The path into Thorne Hollow was jagged and sloped like a wound that had never fully healed.
Dust choked the air, and the sky above seemed to hold its breath as Kael and the others descended into the canyon. No birds. No breeze. Only the low groan of stone shifting in unseen places.
Kael adjusted the scythe strapped to his back. Even wrapped, it pulsed faintly, like a heart that didn't beat for him.
Tessan took the lead, his heavy steps muffled by the powdery ground. His horns gleamed dully in the gloom, and his massive cleaver was already drawn. "Three things," he grunted. "Don't stray. Don't touch anything unless I say. And if the ruin starts humming? Run."
"Elira," Ryall called quietly behind him, "you sensing anything?"
The Whisperborn paused, her hand raised, fingers twitching through the stagnant air. Magic in this world their world wasn't colorful or wild. It moved like breath, like memory, subtle and strange.
"There's something," she murmured. "Like the air's remembering something terrible."
Drev, silent and hooded as always, moved like a shadow beside her. A faint shimmer wrapped his hands his form already loosening at the edges, phasing into the veil between here and not-here. Watching everything. Saying nothing.
Kael kept near the rear. His steps were silent, the new armor creaking lightly with each movement. He wasn't sure why the others hadn't asked more about the scythe but they gave it space, and that was enough.
Their formation was natural now. Ryall up front with Tessan Veilborn and brute, perfect anchors. Elira and Drev at the center, one casting spells with short, precise murmurs, the other flickering like mist. Kael watching their backs.
Fighting monsters had forged a rhythm between them.
A distant howl rose, hollow and distorted by the canyon walls.
The ruin gates came into view. Black stone. Faintly curved like the jaws of some forgotten beast. And marked with runes none of them could read.
Kael stepped forward, pausing beside Elira.
"You said you've been here before," he said.
She nodded once. "We cleared the upper floor two years ago. Nothing moved, but the rooms were... wrong. Like walking through the aftermath of a dream you can't remember."
"And now?"
"Now, the deeper levels are open. That's new."
Tessan growled. "Gate's fresh broken. Someone went in before us."
Ryall knelt and touched the stone. "Tracks. Not fresh. Maybe a day or two old."
Drev finally spoke, his voice distant, like it echoed from behind a veil. "We follow. But carefully. If they woke what sleeps, they're already gone."
They stepped into the hollow.
The temperature dropped instantly. Not cold dead. Like the warmth of the world had forgotten this place.
Kael's shadow twitched behind him, longer than it should have been. The scythe vibrated faintly against his back.
And then
A sound.
Not quite a voice. Not quite a scream.
Like something deep in the stone exhaled.
The doors behind them rumbled shut.
Darkness pressed in.
And Thorne Hollow welcomed them home.