"You should not be here," the figure intoned, his voice echoing with the weight of ages. "This is sacred ground. The cries of the past still echo here."
"Who are you?" Kairon demanded, stepping forward, his resolve uncertain. "And what past?"
Shadows heralded the figure like minions ready to strike. Two older teens quickly lunged at them screaming.
"Let's get them!" One yelled, violet energy forming in his palms. The other made whirls of glass out of the thin air, eyes fixated on the figure surrounded by shadows. His voice rang after his colleague.
"Get us out of here you monster!"
As they approached the figure, they felt their limbs grow still as they hung in their attack mid-air. The figure ignored them and continued, like they were merely flies.
"I am Elthar," his voice thundered so deep that it pierced their ears causing the two to bleed from both ears. Mostly because they were very close and frozen so that they could not move their limbs. The others covered their ears to reduce the intensity. He didn't care what happened to them, so he continued with his introduction.
"I am the last guardian of this realm. Your arrival has reset the balance—and it comes at a cost," the figure said, locking eyes with Kairon.
"What cost?" Nyra asked, her voice trembling with unease. "And like he said, what past?"
Elthar raised his hand, and the ground trembled beneath them. Cael was amongst the first to react, despite the frustration in his voice.
"Not again!"
Elthar's voice remained clear despite the rumbles and noise that accompanied it.
"You will adopt burdens beyond your reckoning. Decide wisely."
But he had misjudged them, for nobody had ever trespassed on that ground since the first shadows appeared a millennia ago and theirs was his first actual interaction with humans. It didn't matter to him. Humans were responsible for this then as they were now. Before they could react, the earth split beneath them, a rift opening wide and threatening to consume them. Nyra's whisper was barely audible above the groaning of the stone beneath their feet, each word laced with disbelief and a dawning sense of dread. Her eyes, wide and reflecting the growing fissures in the ground, darted between her companions, seeking confirmation of the impossible.
"Did he just threaten us with… more burdens?"
Vess's grip tightened on Kairon's arm, her knuckles white against the dark fabric. She had joined him when the older teens attempted their attacked on Elthar. A tremor ran through her slender frame, mirroring the quaking earth. Her voice, usually steady and decisive, held a note of raw anxiety.
"Looks like it. What do we do?" The question was a plea, a desperate seeking of guidance in the face of escalating chaos.
Kairon's gaze remained fixed on the figure. "We are not sure why we are here? Please help us!" He yelled above the growing rumble.
Vael join him almost immediately, struggling to not fall as tremors began. "W-we just want to go home to our families!!"
Elthar returned his gaze to the older teen and with no expression on his face, one would have easily missed his next word "Flies!"
The two fell into the rift, claimed by tendrils of shadows as they fell in, throwing all they could in all directions. Vess shot vines in their direction in an attempt to catch them but got hit by a violet blast dangerously off target. Cael was quick to catch her as she fell, his gaze imploring as tears swelled up in hers. Kairon and Vael pleaded further but Elthar's mind seemed to be made as their cries fell on deaf ears. Kairon quickly paused to survey the environment from the widening rift, a dark chasm snaking its way across the once-solid floor. A muscle twitched in his jaw, the only outward sign of the turmoil within. Despite the palpable danger, his voice resonated with a quiet strength, a bedrock of resolve in the crumbling reality.
"We hold together guys. Whatever it is, we face it as together."
Nareth leaned against a section of the wall that, for the moment, remained stubbornly intact. A sardonic smile played on his lips as he surveyed the escalating panic.
"Sentimental as always," he drawled, his voice laced with disdain. "Burdens are for those who can't carry their own weight."
Cael attempted to inject a sliver of levity into the terrifying situation, despite the ground vibrating beneath his boots.
"Well, at least it's not the end of the world, am I right?" A nervous chuckle escaped his lips. Vess grinned as he helped her up. "Though, falling into a giant hole might just top that list of bad starts to how the world should end." His attempt at humor, though strained, served as a fragile shield against the encroaching fear.
Ynara, her face pale and drawn, spoke in a hushed whisper, her voice barely cutting through the cacophony of cracking stone. Her thoughts drifted to a figure who embodied unwavering courage.
"Elise wouldn't hesitate to fight."
Nyra's hand shot out, finding and squeezing Ynara's. The gesture was small but powerful, a silent acknowledgment of their shared admiration and a firm declaration of their own resolve. "We won't either." The words were a quiet promise, a commitment to rise to the occasion.
Vael's eyes darted frantically around the crumbling chamber, his mind racing, searching for any sign of stability amidst the destruction.
