Kael's breath still came in ragged bursts as the world snapped back into focus. The chamber's Vein-lit walls seemed to pulse in time with his racing heart. The Keeper's words—*the Vein gives, but it also takes*—echoed in his mind, mingling with the fragments of memory that still danced behind his eyes.
He staggered, and Selene was there instantly, steadying him with a hand on his shoulder. "Kael, are you with us?"
He nodded, but the movement felt slow, as if he were underwater. "I saw… everything. The Sundering. The Riftborne's fall. The Vein—how it was wounded, how it remembers."
Whisper stepped forward, her masked face unreadable. "The Vein does not forget, Riftborne. It calls to those who can hear its pain."
The others gathered close, their faces a mixture of concern and curiosity. Nirael kept one hand on her weapon, eyes darting to the edges of the chamber as if expecting another apparition. Mira hovered protectively near Kael, her healer's instincts warring with her fear of what she could not mend.
Lysara broke the silence, her voice low and urgent. "Did the vision show you where we go next?"
Kael closed his eyes, searching the storm of images still swirling in his mind. "East. Past the canyons, beyond the salt flats. There's another memory—another shard. But the Vein warned me: the closer we get, the more unstable things will become. The Dominion is searching too. We're running out of time."
Nalah, leaning heavily on her staff, grimaced. "Then we move at first light. I don't want to be here when the next Vein surge hits."
For a moment, no one moved. The Keeper watched them, his gaze ancient and heavy. "You have taken the first step. The Vein's pain is deep, but so is its hope. Beware the Dominion's shadow, and beware the cost of awakening what sleeps."
Kael bowed his head in silent acknowledgment. He felt changed—older, burdened, but also more certain than ever of his purpose. The relic at his chest pulsed in quiet harmony with the shard on the altar.
As the group prepared to leave, Selene lingered by Kael's side. "What did you really see in there?" she asked softly.
He hesitated, then answered honestly. "I saw what we lost. And what we might lose again, if we fail."
She squeezed his hand, her eyes fierce. "Then we won't fail. Not while we still have a choice."
Together, they turned from the altar, the memory shard's light fading behind them. Outside, the canyon wind howled—a warning, and a promise.
The journey east would not be easy. But for the first time, Kael felt the Vein's current moving with him, not against him.
And somewhere in the distance, the Dominion's shadow lengthened, hungry for the power that had just awakened.
---
The canyon's Vein-lit gloom faded behind them as the companions pressed east, the air growing drier and harsher with every step. The memory of the Keeper's words and Kael's vision clung to them like a second skin—unseen, but impossible to ignore.
Kael walked at the front, his hand unconsciously resting over the relic. The images from the vision still flickered at the edges of his mind: Riftborne shaping worlds, the Sundering's devastation, the Vein's agony. Each step felt heavier, as if the ground itself was waiting for him to falter.
Selene kept close to his side, her expression tight with worry. She had seen the toll the vision had taken on Kael, and though she trusted his strength, she could not shake the fear that the Vein's burden was growing too great for any one person to bear.
Behind them, the rest of the group moved in uneasy silence. Nirael's eyes never stopped scanning the horizon, her hand resting on the hilt of her weapon. Lysara consulted her battered map, lips pressed in a thin line, while Mira checked Nalah's bandages and offered quiet encouragement. Whisper drifted at the rear, her presence as enigmatic as ever, occasionally murmuring to the Vein as if it might answer her.
The salt flats appeared at midday: a vast, shimmering expanse of white and pale blue, stretching to the horizon. The ground was cracked and uneven, the air thick with the taste of minerals and old magic. The Vein's presence here was different—less a song and more a low, mournful hum, as if the earth itself was grieving.
As they crossed the flats, the group's unease deepened. Shadows danced at the corners of their vision, and twice Nirael called them to a halt, convinced she'd seen movement far off among the heat-shimmered mirages. Each time, nothing materialized, but the sense of being watched never left them.
Kael felt the relic grow warm, a subtle warning. He paused, gesturing for the others to stop. "Something's wrong," he said quietly. "The Vein's… agitated. It's like it's trying to warn us."
