The fire had burned low by the time Rannah and Hannah awoke, its embers casting faint, pulsing glows against the cave walls. The night had been restless, filled with half-formed dreams—visions of a city crumbling, of shadows whispering names long forgotten. Rannah sat up, rubbing the exhaustion from her eyes, and turned to see Hannah already awake, sharpening her dagger with slow, deliberate strokes.
"We should move before the storm catches up," Hannah murmured, not looking up.
Rannah nodded. The encounter with Kaelis had changed everything. The shards they carried were no longer just relics; they were remnants of a lost power that could reshape the world. And now, they had a new purpose—finding the last Guardian.
As they stepped out of the cave, the cold bit into their skin, harsher than before. The wind had died down, leaving an eerie silence in its wake. The mountains loomed ahead, their jagged peaks piercing the sky like forgotten sentinels. Somewhere beyond them, answers awaited.
They moved quickly, their boots crunching against the hardened snow. Rannah felt the familiar pull of the shards, a faint guiding force leading them deeper into the mountain pass. The terrain grew treacherous—hidden crevices and ice-slicked slopes turning every step into a risk. Hannah cursed under her breath as she narrowly avoided slipping.
"Who even hides world-ending artifacts in places like this?" she muttered.
Rannah smirked, adjusting her grip on her cloak. "Probably someone who didn’t want them found."
Hours passed as they climbed, the temperature dropping with every step. Then, without warning, the ground trembled beneath them. A low, rumbling sound echoed through the pass, like something shifting deep within the ice.
Rannah and Hannah froze.
"Tell me that was just the mountain settling," Hannah whispered.
Rannah wasn’t so sure. The shards in her pouch had begun to pulse, faster than before. Something was nearby.
Then, the ice beneath their feet cracked.
Hannah barely had time to react before the ground gave way. With a sharp cry, she and Rannah plunged downward, swallowed by the collapsing ice.
Darkness enveloped them as they tumbled through the frozen void. Cold air rushed past, the sensation of free-falling stretching endlessly. Then—impact.
Rannah hit the ground hard, the breath knocked from her lungs. Ice shards rained down around her. She groaned, pushing herself up on shaky arms. A few feet away, Hannah stirred, coughing against the cold.
"You okay?" Rannah asked, wincing as she got to her feet.
Hannah exhaled sharply. "Define ‘okay.’"
Their surroundings were unlike anything they had seen before. The cavern they had fallen into stretched impossibly far, its walls lined with ice so clear it reflected their own images back at them. Strange, swirling patterns were carved into the frozen surface—symbols that looked ancient, untouched by time.
And at the center of it all, embedded within the ice, was a massive door.
Rannah took a cautious step toward it. The shards in her pouch thrummed wildly, reacting to whatever lay beyond.
"This place…" Hannah whispered. "It’s not natural."
Rannah ran a hand over the ice-carved symbols. "No, it’s not. But I think we were meant to find it."
A sudden gust of wind rushed through the cavern—not from above, but from behind the door itself. The ice around them groaned as if something ancient had stirred.
Then, a voice—soft, yet filled with command—echoed through the chamber.
"You carry the fragments of the past. But are you prepared to face what lies ahead?"
Rannah and Hannah turned, their hands instinctively moving to their weapons.
They turned looking for the voice.
The voice sent a shiver down Rannah’s spine, though it wasn’t just the cold that unsettled her—it was the weight behind those words, the presence pressing against the edges of reality. Hannah tensed beside her, fingers tightening around the hilt of her dagger, her breath shallow but steady.
“Who’s there?” Rannah called, her voice echoing off the icy walls. The shards in her pouch pulsed in time with her heartbeat, responding to something unseen.
For a moment, there was only silence. Then, the ice before them shimmered, and from its crystalline depths, a figure began to take shape.
At first, it was little more than a shadow trapped within the frozen walls, but slowly, details emerged—a cloaked figure, with a face obscured by a deep hood. The ice cracked, spiderwebbing outward, and with a final sharp snap, the figure stepped forward, solidifying as if it had been part of the glacier itself.
“You have come far,” the figure said, its voice smooth yet laced with something ancient. “But distance alone does not grant you the right to what lies beyond this door.”
Hannah took a cautious step forward, her gaze darting between the figure and the massive ice-carved entrance. “And who exactly decides that?” she asked, her tone edged with defiance.
The figure tilted their head slightly. “The one who has waited.”
Rannah’s breath hitched. “Waited for what?”
A pause. Then, the figure raised a hand, palm outward. The shards in Rannah’s pouch flared in response, their glow intensifying until the cavern walls glowed with their reflection. The ice seemed to hum with an unseen energy, the symbols etched into its surface flickering as if alive.
“For the one who can awaken what has been locked away,” the figure said. “For the one who will bear its burden.”
The weight of the words settled over Rannah like a snowfall—gentle, yet suffocating. She exchanged a glance with Hannah, who frowned deeply but said nothing.
“Who are you?” Rannah asked at last.
The figure’s lips curved into something that might have been a smile. “A keeper of secrets. A watcher of time. A guardian of what must not be unleashed.” Their gaze shifted to the shards. “And you, traveler, stand at the precipice of something greater than you understand.”
The air in the cavern grew heavy, charged with the same energy that coursed through the shards. Rannah swallowed hard, her mind racing. They had spent so long searching for these fragments, believing them to be pieces of an ancient power. But now, standing in the presence of this being—this keeper—doubt crept into the corners of her mind.
“Why were the shards hidden?” she asked, forcing herself to meet the figure’s gaze. “What is their true purpose?”
The keeper exhaled softly, the sound almost like the whisper of wind through frozen trees. “Because power without understanding is destruction waiting to be born.” Their eyes darkened. “And those who seek without knowledge will find only ruin.”
Hannah scoffed, crossing her arms. “Great. Another cryptic warning. Why does nobody ever just say what they mean?”
The keeper chuckled, the sound as cold as the ice around them. “Because the truth is not something spoken—it is something earned.” They gestured to the massive ice door behind them. “And if you wish to claim it, you must prove you are worthy.”
Rannah’s grip on the shards tightened. She could feel their energy coursing through her fingers, a silent challenge echoing in her bones.
“What do we have to do?” she asked, steadying herself.
The keeper stepped aside, revealing the intricate carvings across the frozen door—symbols that pulsed faintly, waiting to be awakened.
“Enter,” they said simply. “And face what has been waiting for you.”
The cavern grew deathly still. The door loomed before them like the edge of a great abyss, and Rannah knew there was no turning back now.
Should they run? No, they decided to seek knowledge and here it is!