The echo of their footsteps faded as the trio entered the final hall.
The air was thick — not with dust, but with power. It rolled like mist, glowing faintly with threads of silver that twisted and vanished before their eyes. The deeper they went, the heavier it became, until each breath felt like drawing in liquid energy.
Mira was the first to speak, voice low.
"This place… it feels alive."
David's eyes traced the walls. Every inch was engraved with shifting runes — not carved, but grown into the stone, pulsing slowly like the veins of a slumbering beast.
"Alive," he muttered, "and watching."
Daniel stepped ahead of them. The faint hum of lightning flickered under his skin, responding instinctively to the energy around him.
"It's the core of Eryndor's inheritance," he said quietly. "Everything that's happened until now led to this."
At the far end of the hall stood a massive altar, circular and layered with concentric rings of script. The center was hollow, shaped like a heart torn from the mountain itself. Runes glowed in faint blue — cold and ancient — and with every pulse, the chamber trembled slightly, as if breathing.
Then, the air changed.
A low rumble spread from the altar, and the light in the chamber flared. The floor beneath them shifted, runes sliding apart like the segments of a great mechanism. The walls shone brighter — and from the center, three pillars began to rise.
Each one was different.
The first burned gold-white, pure and warm — resonating faintly with David's aura.
The second shimmered with deep violet-black mist — the kind that devoured even light — and Mira's heart pulsed in answer.
The third blazed blue-gold, threads of lightning arcing across its surface like veins alive with thunder.
Daniel's eyes narrowed. He could feel it — the third pillar calling to him.
"Three successors," David whispered, almost reverent. "Three paths."
The moment their feet touched the altar's first ring, everything shifted. The air turned heavy — not like pressure, but like presence. A will older than mountains pressed down on them, wordless yet undeniable.
Mira's breath caught. "That feeling… it's not an attack."
Daniel nodded slowly, sweat already forming on his temples. "It's testing us."
The Codex inside him stirred.
A low hum reverberated through his core, the sound deep and distant. The golden runes on his wrist flickered, then spread faintly over his arm — the Codex responding to the chamber's pulse.
David steadied himself, drawing on both his affinities — light glowed around him while faint ripples of earth energy anchored his steps to the ground.
"I can barely stand straight. This pressure isn't spiritual — it's something deeper."
Daniel's gaze lifted to the pillars.
"The will of Eryndor himself. He's not gone… he's judging."
The moment he said it, the three pillars flared.
Blinding radiance flooded the chamber, drowning every shadow. The floor beneath them cracked under the surge. The glyphs on the altar began to move — sliding like rivers of molten silver, converging toward the center where Daniel stood.
"Daniel!" Mira called, shielding her eyes as darkness flowed around her like a protective shell.
"I'm fine!" His voice strained, lightning crawling from his back and shoulders in arcs that struck the air and vanished. "It's not attacking — it's syncing!"
The Codex pulsed violently — a rhythm that matched the altar's heartbeat. Then, without warning, it tore itself free of his soul.
A flare of light exploded outward.
The book of glyphs floated in midair, pages turning as if caught in a wind only it could feel. Words of pure light streamed from it, wrapping the three pillars in threads of silver script.
Mira's mouth fell open. "It's… alive."
"No," Daniel said through clenched teeth, "it's reacting. The Codex came from this place. It's returning home."
The light intensified. Glyphs filled the air like glowing dust, drifting slowly, sinking into the stone and the trio alike. The energy was dense, raw, old — the kind of power that carried weight even gods would respect.
Then, just as suddenly, silence.
The three pillars ceased their trembling. The Codex floated back toward Daniel, pages closing one by one until it hovered before his chest — still pulsing faintly with power.
A voice didn't speak. But intent — vast and heavy — rippled through the air, whispering straight into their bones:
> "Take what you have earned."
The command hit like a wave. The three of them staggered — their souls recognizing the authority behind the words.
Daniel looked from Mira to David. Their faces mirrored his: awe and tension, hearts pounding with the same mix of fear and exhilaration.
David swallowed hard. "I guess… this is it."
Mira tightened her grip on her dagger. "No going back."
Daniel smiled faintly, lightning flickering across his hand. "Then let's see what we've been fighting for."
He stepped forward.
The moment his foot touched the first ring of the altar, the entire chamber shook.
Runes burst into life, spinning around the trio in streams of glowing essence. The pillars flared again, light climbing them like fire consuming dry wood. Power gathered — thick, electric, alive.
The final inheritance had begun to awaken.
And above it all, the Codex trembled — pages opening one by one as Daniel's lightning reached out, intertwining with the glyphs like storm meeting scripture.
The chamber darkened, and the hum deepened into a roar.
Whatever waited beyond this light… would change them forever.