Chapter 4: The Road to Ruin

The air was deep purple as Kael and Reika exited the secret room inside the center of Emberhold. The wind sliced through the shape of Kael, the piney scent of earth and pine full of what stuck to it. They moved stealthily ahead, fighting through the mist that clung to the city gate. Every step he took, slower than the last as if the action itself was restraining him.

Kael trailed after Reika, whom led in subdued darkness. She traversed every step with cautious regard, as though aligning her with the rhythm of the land beneath their steps. She existed under cover of darkness, and he had never glimpsed her under the brightness of daylight. Morning sunbeam radiance was unable to dissipate the shadow that adhered to her intellect.

"We're going where?" Kael broke the silence, the words misplaced in his own mouth, the rough edge harsh on forest's quiet.

Reika's head did turn exactly so, though, and Kael could see a glimmer of hardness in her eyes. "There is an ancient ruin to the south, where the remains of the ancient orders were beaten. The Core is tied up in places like those — forsaken places, lost to the ages. There will be signs for us there.".

Kael had nodded in silence. His mind reeled at the thought of being the spark somehow. Being marked by the Hollowborn, possessing some sort of power he'd never wanted, irked him. But the longer Reika spoke, the more it became evident: the Hollowborn were only the beginning of an infinitely larger, infinitely darker endeavor.

Below them, however, the world changed from day to day. Trees became taller and branches curled over, twisted into impossible quasi-natural bends. Air was heavy with threat, the threat that the world itself was waiting for something to happen. Kael had walked in the forest before, but not nearly so deep in. He could not help but feel that they were being followed.

Are you certain that they're stalking us?" Kael spun on his heel.

Reika did not turn. "We are observed, aye. But not by the Hollowborn. They do not stalk the living."

Kael scowled. "Then who?"

She ground her teeth and rose to greet him finally, her face stubborn. "There are other groups, Kael. Groups friend nor enemy. They too desire the Core. They watch us, but they will not act yet. They wait."

Shivers coursed through Kael at the words. "Great. Just what we need."

Reika's tension relaxed a little. "They won't request funds until we're in range. But once we're inside the ruin, we'll be sitting ducks. You just have to be prepared for anything."

Kael said nothing. There was no need to speak. He had now reached the point of no return and couldn't turn back. Survival didn't matter; this was about stopping something greater than anything he could ever hope to understand from getting out of control.

The sun was at their backs, and they approached the ruined temple. It towered over them, half-concealed from wars and centuries. Ivy and moss ascended its walls, and the shards of another world — radiant shards that glowed in an unearthly light — hung from the intact pillars.

"Is this it?" Kael whispered.

Reika nodded and proceeded further into the heart of the ruin. "This is where it started. The former government attempted to contain the authority of the Core within these walls, but they were unable. The power of the Core was too great. They were overrun by it.".

As she pulled him into the ruin, the air chilled and became thick. The walls closed in around him, and the symbols on the walls wailed at him in an unknown tongue. There was weight on his chest, as if the building contained energy accumulated over the years.

They reached the center of the ruin — a large, open chamber that was once an altar room. At its center stood a massive stone circle, half-buried beneath the rubble. It hummed with an eerie energy, a faint, pulsing glow emanating from beneath the stones.

"This is it," Reika said, her voice reverent. "The Core is close. We're almost there."

Kael advanced, his thudding chest. He couldn't even quite put his finger on it, but something was wrong with where they were. There was a queasy sweetness of older hungers left to stay unmature, the awareness that the destruction itself bore that they were coming.

He knelt beside the stone circle, his fingers brushing against the cool surface. The symbols on the stones seemed to react to his touch, lighting up in a pattern that made his skin crawl.

"It's waking up," Reika murmured. "The Core. it knows we're here."

Suddenly the ground they stood upon shuddered. Kael sprang away from the ground, his own sight blurring spreading out in every direction. Ringstones moved, ground groaning in a sound like the destruction was being ripped from the tomb.

"Back!" Reika cried out, tugging on Kael so that he stood away from the ring of stones. "We must get out!

The room detonated in a blinding flash of white light that blinded him. He threw up his arms to cover his face, his heart pounding against his ribcage. The light was beginning to fade, and crushing silence settled.

When Kael finally mustered the strength to open his eyes, he saw something that ran a shiver through his veins.

From the midst of the circle walked a figure, dark as the sky was dark. Dark with darkness it was, its eyes burning with unhuman flame. Man-sized, its great mass floating in the air. Earth itself trembled was its voice when it spoke.

"You dare to meddle with the Core?"

Kael's own breathing constricted his throat. The thing before them was no monster — something of old, guardian of the ancient power buried deep in this ruin.

Reika took a step forward, her cheeks white but firm. "We are here to finish it — to finish you."

Human eyes glowed with a strange, dim light, rhythm of ghostly laughter. "You cannot halt that which already commenced. The Core will arise. And when the Core arises, the world will be on its knees in awe of its might.".

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