Whisper knelt, pressing her hand to the salt-crusted ground. She closed her eyes, listening. "There is pain here. Old wounds, not healed. The Vein remembers what was lost."
Selene glanced at Kael, her voice barely above a whisper. "Do you think the Dominion is close?"
Kael shook his head. "No. This is something older. The Vein itself is restless."
Suddenly, a tremor rippled through the flats—a subtle quake, but enough to send a spiderweb of cracks racing outward from where Kael stood. The group tensed, weapons drawn, as the ground beneath them seemed to pulse with blue light.
From the fissures, a faint, ghostly mist began to rise, swirling around their feet. In its depths, shapes flickered—faces, hands, fragments of memory. The Vein was not just remembering; it was reaching out.
Mira clutched Nalah's arm, her voice shaking. "Kael, what do we do?"
Kael closed his eyes, focusing on the relic's pulse. He reached out—not to control the Vein, but to listen, to offer comfort as Whisper had taught him.
The mist swirled higher, but then, slowly, it began to recede. The cracks sealed, the light faded, and the salt flats fell silent once more.
The group stood in stunned silence, the air heavy with the weight of what had just passed.
Lysara was the first to speak. "The Vein is changing. Responding to you, to us. We need to move—quickly. Before the next surge."
Kael nodded, feeling the burden of his role settle deeper into his bones. "We keep going. East, to the next memory. And whatever happens… we face it together."
As they pressed onward, the salt flats stretched before them, endless and unforgiving. But beneath the surface, the Vein watched—and waited.
---
The sun was a pale disc above the endless salt flats, its light sharp and cold. The air shimmered with Vein energy, and every step left a faint blue print that faded as quickly as it appeared. Kael felt the relic's pulse grow erratic, as if it too sensed the strangeness in the land.
The companions moved in a tight formation, their nerves frayed by the Vein's recent surge. Nirael led, eyes narrowed against the glare, while Lysara checked her instruments for any sign of another disturbance. Mira and Nalah kept close, the latter's limp more pronounced. Whisper drifted at the rear, her mask turned toward the horizon, listening for the Vein's song.
Halfway across the flats, Selene called a halt. "There's something ahead," she said, pointing to a jagged outcrop that jutted from the salt like a broken tooth. "It's not natural."
As they approached, Kael felt a chill ripple through him. The outcrop was ringed by Vein-crystals, their facets catching the sunlight and scattering it in unnatural patterns. At the center, half-buried in salt, was a stone plinth—marked with the same sigils as the memory shard in the canyon.
Whisper knelt beside the plinth, brushing away the salt with careful hands. "This is a marker," she murmured. "A place of memory. The Vein is strong here—old and wounded."
Kael stepped forward, drawn by a force he could neither name nor resist. The relic at his chest pulsed in time with the crystals, and as his fingers brushed the plinth, a vision flickered at the edge of his mind: a city of glass and light, torn apart by Vein storms; voices crying out in a language he almost understood; a shadow moving among the ruins, searching.
He staggered back, breathless. Selene caught him, her touch grounding. "What did you see?"
Kael shook his head, struggling to find words. "A warning. The next shard is close—but we're not the only ones searching. The Dominion is near. And something else… something older."
Nirael scanned the horizon, tension in every line of her body. "We need to move. Now."
But before anyone could act, the Vein crystals began to hum, their light intensifying. The salt beneath their feet trembled, and a low, mournful wail echoed across the flats—a sound that was not wind, but memory.
Mira drew closer to Kael, fear in her eyes. "What's happening?"
Whisper rose, her voice steady but urgent. "The Vein remembers. We must choose: press on toward the next memory, or risk being caught between the Dominion and whatever stirs beneath the salt."
Kael looked at each of his companions, seeing the exhaustion, fear, and hope in their faces. The choice was his—but it would shape all their fates.
He nodded, resolve hardening. "We go forward. Together."
As the group hurried past the marker, the Vein's song faded, but the sense of being watched lingered. The salt flats stretched on, empty and endless, but Kael knew the true journey was just beginning.
And far behind them, at the edge of the flats, Dominion banners snapped in the rising wind.
---