Chapter 1: The call
I shouldn’t have come here.
The thought have been repeating in my head since the moment the forest swallowed the path behind us.
Eldergrove had always felt different from other forests. Older. Quieter. As if the trees themselves were watching.
Tonight it felt worse.
The deeper we walked, the more the world seemed to hold it's breath.
"No birds." Rowan muttered behind me.
I glanced back at him "what?"
"There are no birds," He gestured around us. "No insects either. Forests aren't supposed to be this quiet."
He wasn't wrong.
Usually the forest hummed with life-crickets, rustling leaves, distant animal calls.
But now there was nothing.
Just the sounds of our footsteps and the wind brushing through the tall trees.
I tighten my grip on the lantern in my hand and kept walking.
"You know," Rowan continued, "Most people would see that as a sign to turn around. "
I smiled faintly. " Most people also don't spend their free time searching for lost ruins."
Rowan sighed dramatically. "One day that curiosity of yours is going to get us killed."
"Not today." I said.
At least... i hoped not.
The forest slowly began to thin ahead of us, and the ground changed beneath my boots. Moss gave way to stone, cracked and uneven.
My lantern light fell across something tall rising from the earth.
A pillar.
Half broken, covered in vines.
I stopped walking.
Rowan nearly walked into me, "why did you-"
Then he saw it too.
Ruins.
More pillars stood scattered through the clearing like the bones of some ancient giant. Time had shattered most of them, leaving jagged edges and faded carvings I couldn't quite make out in the dim light.
My heart began beating faster.
"We found it." I whispered.
Rowan looked around nervously. "Or we found something. "
I barely heard him.
Because the moment i stepped deeper into the clearing, I felt it.
A pull.
Soft at first.
Like someone whispered my name from far away.
My breath caught.
"Nicci?" Rowan said.
"Do you feel that?" I asked quietly.
The pull grew stronger.
It was coming from the ruins.
From the center of the clearing.
My feet began moving before I even decided to walk.
“Nicci,” Rowan called again, hurrying after me. “Hold on. Maybe we should check the place out first before running straight toward the creepy ancient temple.”
But it was too late.
I had already seen it.
The temple stood at the heart of the ruins, half collapsed but still towering over everything around it. The entrance was broken, jagged stones scattered across the ground like fallen teeth.
And inside the darkness...
Something was glowing.
A soft blue light flickered deep within the temple.
My pulse quickened.
“That,” Rowan said slowly, “was definitely not on the map.”
I stepped over the fallen stone and moved towards the entrance.
The moment I crossed into the temple, the air turned cold.
Not normal cold.
Ancient cold.
The lantern flame flickered as if something unseen had disturbed the air.
My light revealed walls covered in carvings.
Wolves.
Stars.
Strange symbols I didn’t recognize.
I walked deeper into the chamber, unable to ignore the strange pull guiding me forward.
And then i saw it.
At the center of the room stood a stone pedestal.
Floating just above it...
Was a crystal.
It was shaped like a shard of pure light, glowing softly with swirling energy trapped inside it's surface
Rowan stepped up beside me and stared.
"Well," He said quietly. " that's definitely magical. "
The crystal pulsed.
Once.
Then again.
The pull inside my chest tightened.
I took another step closer.
"Nicci," Rowan said carefully. "Maybe don't touch the mysterious floating magic object. "
But I couldn't look away.
It felt like the crystal was calling me.
Like it had been waiting.
For me.
My hand slowly lifted.
"Nicci-"
The moment my finger touched the crystal-
The world exploded.
Light burst through the temple, blinding and powerful. Energy rushed through my body like lightning, stealing the air from my lungs.
I gasped as images flooded my mind.
Fire.
War.
Creatures fighting beneath a burning sky.
And somewhere in the darkness...
Something ancient opened it's eyes.
I collapsed to my knees as the crystal blazed with blinding light.
The ground beneath the temple trembled.
And deep within the shadows of the world.
Someone felt the power awaken.
