By midmorning, the group gathered near the base of what had once been the village's eastern ridge. A rise of jagged rock formations that jutted upward like fractured spires. From a distance, they looked natural, but up close, something about their shape felt deliberate. Cut. Shifted.
"Looks like the stone was carved out from the inside," Zuberi said, pressing his palm against one of the obelisks. "But not by tools."
"Resonance?" Kazi asked.
He nodded slowly. "Or something like it. Maybe even someone trying to hide something."
They followed the curve of the ridge around the back of the village until they reached a narrow opening. A split in the cliff wall, just wide enough for a person to pass through sideways, hidden behind fallen trees and piled debris. If not for the pulse on Rhazir's scanner flaring slightly, they might have missed it entirely.
"We going in?" Dakarai asked, eyeing the dark gap.
Kazi stepped forward without waiting. "We came here for answers."
The passage narrowed as they moved deeper, the light thinning until the only glow came from the occasional flicker of Dakarai's Volt or the warm, slow pulse beneath Kazi's skin.
The space opened into a chamber, larger than expected, with high, uneven ceilings and a floor covered in dust and broken tiles. Strange lines curved along the walls, etched with a precision that defied erosion. Some of them shimmered faintly when their light passed over them.
Zuberi stepped to the center and knelt, pressing both palms to the floor. A moment passed.
Then his eyes opened sharply.
"There's a pocket underneath," he said. "Hollow chamber. Sealed tight."
Kazi's breath caught. "Like a vault?"
"Maybe."
Rhazir walked slowly along the edge of the room, brushing his fingertips against the wall symbols. "Or a grave."
Dakarai glanced at Kazi. "Either way, we're opening it, right?"
Kazi nodded. "We're not leaving until we know what's down there."
It took Zuberi fifteen minutes to shift the stone layers.
He moved the pressure slowly, redirecting weight across the fractured edges until a circular platform in the center began to lower. Dust hissed outward as the floor depressed like a lifted lid.
A tunnel yawned open beneath them, its mouth wide and dark, lined with roots and whispering echoes.
Kazi stepped to the edge.
The air that rose from the tunnel wasn't cold. It wasn't even stale. It felt… clean. Preserved.
Like it hadn't been touched in years, but someone had prepared it to be opened.
She lit her palm and looked down into the shaft.
"There's a ladder," she said. "It's old, but intact."
"I'll go first," Zuberi offered.
"No," Kazi said. "We go together."
They descended slowly, Kazi, Zuberi, then Dakarai. Rhazir followed after a pause, the last one down.
The tunnel led to a small circular room with four archways — each leading into darkness. The room itself was bare, save for a single pedestal in the center. Atop it, a resonance disc hummed faintly with blue light.
It wasn't old.
It wasn't weathered or cracked.
It had been placed there recently.
Kazi's Mark pulsed harder now, like it recognized something but couldn't say what.
She approached the disc and waved her hand over it. The hum shifted into a slow whine, then a recorded voice played. It was distorted, but clear enough to recognize.
A woman's voice.
"If you've found this, it means the seal has failed. The weight of this place... cannot hold forever. You must not bring others here. The Lines are not just awakening, they are unraveling."
The message ended. The disc powered down.
Silence returned.
Dakarai swore under his breath.
Zuberi stared at the pedestal. "How long has that been here?"
Rhazir said nothing.
Kazi turned toward him. "You knew something like this was here."
"I suspected," he said carefully. "The scanner picked up fresh pulses, and this... confirms the risk."
"Risk of what?"
He met her eyes, unblinking. "Of something older than the Mark."
They left the disc untouched.
Climbing back to the surface felt heavier than descending. The air above seemed thicker now, and even the village no longer felt empty, it felt quiet in a different way. As if it was listening.
They regrouped around the fire pit as the sun reached its apex.
No one ate.
Kazi sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, staring into the flames. Her mind raced.
Who had left the message?
What had they meant by "unraveling"?
And what did it mean for the bearers; for the Lines?
Zuberi was the first to break the silence. "We shouldn't stay here."
"Agreed," Dakarai said. "Whatever's down there… someone left it sealed for a reason."
Kazi nodded slowly. "We'll move out tomorrow. East, past the canyon rim."
She looked at Rhazir last.
His face was unreadable, his expression calm.
But in his eyes, something flickered.
Not concern.
Anticipation.