...The tranquil aura of the stream seed to belong to another world when they resud their march. As they advanced, the scenery around them began to change - almost imperceptibly at first. The vegetation beca sparser, but no less dense. It was as if the trees were moving slightly away from each other, leaving a strange, almost ceremonial space between them.
The air took on a subtle tallic sll, like ozone before a storm. The ground, once covered in thick moss and fallen leaves, was now firr, covered in a kind of damp black sand that absorbed the sound of the horses' hooves.
Kael frowned, slowing down. "Do you feel that?" he muttered.
"Yes," replied Exelia, her voice low, careful. She got off her horse and motioned for him to follow her. "We're in one of the old veins."
"Veins?"
"Rivers of mana. Natural. Wild. They run under the earth, but sotis they break through the surface. The forest grows over them, but here..." she looked around "...the forest bows in respect."
Kael climbed down too. He looked around. The trees, although further apart, were covered in natural inscriptions on their trunks - marks made by ti, magic or sothing more ancient. He touched one of them with the back of his hand. A slight wave of heat ran through his arm.
"That's..."
"An ancient shrine," interrupted Exelia, her voice now more ceremonial, almost reverent. "Before the war of the Firstborn. Before the elves. Before civilization. This was sacred ground for entities that don't even have a na today."
Kael took a hesitant step forward. "And we... should be here?"
"You're being taken to where you need to be. Rember what I told you? The forest recognizes."
As she spoke, a sudden breeze blew through the trees, making the inscriptions on the trunks glow softly for an instant. Tiny fillets of light danced in the air - not fireworks, but sothing deeper. Manifestation of raw mana, in almost conscious form.
Then Kael heard sothing.
A whisper.
Not in words, but in intention. A sensation in the back of his mind, like rembering a long-forgotten dream. Sothing wanted to be noticed. Sothing... was watching.
"Did you hear that?" he asked, turning around quickly.
Exelia didn't answer imdiately. She too was motionless, her eyes closed. On her forehead, a symbol Kael had never seen before began to glow pale blue - not a rune, but sothing organic, like a scar that lit up.
When she opened her eyes, she spoke in a voice that didn't sound entirely like her own:
"He has awakened."
Kael took a step back. "What?"
Exelia blinked, and the glow faded. Her breathing was labored, as if she'd been running for hours. "Co on, get out of here. Now!" Exelia shouted.
Kael barely had ti to process Exelia's words before the ground beneath his feet began to shake, soft and subtle like the prelude to a nightmare. The black sand between the tree roots stirred as if it were breathing - swelling, shrinking, until a low sound, like the crunch of stone against stone, filled the air.
"Exelia, run!" he shouted, but she didn't move.
The glow on her forehead had disappeared, but sothing held her - her wide eyes, fixed on the center of the clearing where the ground now opened up. There was no magic in her at that mont, no defense. Just paralysis.
Then he ca.
As if the world had suspended logic for an instant, a being slowly erged from the earth. It had no definite shape - it was made of pure condensed mana, vibrant and raw, translucent like liquid crystal, and at the sa ti solid like living rock. Its body seed composed of twisted branches and boiling energy, pulsating in blue and violet, with strands of light escaping from every crack in its irregular shape.
Kael felt the weight of the creature's presence fall over the world like a curtain. The air beca heavy. The trees fell silent. Even the mana around him hesitated, as if bowing.
The entity raised an arm - if it could even be called an arm - and from it sprouted a blade made of pure, unstable light, like an extension of its own essence. Too fast to think, the being fired at Exelia.
She remained motionless.
Kael didn't even think. He rushed forward, the mana field around him roaring like an instinctive shield. He grabbed her around the waist and threw himself to the side.
The blade passed just a few centiters from her head, slicing a nearby tree in two with a hissing sound and a blinding flash.
They both rolled to the ground, and Kael fell on his back, shielding Exelia with his body. The energy from the blade hit the ground, causing a small explosion that made sparks of mana rain down all around.
"Exelia! Are you all right?" he gasped, feeling the heat of the creature still approaching.
She blinked, finally coming out of her trance, her eyes coming back into focus. "Kael...? What...?"
"Later! Get up!" he pulled her up with effort. The creature turned again, soundlessly, but its intent was clear as thunder - annihilation.
Exelia shook her head, lucidity returning with a cold fury. "It... it's not a living being. He's an echo. A fragnt of consciousness that has survived ti. But it's corrupted... hungry."
