The cold air still hummed with residual energy as Rannah and Hannah hurried back through the tunnel, their footsteps echoing against the icy stone. Though the ghostly figures had vanished, the weight of their presence lingered. Every shadow seemed deeper, every gust of wind more deliberate, as if unseen eyes still watched from the dark.
Rannah clutched the shards tightly, their warmth a stark contrast to the frozen world around them. Whatever had happened in that chamber had only deepened the mystery surrounding the artifacts. The obelisk’s power had responded to them—but why? And more importantly, had they awakened something else in the process?
"We need answers," Hannah muttered, her breath visible in the freezing air. "We can’t keep wandering blind, hoping we’re doing the right thing."
Rannah nodded. "There’s one place that might help."
Hannah arched a brow. "Please don’t say the mountains again."
"No." Rannah’s gaze was steady. "The City of Eldrin."
Hannah stopped walking. "You mean the ruins? The place where the last Guardians supposedly vanished?"
"Their archives might still exist," Rannah said. "If anyone knew about these shards, it would’ve been them. We have to try."
Hannah sighed, adjusting her cloak against the cold. "Of course the answer is in a cursed, abandoned city. Fine. But let’s at least rest before we freeze to death."
They found shelter in a hollow beneath a rocky overhang, hidden from the relentless wind. The fire crackled between them, casting flickering light on the stone walls. The warmth was temporary, but it was enough.
As Rannah studied the shards in her hands, a sudden thought struck her.
"These weren’t just scattered," she murmured. "They were hidden. Sealed away."
Hannah looked up. "What makes you say that?"
"The way the obelisk reacted," Rannah said. "It was like it was meant to contain them. But someone—or something—broke that seal long before we got there."
Hannah’s expression darkened. "Which means others might already be looking for the remaining shards."
The realization settled heavily between them. If they weren’t the first to uncover this mystery, then they were already at a disadvantage. And if someone else had already started collecting the shards…
Rannah shook off the thought. "We’ll figure it out in Eldrin."
Sleep came in uneasy shifts, their dreams restless with whispers from the past. By dawn, the storm had passed, revealing a sky stretched pale and endless over the frozen land.
With renewed urgency, they set off toward Eldrin. The journey was long, the terrain unforgiving. Ice gave way to jagged cliffs, and the once-frozen air thickened with the scent of something ancient—earth, stone, and decay.
By nightfall, the ruins loomed in the distance.
Once, Eldrin had been a beacon of knowledge and magic, home to scholars and warriors who protected the balance of the world. Now, it stood in eerie silence, its great towers crumbled, its streets buried beneath centuries of dust and ice.
But something stirred within the ruins.
Faint lights flickered between the broken pillars. Shadows moved where there should have been none.
And as Rannah and Hannah stepped closer, the wind carried a voice—soft, but unmistakable.
"You are not the first to come here."
Their blood ran cold.
Someone was waiting for them.
Rannah and Hannah froze at the voice drifting through the ruins. It wasn’t the howling wind or the shifting ice—it was real. Someone was here.
The sisters exchanged wary glances. Rannah tightened her grip on the shards, their warmth steadying her. Hannah slowly reached for the dagger at her side.
"Who’s there?" Rannah called, her voice firm despite the chill in her spine.
Silence stretched between the ruins, thick and expectant. Then, out of the shadows, a figure stepped forward. Cloaked in deep blue, the stranger’s face was obscured beneath a hood, but there was no mistaking the presence of power radiating from the stranger.
"You walk in the footsteps of the fallen," the stranger said. "And you carry what was never meant to be found."
Hannah shifted slightly, keeping one hand on her weapon. "If you mean the shards, we’re not here to cause trouble. We’re looking for answers."
The stranger chuckled, the sound hollow against the night air. "Answers come at a price. And knowledge… is a dangerous thing to seek."
Rannah studied the figure, trying to decipher his intent. "You knew about the shards. You were expecting us."
The hood tilted slightly. "I knew someone would come. The seals are weakening. The past is unraveling."
The weight of those words settled over them. The shards weren’t just relics of lost magic—they were connected to something far greater. Something that should have remained buried.
Rannah took a step forward. "Then help us understand. What are the shards really for?"
The stranger hesitated, then raised a gloved hand. As he did, the air between them shimmered, shifting like ripples in water. An image formed—a memory, pulled from time itself.
The ruins of Eldrin weren’t always ruins. In the vision, they stood whole, towering spires gleaming beneath a golden sky. People walked the streets, their robes embroidered with sigils of power. At the heart of the city, a great chamber held a massive crystalline structure—its core pulsing with energy.
"The Heart of Eldrin," the stranger murmured. "It held the balance of magic in the world. Until the day it shattered."
Before their eyes, the vision shifted. A crack splintered through the crystal, its glow darkening as tendrils of shadow erupted from within. The city trembled. Towers crumbled. The people of Eldrin, once proud and strong, fell to their knees as the power they had sworn to protect consumed them.
The vision faded, and the ruins returned to darkness.
Hannah exhaled sharply. "The shards… they’re pieces of that crystal, aren’t they?"
The stranger nodded. "Fragments of a power too great for one world to hold. The Guardians of Eldrin sought to hide them, scattering them across the lands, sealing them away so no one could ever wield their full force again."
Rannah’s fingers curled around the shards in her palm. "But someone is trying to reunite them."
The stranger’s voice dropped lower. "And if they succeed, the world will fall as Eldrin did."
A cold dread settled over them. The shards weren’t just remnants of forgotten magic—they were the key to a catastrophe long buried in history.
Hannah glanced at Rannah. "We have to stop this."
Rannah met her sister’s gaze, determination hardening her expression. "Then tell us what we need to do."
The stranger studied them for a moment before finally pulling back his hood. A man’s face was revealed, lined with age yet sharp with wisdom. His piercing eyes, like molten gold, flickered with a light that seemed almost inhuman.
"My name is Kaelis," he said. "And if you truly wish to stop what is coming, you must find the last Guardian."
Rannah’s breath hitched. "The Guardians were wiped out centuries ago."
Kaelis’s gaze burned into hers. "Not all of them."
The wind howled through the ruins, carrying a warning within its icy breath. The past was no longer just a story—it was clawing its way back into the present.
And time was running out.