"Focus," he urged, his voice sharp with urgency. "We need to find something stable before this whole place swallows us."
His practical nature took over, seeking a tangible solution to their immediate peril. Nareth chuckled again, a dry, humorless sound that echoed through the collapsing space.
"Stable?" he scoffed. "In a realm run by some cryptic guardians and exploding earth? Good luck with that." His cynicism painted a bleak picture, a stark reminder of the unpredictable and dangerous nature of their surroundings. He was a realist after all.
"Shut it, Nareth," Vess snapped, her initial fear giving way to a surge of determination. She straightened her shoulders, pulling herself together with a visible effort. "We'll figure this out."
Her voice, though still tinged with anxiety, now held a note of defiance, a refusal to succumb to despair. As the rift widened into a gaping maw, swallowing chunks of the stone floor, Kairon's voice called out above the rift, laced with a desperate urgency.
"Okay, new plan! Everybody grab onto the nearest person! We're forming a chain of survival!"
Ynara took a deep, shuddering breath, her gaze fixed on the widening chasm. A spark ignited in her eyes, a flicker of unexpected courage in the face of overwhelming fear.
"Maybe… maybe this is our chance to be courageous."
Kairon nodded firmly, his eyes meeting each of theirs in turn, a silent reassurance passing between them.
"Exactly. Elthar thinks he knows us, but he doesn't know what we're capable of together." Her voice resonated with newfound conviction, a quiet confidence born not of arrogance, but of the deep-seated belief in the strength of their collective spirit. The widening rift was not just a threat but a crucible, forging their unity in the face of imminent danger.
"Quick! Channel your powers to the rift!" Kairon shouted, feeling their connection begin to flicker as the rift pulsed with dark energy. "Vess and Cael, see if you can provide some footing for us. The rest, look for openings for escape!"
Just as they began to do that, an explosion from the nearby tree caught their attention. A dense fog rolled in, filled with distant cries—disturbing, haunting cries that seemed to echo from beyond the rift. Shadows began to swirl out from the tree fast, dark tendrils twisting through the air. Figures emerged from the mist, their eyes hollow and vacant, wearing remnants of ancient civilizations. One of the shadows lunged, grabbing Vess by the arm.
"You're not meant to disrupt the past, leave them and save yourself!" it hissed.
The distraction affected her concentration and the group fell a little lower before Cael tapped her shoulder while straining to sustain the footing with his shadow bombs that filled up the spaces like tiny meshes between vines.
"Get away from her!" Kairon shouted, stepping forward and swinging his weapon viciously. The shadow dissipated.
Nyra unleashed a bolt of energy at the shadows that approached her, but the shadows absorbed it, growing stronger. The shadows then recoiled, revealing glimpses of their tragic pasts—visions of their own wickedness and betrayal, loss and waste of people's lives, and abuse of power.
"These were real people." She gasped in realization.
Kairon's heart sank as he understood the magnitude of their actions—they hadn't just awakened power, but the pain intertwined with it, people in perpetual punishment.
"There!" Tarek called out, "A path!"
In that instant of clarity, Kairon spotted something glimmering in the rift—a heart-shaped runic pendant, radiating a vibrant yet unsettling energy laying in a sort of tunnel entrance. It was easy to miss. The shadows seemed to avoid it and go around it as their numbers grew.
"Grab it!" he shouted at the teen, Elune, close to it. "We need to add our energy to it. They are afraid of it!"
Vess broke free from another shadow's grasp and reached into the rift, her vines closing around the pendant just as the shadows rushed toward them. Suddenly, the shadows recoiled. But before their combined power could fully coalesce, a young teen with them was suddenly enveloped by the encroaching darkness. The young man screamed first, a strangled cry as tendrils of shadow snaked around his limbs, tightening with impossible force. His bones audibly cracked as the darkness squeezed the life from him, his eyes bulging as they gradually went lifeless.
"Hold on!" Nyra cried, unleashing a blast of fire that dissipated against the encroaching shadows.
"We're coming!" Ynara yelled, trying to pull him free, but the shadows held fast.
"I can't... breathe..." he gasped, his eyes wide with terror.
"Help me..."
His voice faded as the darkness tightened its grip, and a sickening crack echoed through the chamber. The shadows didn't stop there; they continued to constrict, his body twisting into unnatural angles until a sickening crunch echoed through the chamber, and he went still, a grotesque parody of his former self. The shadows then pulled him into the rift as the rest made for the tunnel. A chance at survival.