The forest swallowed them slowly.
Every step forward quieted the world more.
Every breath felt like it echoed.
Light filtered through the branches in thin white cracks, weak and trembling.
The trail of black silver light left by the stone led deeper along the riverbank. It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat buried under earth. Only Zyren could see it, but Selene sensed its presence. She followed his gaze with sharp eyes.
The deeper they walked, the colder it became.
The air grew heavy.
The roots along the river thickened and twisted like veins wrapped around stone.
Selene touched one lightly.
"It feels like bone," she whispered.
Zyren pressed his hand against a root.
It was warm.
Not dead.
Not alive in the way normal roots live.
Something else.
He pulled his hand back.
"Something ancient is beneath this forest."
Selene's fingers tightened around her bowstring.
"Something older than the gods"
Zyren looked at her.
"Maybe."
They walked further.
Hours seemed to blur.
The trail narrowed until only the river kept them oriented. The trees grew closer together, their branches weaving into a ceiling that blocked the sun entirely.
Selene slowed beside a broken stump.
"The light is gone," she whispered. "This forest should not exist in a starter region."
Zyren looked ahead.
The trail pulsed again.
"We are close."
Selene nodded and stepped closer to him, her shoulder brushing his arm for a moment. It was small and unintentional, but the closeness felt like an unspoken admission:
She was afraid.
And she trusted him anyway.
They continued.
A low sound rumbled across the forest floor. Not loud. Just enough to make old leaves tremble. Selene's eyes widened.
"Did you hear that"
Zyren nodded once.
"It is under us."
The ground shuddered again.
A deep slow pulse like something massive breathing beneath the roots.
Selene backed up a step.
"Zyren. That is not a beast."
Zyren felt it too.
The crown inside him reacted.
Cold spread through his ribs.
His vision sharpened.
The trail ahead glowed brighter, drawing him deeper.
They moved toward a clearing.
The trees ahead were different.
Their bark was dark stone grey.
Their roots formed spirals.
Their leaves hung like ribbons carved from black glass.
Selene's voice shook slightly.
"This is not natural. This is crafted wood."
Zyren stepped into the clearing.
It felt like walking into a forgotten chamber.
Old.
Deep.
Heavy.
In the center of the clearing was a mound covered in tangled roots. They rose from the ground like a cage around a single stone slab.
The slab was enormous, carved with spirals similar to the eye symbol on the river stone. Moss and cracks covered its surface, but faint silver lines glowed beneath them.
Selene stared in awe.
"What is this place"
Zyren stepped closer.
"The gate."
Selene turned sharply.
"Zyren. That projection told you to wake something here. Are you sure this is wise"
Zyren placed a hand on the massive slab.
The moment he touched it, the slab pulsed.
A cold tremor rushed up his arm and into his chest.
Selene reached for him instantly.
"Zyren"
He did not step back.
The slab responded to him.
Not violently.
Not kindly.
It acknowledged him.
The spirals on the stone shifted slowly.
Lines opened.
Light poured out.
Silver.
Soft.
Silent.
The roots around the slab snapped back with a sharp crack.
Selene jumped.
"What is happening"
Zyren did not remove his hand.
"This is the silent gate. It opens to godless ground."
"Elaborate," Selene whispered.
Zyren shook his head once.
"I am not sure yet."
Before either of them could speak further, the ground shook again. Harder this time. Soil cracked. Roots pulled tight.
The slab split open down the center.
A slow hiss rose from the gap, like old breath escaping a sealed tomb.
Selene stepped back, arrow drawn.
"Zyren. Something is waking underneath."
Zyren watched.
The slit opened slowly.
Cold light escaped like fog.
The air dropped several degrees.
Selene's breath misted.
Then the sound came.
A single low growl.
Deep.
Ancient.
Resonant enough to shake the ribs.
Zyren's hand finally left the slab.
He stepped back beside Selene.
A shape crawled up from the darkness beneath the stone.
At first it looked like smoke.
Then bone.
Then something half formed from both.
It climbed slowly, pulling itself from the depths.
Selene whispered in terror.
