made painstakingly clear during his trial. But now, it wasn't a Revelation—this was their true history.
He saw them raising mountains from the earth, shaping rivers of lava into forges. At their center stood a towering figure, hammer in hand, chiseling smaller creations. The being then gave a stone to their smaller kin, carved with a glowing red Rune.
ᚻ —Hagalaz
Theo whispered, voice trembling, "It's… showing us."
It was that Rune again, the same one that he'd seen time and time again. Each time he had failed, it was always there. But...what did it mean?
The mural shifted again. Now the giants stood beside smaller figures. Some with shorter stature, some with longer ears. They looked harmonious—sharing their things among one another.
They arrived at the top of the steps, where a clearing with a large stone door rested. The light flowed into said doors, revealing the next panels.
Alain was amazed. The story of these people felt so…hopeful. So unlike what he'd known of Ede.
But the next panels darkened. The gold turned red.
Where the golden light had once flowed like molten sun, now crimson rivers burned across the carvings.
A titan, mistakenly shooting an arrow at a god. Alain instantly knew what happens next, he'd live this memory countless times already. It was Baldr's assassination. And he knew what this led to...Odin had declared war.
Weapons of impossible scale were raised, their edges inscribed with runes that pulsed like hearts. One figure, robed in light, stood at the center of the chaos.
His face was hidden, but a single eye gleamed brighter than all else, cold and absolute.
The figure's spear descended. Flame met light, and the mountain split apart.
The murals convulsed. Shifting to horror. Piles upon piles of bodies lay. The titans fell, their mountains crumbled, their rivers ran crimson.
Alain could feel the heat radiating from the memory itself, waves of ancient fury bleeding through time.
Theo stumbled back, his voice cracking. "They… they were wiped out."
But the murals weren't finished.
The red bled away, dimming to a dull ember. A few remained, their bodies cracked, molten gold bleeding from their wounds. One figure had carried the stone their progenitor had given them.
The mural shifted again. The surviving Titans vanished into the mountain, their silhouettes merging with the stone itself.
Theo whispered, "They rebuilt…"
For a moment, the hall felt warm again. The giants' forges glowed bright, the land blooming in their light. But then…the warmth dimmed. Light dulling to gray.
The stone suddenly cracked, shattering into a colossal rift. At the center of that rift stood the same towering figure of flame, his body cracked and broken. From his rise came storms, floods, and the mists of winter.
The murals moved, cold creeping across the walls like frost devouring embers.
Alain's throat went dry. "What's…going on.."
The figure moved across the globe, treading fire and ruin in his wake. Cities crumbling, civilizations disappearing. The mural ended abruptly.
"Was that… did we just see… the end of the world?" Theo's voice quivered, half whisper, half disbelief.
Alain didn't answer at first. The warmth had left his body. Only the hum of the pendant remained.
"How's that possible…" he murmured, his voice breaking against the silence.
"Murals are carved to remember the past… so how did it just show us the future?"
Neither of them moved. The hall's light was gone, yet its memory lingered.
Then, a sound.
A deep, grinding tremor rolled through the floor. Dust fell from the ceiling in thin, drifting threads.
Theo looked around. "You've gotta be kidding me—"
The ground split. From the cracks, stone shifted and folded, pulling itself upward into shapes: arms, torsos, heads. The walls themselves seemed to tear free of their carvings.
Alain stepped back instinctively, drawing his blade. "They're moving—!"
The figures solidified, their skin a fusion of obsidian and ore, eyes hollow and burning with faint red light.
Golems.
Alain dropped Kai'el to the ground as gently as he could.
The first golem charged, their movements surprisingly mobile for their size.
Alain barely dodged the first strike. The ground split where the blow landed, shards of rock slicing across his cheek.
"Theo, move!"
"I'm—trying!" Theo's voice cracked, exhaustion warping his words. He raised his hand, tracing a half-formed Raido sigil in the air. The blast came out weak, the wave of force barely slowed the creature.
The second golem dropped from the wall, landing hard enough to make the entire chamber quake. Its arm swung, hitting the ground beside Theo; the shockwave threw him into a pillar. He gasped, the air knocked from his lungs.
Alain gritted his teeth, forcing his burning legs to move. He slashed at the first golem's knee—sparks exploded, but his blade might as well be a kitchen knife.
The thing turned, slow and deliberate, and backhanded him across the floor.
His shoulder slammed against stone. The pendant struck his chest with the impact, ringing like metal.
The world swam.
Through the ringing in his ears, he heard Kai'el's ragged breath, Theo's half-choked curse, and the grinding steps of the advancing behemoths.
Fuck, we're gonna get wiped out. We were never meant to win this.
Alain pushed himself up, fire flickering weakly across his hand.
"Come on," he breathed, voice shaking. "Move."
The nearest golem turned, stone shoulders grinding like collapsing earth. Its hollow eyes caught the light, burning with faint red ember. The weight of its gaze pressed down on him like gravity itself.
Alain let out a hoarse shout and charged.
The spark in his palm erupted into a trail of flame along his blade as he swung with everything he had left.
As it struck the stone, the recoil was so heavy that it made Alain drop his sword, flame also bouncing harmlessly off.
Theo's voice was a distant echo. "Alain, watch out—!"
The golem moved faster than its size should allow. One massive hand caught him mid-motion, closing around his torso like an iron vice. His feet left the ground. The air fled his lungs.
He gasped, thrashing. "Let—go—!"
The golem's shadow loomed overhead, its chest burning with the mark carved into it —ᚦ
The same rune from the murals. The same one that had glowed in the pendant when they first entered.
Through the haze of pain, Alain remembered.
The murals had shown the Titans giving that rune to their kin, their creations, their guardians.
Thurisaz.
The Rune that represented the Jotnar themselves.
He dragged in a ragged breath, staring at the burning rune on the golem's chest, at the pendant searing against his collarbone.
"You're theirs…" he rasped. "You're…not meant to kill us…"
The creature's arm lifted again, ready to strike.
Desperation tore the rest from his throat before thought could stop it.
"Thurisaz!"
The word echoed throughout the clearing. The golem had frozen mid-motion.
Silence followed. Then, one by one, they stopped.
Theo staggered forward, blinking through the light. "Alain—what did you—"
The last one slowly lowered Alain to the ground. He gasped for air, his lungs burning.
Alain could barely speak. "They're… not attacking. I think… they're listening."
The golem that had lifted him started kneeling. The others followed.
Alain stared up at them, his breath still unsteady. "Thurisaz…" he murmured, the word now heavy with meaning.
"The Rune of the Titans."