The hallway stretched on, quiet and still. Luca walked slowly, his sword still in hand, eyes scanning the walls.
He soon noticed paintings depicting something. They were old, faded, but still clear enough to make out. One showed a man walking up the steps of a small pyramidal structure. Another showed him standing at its top, holding a round crystal above his head. The crystal was blue, glowing faintly even in the painting.
Luca narrowed his eyes.
"Is that the treasure?" he muttered. "What's so special about a crystal?"
A few more steps brought the real thing into view.
At the end of the hallway, past broken stone columns and cracked tiles, stood the pyramid. It wasn't large, maybe ten steps tall, but the shape matched the paintings exactly. And at its top, resting on a small pedestal, was the blue crystal.
Luca looked around, scanning for any hidden exits. But nothing. The hall ended here. The only path out seemed to be the one he came from.
He approached the pyramid carefully. As his foot touched the first step, a strange sensation shot through his body. Not pain, but a tingle. A shimmer in his bones.
He stopped, glanced around, and checked the stone. Nothing unusual. No traps he could see.
The second step brought no sensation at all.
Step by step, he climbed to the top.
The crystal sat there, smooth and round, glowing softly. He stared at it for a moment, then reached out and took it in his hand.
It was cold. Lighter than he expected.
He waited, and nothing happened.
"Huh," Luca murmured. "I guess I was overthinking it."
He pulled out a small cloth from his pack, wanting to wrap the crystal before putting it away. But when he looked at his hand, it was empty.
The crystal had vanished.
Luca froze. His instincts kicked in. He took a defensive stance, scanning the area, waiting for something to strike from the shadows.
Then the pain hit.
A sharp, burning pain stabbed into his skull like a spike. Luca dropped to one knee, gasping. It was like fire in his head, pressure so intense he could barely think. He clutched his temples, trying to hold himself together.
The pain grew worse.
His limbs shook. His breath came in short, ragged bursts. He could barely stay conscious.
It felt like something was pulling at him from the inside out.
A groan escaped him. Then a gasp. Then silence, as the pain took everything.
Death seemed a kinder fate than this endless agony.
Then a single thought cut through the haze.
Mother.
Rhea's face flashed in his mind. Her smile. What would happen to her if he didn't come back?
The thought steadied him, barely.
He tried summoning Luminis, anything that was left.
But the pain didn't fade.
He had no choice.
He gathered the last of his strength and turned inward. Toward the barrier between soul and body.
Luca pushed. The Luminis within him flared.
And then, the world went white.
He fainted.
A moment later, something emerged from Luca's body.
A figure.
It was Luca, but not quite. It glowed faintly, blue light pulsing from its chest. The same blue as the crystal.
Luca's soul.
It expanded, larger and larger, until it passed through the stone of the tower. It rose out of the top, drifting above the forest.
The soul didn't touch anything. It seemed like it couldn't.
But it pulled.
All the Luminis nearby began moving toward it. A stream of glowing energy was drawn from trees, soil, air, and everything around.
The soul grew, swelling like a balloon of light. Bigger than the tower. Then bigger than anything nearby. Yet invisible to the naked eye due to not being bound by the physical realm.
But the creatures of the forest felt it.
Birds took flight in panicked flocks. The deer bolted. Wolves howled and ran. Some creatures collapsed, overwhelmed by the pressure.
The sky dimmed. Clouds gathered.
Wind howled through the trees.
It was chaos.
The Luminis surged into the soul. The blue crystal at its chest pulsed wildly, clashing with the incoming light. The soul flickered, alternating between dark and bright blue.
Then, slowly, a balance formed.
The light evened out. The chaos slowed.
The massive soul shrank.
Smaller, smaller, until it was the size of Luca again.
It drifted back down.
And merged with his body.
The clouds above parted, the wind died down, and the forest went still.
And Luca lay there, unmoving, glowing the same as the crystal, in the silence that followed.