Elara
The hidden path closed behind her like it had never been open at all.
Elara stood in a long, round tunnel. The walls weren't made of stone. Theywere made of glass, with pale white light glowing behind them.
The air was warm, but not safe.
The silence wasn't peaceful; it was watching her.
Elara moved forward slowly. Her footsteps made no sound. The spiral mark on her hand now glowed white instead of red.
"Why me?" she whispered again.
The tunnel didn't answer.
But the walls shifted.
She passed what looked like memories trapped behind the glass. Glimpses. Faces she couldn't name. A hand holding the Grimoire. A child crying. A woman standing before fire.
Her breath caught.
The woman looked like her.
Her spiral mark glowed brighter.
The tunnel darkened behind her.
She kept walking.
On the other side
Cassian stopped mid-step.
His head jerked up. "Did you feel that?"
Rhian was behind him, gripping the stone wall. "Yeah. It's her."
Cassian's hands shook. "She's not just using magic. Something's… different."
Rhian moved forward. "We have to move faster."
They ran deeper into the spiral, following a strange, new glow - white, soft, barely there. Not part of the original path.
Cassian's eyes turned red again. His fangs ached.
"She's changing", he thought. The book is doing something to her.
They turned a corner and nearly fell into a sharp drop. Below was a swirling pool of silver and red mist.
On the other side?
A door. A white one.
The same one Elara had gone through.
But it was closed now.
Rhian stepped back. "It's sealed."
Cassian growled. "Break it."
"Not yet," Rhian said. "Feel it."
Cassian paused. He closed his eyes.
And he felt it.
Not just magic.
Elara's fear.
Her confusion.
Her strength.
It was pulling at him like a string wrapped around his ribs.
"She's deeper than before," he whispered. "Too deep."
Rhian touched the stone. "Then we dig."
Elara
The tunnel opened into a wide, empty room.
It wasn't stone.
It wasn't glass.
It felt like a memory.
In the center was a glowing pool- calm, white, endless. Elara walked to it slowly.
She looked into the water.
And saw her younger self.
A baby, wrapped in cloth.
Her mother stood behind her, whispering something to a book.
The red Grimoire.
Elara gasped.
"You weren't made," the water whispered.
"You were marked."
She stepped back.
Her head spun.
More flashes filled the room. Her mother holding the baby. Rhian's voice in the background. Her mother drawing the spiral, bleeding from her hand.
Then…
A seal.
A light.
A scream.
The book opened.
And something entered.
Not into the book.
Into the baby.
Elara dropped to her knees.
"I'm not just a witch," she whispered. "I'm part of the book."
The room didn't argue.
The pool turned red.
Then black.
Then vanished.
On the other side
Cassian smashed his palm against the sealed door.
It cracked.
Magic screamed through the chamber.
Rhian pulled him back.
"Stop," he said. "It's connected to her. If you break it wrong-"
"I won't leave her," Cassian shouted.
"She's not dying," Rhian said quietly. "She's awakening."
Cassian's eyes were wild. "And if she doesn't come back from that?"
Rhian looked at him.
And didn't answer.
Cassian stepped back, breathing hard.
Then pointed at a side wall.
"There's another spiral there."
Rhian turned.
It was faint. White.
"Then let's take it."
And they did.