The Woundlands looked like the planet had been clawed open and left to rot.
Jagged canyons split the red earth like scars. Smoke drifted from fissures that never stopped burning. Bone-white spires twisted out of the ground, hollow and humming. Even the wind sounded like it was in pain.
"Pleasant place," Kael muttered. "Do they sell real estate here?"
Nyra didn't answer. She crouched at the edge of a narrow ridge, scanning the terrain below. "The signal's close. Maybe half a klick. Looks like it's coming from that ravine."
BITS pulsed dimly beside Kael. "Statistically, any glowing ravine in a place called 'Woundlands' is either cursed, booby-trapped, or home to something with too many teeth."
Kael peered over the edge. "Well, let's find out."
They picked their way down the slope, boots crunching over gravel and old relic shards. The deeper they went, the colder it became — unnaturally cold. The light seemed to bend, slightly wrong.
Kael rubbed his arms. "You feel that?"
Nyra nodded. "Yeah. Like the air's watching."
BITS hissed. "That's… not metaphor. The air is watching. Relic sensors. Old ones. Someone turned this place into a trigger zone."
They found the relic half-buried in the ground, surrounded by scorched stone and charred bones.
It looked like a cracked obsidian heart, pulsating faintly with red light.
Kael knelt. "This is it?"
Nyra nodded. "That's the second Conduit."
Kael reached toward it—
—and the ground screamed.
A blast of force knocked them back. The ravine shook, stone splitting, dust rising.
From the shadows, something crawled out.
It was tall. Lanky. Wrapped in wires like vines. Its face was a stitched metal mask, its arms ending in hooked blades. Its eyes—two red slits—glowed with heat.
BITS beeped, "That is not a friendly guardian protocol."
Kael scrambled up. "What is it?"
Nyra pulled both daggers. "Old Solara defense unit. Corrupted. Deadly. Run?"
Kael hesitated. Then:
"No."
He reached for the sword on his back. It pulsed with light, responding to the Conduit's call.
The creature lunged.
Kael moved to meet it—blocking its slash with his blade. Sparks flew. The impact rang up his arm like thunder.
Nyra flanked it, slicing low, dancing around the thing's strikes. She moved like smoke, fast and furious.
Kael held ground.
The thing hissed, twitching, then spun toward Nyra—
"Not today," Kael growled, slamming his blade into its side.
Light erupted from the impact, tearing through the corruption.
The thing screamed—then crumpled.
Smoke rose from its shattered core.
BITS floated closer. "I'm going to be honest—I did not expect that to work."
Kael stood over the wreckage, chest heaving. "Me neither."
---
They approached the relic again.
This time, it didn't resist.
Kael reached out, and as his fingers touched the surface, the light within the cracked heart flared—then flowed into his palm like liquid fire.
His eyes widened.
A voice—clearer this time—echoed in his mind:
> "Two sparks make the key. The gates await."
The Conduit faded to ash.
BITS beeped. "Well. Congratulations. You're now fully qualified to ruin someone's day."
Nyra looked at him. "Two keys. That means we can open the Solara Vault?"
Kael nodded slowly. "Yeah. But now… we're officially on the clock."
Nyra sheathed her blades. "Then let's not waste time."
---
They climbed out of the ravine, bruised but alive. The sky above was growing darker—not from nightfall, but from something rolling in the distance.
A relic storm.
BITS flickered in warning. "That storm's carrying energy signatures I haven't seen since... well, ever. And it's heading right for us."
Kael looked at Nyra. "Can we make it to shelter?"
Nyra pointed. "That tower up there. Old comms relay. If we move fast."
They ran.
Behind them, the storm screamed.
---
Inside the tower, they slammed the door and bolted it with an old beam. The wind outside howled like a hundred broken machines.
Kael slid down against the wall, soaked in sweat and sand.
Nyra sat across from him. "You good?"
He nodded. "Yeah. You?"
She wiped blood from her temple. "Nothing permanent."
BITS beeped between them. "So. Two relics activated. Target painted on our backs. And now, a killer storm. This adventure is going great."
Kael laughed—unexpected and breathless.
Nyra smirked.
For the first time, they didn't feel like strangers anymore.
---
Far away, in a fortress built into the ribcage of an old war beast, a woman in black armor stood before a screen of flickering light.
The two pulses blinked on her map.
"Found you," Malrix whispered.
She turned to her soldiers.
"Prepare the retrieval unit. Kill the girl. Bring me the boy."