The journey was going peacefully.
Suspiciously peacefully.
Almost… unnaturally peacefully.
So naturally, something had to go wrong.
And it did.
The Carriage Suddenly Stops
The carriage jerked to a halt so abruptly that Belos almost rolled off Sebastian's lap like a sack of flour.
Sebastian:
"Japheth? What seems to be the issue?"
Japheth, leaning forward with an expression of "I absolutely did not sign up for this":
"Uh… you might want to see this. The road… kind of… isn't there anymore."
Everyone stepped out.
Everyone stared.
Everyone processed.
It was not a hole.
It was not a dip.
It was not a bump.
It was a massive sinkhole so big it had eaten half the road AND a chunk of the forest.
Vespera:
"Ya. A little hole. Totally."
Sebastian:
"…That hole has its own gravitational field."
Sylas:
"…That hole is big enough to be taxed as a kingdom."
Nyxar and Vespera Do the Exact Opposite of What Normal People Do
Nyxar peered over the edge.
And squinted.
"…Are those bricks?"
"…wait… no… that's… A BUILDING??"
Ember and Sylas:
"NO—"
Too late.
Nyxar yeeted himself off the edge with the enthusiasm of a child jumping into a ball pit.
Bella expanded beneath him mid-fall, helping him land gently like he had his own personal kaiju parachute.
Vespera, meanwhile, transformed midair, her spider limbs stabbing into the wall as she gracefully climbed downward like some kind of elegant gothic tarantula queen.
Ember:
"…Of course."
Sylas:
"…Of course."
Ember and Sylas exchanged identical, exhausted expressions.
Sylas: "Sebastian, Japheth—you two stay here. We are going to make sure those two idiots don't accidentally summon an ancient evil or revive a forbidden god."
Ember:
"Or both."
Then they jumped.
The Descent of Disaster
Ember, Ironman-style, blasted fire from her hands to slow her descent—landing hard but proud.
Sylas used fallen trees and plant control to gently lower himself to the ground like some sort of nature-powered baby hammock.
Sylas:
"Whew… what a rough landing."
Ember, still on the floor:
"Oh, I'm sorry, not all of us have Vine Luxury Elevator Mode."
Sylas chuckled while Ember groaned herself upright.
They walked toward Nyxar and Vespera, who were already at the edge of a dark, ancient structure emerging from the floor of the sinkhole.
The Ancient City in the Dark
Ember conjured a little flame.
A warm, small one.
Just enough to see.
The four walked.
The air grew colder.
Darker.
Heavier.
And then Nyxar and Vespera suddenly held up their hands.
"Snuff it."
Ember blinked. "What? Why?"
Vespera: "Our eyes adapt to the dark. Yours don't."
Nyxar: "You'll see better this way."
Ember reluctantly snuffed the flame.
And the world changed.
The cavern around them widened into something that could only be described as—
"A cathedral?" Sylas whispered.
But no cathedral on the surface could match this.
It was massive. Vast. Ancient.
Something older than kingdoms.
Older than languages.
Older than recorded history.
The air was damp and cold enough to cling to their clothes, smelling of dust, stone, and centuries of silence.
Roads—long, straight roads—stretched ahead like ribs of some dead titan, disappearing into the void.
Buildings lined both sides, leaning, broken, collapsed, but unmistakably man-made.
Or… something-made.
Rows of hollow structures stood like kneeling giants, their walls cracked, beams slanted from age, roofs caved inward.
Even in ruin… there was design.
Purpose.
And at the center—no matter where each of them looked—one structure called to them.
A monolith.
A colossal shrine-like rectangle of stone, impossibly precise and untouched when everything else had crumbled.
Massive pillars guarded the sides.
The entrance yawned open, tall enough for a giant to walk through without ducking.
It wasn't just there.
It was waiting.
Watching.
Alive.
Sylas gulped.
"Okay… so… this is… creepy."
Vespera and Nyxar were practically sparkling with excitement.
Ember:
"…You two scare me."
The Fireball Test
Ember sighed.
"Fine. Let me try something."
She raised a hand.
Summoned a fireball.
A big one.
She hurled it upward.
It shot into the darkness—
—lit the cavern roof—
—illuminated the ruins—
—stretched shadows across ancient stone—
—and even Nyxar and Vespera fell silent.
The place was enormous.
Far bigger than they thought.
The fireball arced, descended… sputtered…
And just before it died—
—one final burst of light illuminated something further beyond:
A titanic rectangular shrine.
Too perfect.
Too preserved.
Too deliberate.
Ember and Sylas froze.
Their faces drained.
Then both said in unison:
"Okay. We believe you now."
Nyxar and Vespera smirked smugly.
The Narrator's Closing Thoughts
Narrator:
"Congratulations.
This went from a normal road trip to ancient city exploration real fast.
Hope you're all keeping up, because the lore is getting juicier than a soap opera in a blender.
See you in the next chapter—
where things may or may not get cursed."