The passage out of the room was tiny, claustrophobic; the weight of the undercity pressed in from every direction, threatening to crush Lian and Aeris with each step. Lian's hand was tight around Aeris's wrist as he pulled her along, racing through the twisting tunnels. His instincts screamed at him to find somewhere to hide, but every few feet, Aeris would slow, her gaze drifting back toward the way they'd come.

  

  "Focus," Lian said, his voice tight. "We're not out of this yet."

  

  But Aeris was elsewhere, lost in her own world. She misjudged a step, catching her feet on the uneven stone floor. Lian cast a look her way, a gnaw of worry: Her skin was paler than before, her eyes shadowed with an unnatural darkness. Whatever had happened to her in that chamber--it wasn't over.

  

  They reached a branching of the tunnel: a passageway to the left, leading into complete darkness, with the heaviest and thickest of air, filled with decaying scents; on the right, a gentle slope upwards, with something in the distance that seemed like light. Lian wavered as his instincts fought against the taint left in the back of his mind by the relic.

  

  The shadows moved.

  

  Without another word, Lian veered right, still pulling Aeris after him. The shadows that had filled the chamber were welling their way closer, enticed by the power of the relic and whatever dark force had corrupted this place. He could feel the cold tendrils of the darkness creeping toward them, searching, hungry.

  

  We must go on," he told himself more than her. Still, nothing came from Aeris, indecisive steps betraying her mind imprisoned by what the relic had revealed to her.

  

  But as they kept going, something changed. The farther away they walked from the obelisk, the more Aeris began regaining semblances of herself. Her steps grew firmer, her eyes clearing of the haze which had clouded them. She blinked-as if one could wake from a millennial dream-and then stared at Lian in confusion.

  

  "Lian… where-?"

  

  "We're getting out of here," he cut her off. "We don't have much time.

  

  Aeris frowned, shaking her head. "But the relic-"

  

  "Forget the relic," Lian snapped; his patience was beginning to wear thin. "It nearly killed you back there. We need to focus on getting out alive.

  

  Aeris fell silent, her gaze, however, telling him that she had not given up on the relic's power. Even now, she was drawn to it, lured by the ancient knowledge too strongly and temptingly. And Lian couldn't help but wonder if she would be ready to risk everything for it.

  

  They pressed onward, the air growing colder, the walls narrowing in around them. The faint light ahead brightened; it wasn't natural sunlight. Instead, it was a dull, eerie glow, like the remnants of fire long since extinguished. Lian tensed, his hand drifting to the hilt of his sword as they approached the source of the light.

  

  The tunnel opened into a wide cavern, the ceiling stretching high above them. There was a strange, circular structure, like an altar of sorts, centered in the middle of the room, surrounded by crumbling statues and half-buried ruins. The light came from a series of glowing runes etched into the stone floor-pulsating faintly in rhythm with the beat of Lian's heart.

  

  Aeris stared at the scenario unfolding before them.

  

  "This… this is it," she whispered, wonder creeping into her voice.

  

  Lian's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

  

  Aeris stepped forward, her gaze locked on the altar. "This is where the relic's power is concentrated. This is what it was leading us to."

  

  Lian's stomach fell, and the sense of foreboding that had been growing since they left the obelisk surged to the fore. The energy felt heavy in the room-thick and stifling, like a storm waiting to break.

  

  "We shouldn't be here," he said in a low tone. "This place-there's something wrong with it."

  

  But already Aeris moved towards the altar, her eyes glazed with that same fervor which had overcome her in the chamber. The power of the relic was too strong, too intoxicating to resist. She reached out, her fingers brushing the stone surface.

  

  "Aeris, don't—"

  

  Too late.

  

  It was the instant her hand touched the altar that the entire room flared into a blind light. The ground bucked beneath their feet, and the statues around them started to crack and crumble to dust. The air began to fill with the heavy weight of some sort of smothering energy, and Lian went flying backward, smashing into the stone wall with a force that knocked the wind from him.

  

  As the light tenuously faded, Lian blinked hard, trying to regain his bearings. The room was different: the runes on the floor glowed brighter now, pulsating with violent energy, and the shadows that had pulled back to the edges of the room swirled around the altar now, drawn to Aeris like moths to a flame.

  

  Aeris was at the center of it all, her eyes wide, her form quivering, and all that energy running through her. The shadows writhed around her, through and over her form, their whispers filling the room in a low, menacing chant.

  

  "Aeris!" Lian yelled, forcing himself up. "Get back away from there!

  

  But she did not reply. Her gaze was fastened on the altar, and on her face was a look of utter rapture as the might of the relic washed over her.

  

  Lian took a step closer, his fist clenching on the hilt of his sword. This must not be. He could not allow the shadows to take her.

  

  In a surge of adrenaline, he flung himself at the altar, blade flashing, cutting through shadows. The darkness recoiled, hissing in anger as Lian fought his way to Aeris.

  

  But as he reached her, something peculiar happened.

  

  The shadows ceased.

  

  For one short moment, the room was silent. The energy around them stilled and Aeris turned to look at Lian, her eyes clear once more.

  

  But something more lay in her eyes-something darker, something dangerous.

  

  "I see now," she whispered, the words hardly audible, yet husky with an alarming conviction. "The relic… it's not just power. It's fate."

  

  ---

  

 TO BE CONTINUED