The trio emerged from the Vault into a blood-red dawn.
The Crimson Valley had gone still—unnaturally so. No wind stirred. No birds cried. Even the dust had settled, like the land itself was holding its breath.
Lucien sheathed his blade, eyes scanning the horizon. "Whatever we disturbed down there… it's not finished with us."
"No," Haruto said quietly. "It's only just begun."
He glanced at his hand—faint traces of black energy coiling beneath the skin where the shadow had struck him. A mark. A warning. Or worse… a connection.
Kaela pulled her hood over her head. "We need answers. That shadow—it called you by name. Said you weren't ready."
Haruto nodded. "Which means someone—or something—believes I still have a role to play."
As they reached the edge of the valley, they found something strange waiting for them: a silver ring of stones arranged in a perfect circle. In the center, a charred tree stood, its roots blackened, its branches leafless.
Lucien stepped closer. "This wasn't here before."
Haruto knelt, touching one of the stones. It pulsed faintly under his fingers—an old enchantment, long faded but not dead.
"A ritual site," he murmured. "Older than the Vault. Maybe connected."
Kaela's eyes narrowed. "Then why is there blood on the roots?"
They turned—and saw it.
A symbol carved into the bark of the dead tree.
The crest of the Royal House of Etheria.
Haruto's jaw clenched. "The Queen knew about this place."
Lucien stepped back. "Then she sent you to the Vault on purpose. To trigger something."
Haruto stood, his voice low. "We've been playing her game since the beginning."
Kaela's hand went to her weapon. "So what do we do?"
Haruto looked to the horizon, where the great capital of Etheria loomed far beyond the mountains.
"We stop being her pawns," he said. "And start being her reckoning."