Phoebe narrowed her eyes, tracing her fingers near the surface."No inscriptions. No runes we can see."
Nolan's voice came quietly, "Who would put a barrier here?"
Sara swallowed, hugging her arms to herself. "And how is it still active after… however many years?"
Vivi crouched, pressing her hand near the base of the invisible surface."There's no anchor stones on this side. Nothing powering it."
I stepped back, scanning the surrounding area.
The barrier arced with the curvature of the mountaina dome, maybe larger.Completely invisible until touched.
I tried going left.
After ten steps my fingers hit an invisible wall again.
We tried going right.
Same result.
"It surrounds the peak," Veyra concluded. "A full encirclement."
Lex rolled his shoulders. "So what? We break it?"
"No," Veyra said sharply. "A barrier of this magnitude would require power far beyond us. And breaking an ancient seal without knowing what it holds is asking to die."
Phoebe muttered under her breath, "Lovely."
Solace stared up at the sky.
The peak beyond the barrier was obscurednot by clouds, but by a strange distortion.A shimmer, like heat waves rising off sand.
His gut twisted.Something about this felt… familiar.
A pulse of faint light in the corner of his vision.
He turned.
Veyra frowned, patting her jacket.
From inside her inner pocketa faint glow seeped through the fabric.
Solace blinked."…Instructor. Your pocket."
Veyra paused.
Slowly, she pulled the pendant-the one taken from the corrupted Archbishop in the Cathedral, into view.
The metal was glowing softly.
Sara whispered, "That's… reacting to the barrier?"
Then suddenly I remembered the Item description of the pendant.
Without giving it a thought I stepped forward and asked instructor Veyra.
"May I see it?"
There was a hesitation.
But something in Solace's tone made Veyra finally place it in his palm.
The moment the pendant touched his skina sharp warmth traveled up his arm.
Solace inhaled sharply. And checked the pendant Once again.
-------------------------------
Item: A pendant of Noras Otheryon
Description: A memory of a long forgotten home, A relic of the past that leads to the Kingdom.
--------------------------------
A relic of the past that leads to the Kingdom I read it once again and walked towards the barrier.
I pressed the pendant against the barrier. For a second nothing seemed different but suddenly,
The invisible barrier rippled.
Like someone had thrown a pebble into water.
The pendant pulsed again.
Symbols bloomed like frost on glass.
Old.Powerful.Same aesthetic as the Cathedral beneath the forest.
The barrier shuddered
Then dissolved with a soft fwoom, like a sigh of relief.
A breeze swept past them.
Warm.Gentle.Carrying the scent of greenery.