"That is not a creature."
Zyren nodded.
"No."
It rose fully now.
A tall humanoid shape made of black bone and drifting silver ash. Four long blade like arms curved from its back. Its head carried no face, only a single long crack down the center glowing with pale light.
Selene pulled her bowstring so tight her fingers shook.
"What is that thing"
Zyren did not blink.
"A sentinel."
"A guardian"
"No," Zyren said quietly. "A prisoner."
The sentinel turned its head slightly toward him.
Its body creaked like old stone sliding across ice.
It spoke.
Its voice was a rumble that felt more felt than heard.
Bearer.
Selene flinched.
"Why does everything here know your title"
The sentinel stepped off the slab.
Its weight shook the ground.
Its aura pushed the air around its form until it shimmered.
It took one slow step toward Zyren.
Selene moved in front of him, arrow aimed at the sentinel's core.
"Stop," she said. Her voice cracked slightly. "I will shoot."
The sentinel ignored her completely.
Its glowing crack pulsed.
Silence.
Cold.
Heavy.
It spoke again.
The shackles break.
The cage weakens.
You opened a wound in their wall.
Zyren's eyes narrowed.
"What do you want from me"
The sentinel leaned closer.
The crack down its faceless head widened slightly.
Not death.
Understanding.
Selene shot.
Her arrow hit the sentinel and snapped instantly.
It did not react.
It did not even turn.
It spoke again, deeper.
You call to the silence.
The silence calls to you.
You walk with a crown that remembers the end.
Zyren stepped forward.
"What end"
The sentinel lifted one blade like arm.
The forest darkened.
The crack of light inside its head flared.
The end of their order.
The end of their sky.
The end of every throne built with stolen breath.
Selene grabbed Zyren's wrist.
"Zyren. Do not talk to it. Please."
Zyren stayed still.
The sentinel slowly lowered its blade.
Then whispered.
A question.
Why do you walk without fear
Zyren answered without pause.
"Because fear does not stop truth."
The sentinel fell silent.
The forest held its breath.
Then the sentinel knelt.
The ground shook under the weight.
Selene's eyes widened.
"It is bowing. For you."
Zyren said nothing.
The sentinel lowered all four blade arms to the earth.
Its voice echoed through the clearing.
Then hear this.
Your path is marked.
Your steps scar the world.
The gods will send more than hunters.
Selene whispered.
"More than hunters. What is more than hunters"
Zyren felt the cold connect to his spine.
"A herald," he said.
The sentinel rose slowly.
Its ash drifted in spirals.
The crack of light narrowed.
It pointed one blade arm deeper into the forest.
Seek the shrine of the hollow flame.
There lies the first memory.
Touch it.
Awaken it.
Or drown in the Court's fire.
Selene stepped closer to Zyren.
"Zyren. This is beyond us. We should not keep going."
Zyren looked at her.
Her eyes held fear.
Real fear.
But also loyalty.
"We walk," he said softly. "If we stop, we die."
Selene closed her eyes once.
Then opened them.
"Then I will stay beside you."
The sentinel stepped back onto the slab.
Its body cracked.
Silver ash drifted upward.
Its form collapsed into dust.
Only the echo of its voice remained.
Rise or fall.
But do not turn back.
The slab sealed behind it.
The clearing grew quiet again.
Zyren placed one hand on his shoulder wound and steadied himself.
Selene touched his other arm gently.
"Are you hurt badly"
"No."
"You are lying."
Zyren did not argue.
Selene wrapped her fingers around his wrist.
"Let me walk in front sometimes," she whispered. "If something tries to kill you again, I want a chance to stop it."
Zyren looked at her.
"You already did."
Selene lowered her eyes.
"That was not enough."
Zyren stepped forward and followed the sentinel's direction, deeper into the dark forest.
Selene followed at his side.
The trail of black silver light moved again, pointing toward an unseen shrine.
The forest tightened behind them, sealing the path.
And far above, in the Divine Court, three gods stood in silence while a fourth whispered:
The bearer walks toward forbidden ground.
His silence grows.
Prepare the heralds.