"What do we do?" Kael shouted, backing away from her, his eyes fixed on the creature that was rebuilding itself like solid smoke and living light.
"Buy ti!" Exelia gave him a firm look, her fingers already working on the seals at her waist. "I'll prepare sothing to seal it."
Without much choice, Kael just nodded. The fear was there, pulsing under his skin, but also sothing older - a spark that always arose when he was thrown into the abyss. He turned his body and drew his sword.
Chillrend ca out of its sheath with an icy whisper, the blade shrouded in a bluish mist. The sword seed to vibrate slightly in his hand, as if he sensed the presence of what stood before them - and wanted to face it.
"Then co..." growled Kael, planting his feet on the ground and assuming a combat stance. "Let's see if you can swallow ice."
The creature advanced, a blur of light and shadow, and Kael ran towards it, like a spark facing a storm.
The being rushed forward like a shapeless torrent - a body made of condensed mana, translucent and mutant, pulsating in shades of blue and violet. Its contours trembled as if the world itself refused to define it.
Kael rushed towards the creature, holding Chillrend with both hands. At the instant of impact, he slid sideways, slashing from bottom to top with a wide arc. The blade t resistance - a clash of energies, ice against pure mana. Silver-blue sparks exploded on contact.
The blow didn't hurt the creature in the physical sense, but it made its body vibrate with a fissure of shimring ice. It roared, a sound that ca not from a mouth, but from the very reality around it.
Behind him, Exelia knelt on the black, damp sand, her fingers scratching the ground like brushes guided by invisible forces. Ancient runes appeared under her hand, incandescent and unstable, intertwining in spirals of containnt. The magic circle grew with brutal speed, traces of power flowing from the ground to the sky, like inverted roots.
"Don't let him leave the center of the shaft!" she shouted. "I need it stuck at that point!"
"Easier to ask to trap the wind!" Kael replied, narrowly dodging an arm that stretched out like an ethereal whip. The impact bounced off a nearby tree, which simply disintegrated.
Kael rolled across the floor and stood up with a leap. He then channeled mana into his feet - ice crackling under his boots - and ran, forming small crystals with each step. Chillrend glowed brighter as he leapt up and struck a horizontal blow across the creature's flank. The living mist tore for an instant, but quickly pulled itself together.
The creature roared. Arms multiplied from its shapeless body, now resembling a polyp in cosmic rage. One of the projections hit Kael in the chest. He was thrown like a stone, crashing into a colossal root, the air escaping from his lungs.
"Kael!" Exelia shouted, her voice almost disappearing under the rising hum of mana around her. The magic circle was now complete - seven concentric layers, with glyphs pulsing in perfect cadence.
Kael coughed, the blood at the corner of his lips. "It's okay... I just broke myself a bit."
He staggered to his feet, Chillrend still firmly in his hand. The creature began to back away, instinctively, perhaps sensing the threat of the seal forming around it.
"Now, Kael!" Exelia raised both hands. The circle lit up like a beacon. The trees shook. "Bring him to the center!"
With a shout, Kael concentrated his remaining mana. Ice exploded from the ground in front of him, forming spears that surrounded and forced the creature forward - not by choice, but by reflex. In a last-ditch effort, Kael shot forward, using the ice beneath his feet as a bridge. He leapt with all his might, spinning the sword like an extension of his own body.
The blade plunged straight into the creature's chest.
Chillrend penetrated deeply, and a flash of absolute cold spread like a frozen flower. The being trembled, twitched, and then Exelia roared:
"NOW!"
The magic circle closed with a deafening roar. Rays of bluish light shot upwards, forming a do. Symbols rose into the air, whirring like mystical gears. The being scread - not in pain, but in denial, as if it were being forgotten from existence.
Kael leapt out of the circle at the last second, rolling on the dark sand. Behind him, the creature was consud. First the arms. Then the body. Finally, the sound. When everything ceased, all that remained was the soft glow of the sealed circle... and a deep silence.
Kael fell to his knees, panting, his chest heaving. Exelia approached, her face covered in sweat and condensed mana. She held out her hand, helping him to his feet.
"You did well," she said. Her voice was hoarse. Tired.
Kael looked at the clearing - now scarred, scarred, but free.
"And that... was it just an echo?"
Exelia nodded, looking at the sealed circle. "Imagine what still sleeps in this forest."
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