Deeper Within
Ravwyn led them down a spiraling path carved into the cliffs, beneath the gate ruins. As they descended, the walls began to pulse with ancient light—red, violet, and silver. The smell of burnt stone and old blood filled the air.
Strange whispers danced at the edge of their minds—fragments of names, cries, laughter, weeping.
Theo stumbled once. "Kaleon… I can hear them."
"I know," Kaleon said, voice low. "So can I."
Then, the path opened into a hollow basin lit by a sky of broken stars—a crater in the mountain, where time had ceased to move. Towering pillars encircled the space, and at the center stood a sealed door of obsidian and gold, covered in runes and encased in frost.
"This," Ravwyn said, "is the outer sanctum. Beyond it lies the truth."
He turned to Kaleon, then Theo.
"But truth carries a price. To step beyond this gate, you must let go of what you were. Names. Doubts. The world you left behind. You must enter… and remember who you are meant to become."
Theo looked at Kaleon. "We came this far."
Kaleon nodded, fire in his eyes.
"Then open the gate," said the young Skarn.
The shard in his chest blazed. The runes ignited. The obsidian doors began to creak open—revealing a light that no one had seen in a thousand years.
Their steps echoed down the ancient stairwell, a spiral carved into the bones of the mountain. Emberlight lit the walls, flickering along veins of emberstone — an ore that pulsed faintly, resonating with each breath they took.
"This place feels... alive," Theo whispered, one hand grazing the glowing rock.
"Like it remembers," Kaleon said, his voice low.
As they descended, the air grew heavier, thick with the weight of memories and long-forgotten purpose.
The stairwell ended at a stone gate — cracked, yet pulsing with warmth. As they stepped through, the space opened into a massive subterranean chamber, domed and lined with statues identical to those above, but whole — unmarred by time.
Then the door sealed behind them with a slam.
Theo jumped. "Of course it locked. Why wouldn't it?"
A rumble answered him.
The statues moved.
One by one, the twelve Watchers came to life, their stone bodies groaning with ancient power. Their elemental auras reignited — flame, storm, wind, earth, and shadow — as if the memories of their final battle surged once more.
Theo drew his sword. "Oh no. Nope. We already did Duskmire. I'm not fighting another damn ancient dungeon full of cursed—"
A warhammer the size of a cart smashed where he'd stood a second ago.
"Okay!" he shouted. "Fine! We're doing this!"
Kaleon's blade, Shadowrend, leapt into his hand as flames ignited along its edge. "Stay behind me."
Theo rolled his eyes. "You say that like I've ever done that."
The battle erupted.
Flames clashed with storm. Stone fists slammed into summoned barriers. Theo danced between arcs of lightning and exploding earth, his Tempest Fury crackling like a living storm.
Kaleon fought with precision, every swing of Shadowrend slicing through thick armor, shadowy afterimages making him nearly impossible to follow. His mantle coiled like smoke, absorbing minor hits, striking like a second blade.
But the Watchers adapted.
Each one they felled would rise again, slower... but angrier.
"They're learning," Kaleon growled, narrowly ducking a spear of crystallized wind.
Theo grunted, parrying a blow. "What are they, sentient stone algorithms?!"
"No... they're testing us," Kaleon replied. "Holding back."
And then everything changed.
As Kaleon struck down the final Watcher, the chamber froze — not in cold, but in time.
Everything around them shimmered, and then shattered like glass.
Suddenly, both were alone.
Alone in memory.
Kaleon's Vision
He stood in a ruined Skarnhold. Blood soaked the stones. The throne room burned. His father was dead — Therion and Lysera vanished. A figure in shadows whispered:
"You let it happen. You hesitated. You were weak."
Shadowrend was gone.
Instead, he held the crown — molten in his grasp.
"You could have saved them. But you chose to be kind."
Theo's Vision
He knelt in an endless storm.
Lightning ravaged everything — his home, his parents' lands, even Umbra and Nyx. His blade was broken.
"You're nothing without him," the storm whispered. "A second. A follower. A shadow of a flame."
Theo screamed, raising his fists to the heavens. "I'm not just his echo!"
The storm laughed. "Then prove it."
They both awoke in the chamber, gasping, sweat pouring down their faces.
Kaleon dropped to a knee. "...That wasn't a vision. That was a curse."
Theo sat beside him. "That storm whispered all my insecurities. Felt like my mother during exam week."
Kaleon blinked. "Your mother shot lightning at you during exams?"
"No, she just had the same energy."
They laughed weakly — until the Watchers moved again.
But this time, they knelt.
Each Watcher turned to stone once more, crumbling into dust — save for two.
The Stormborne and the Flamebound statues stepped forward, bowing low. From their chests, two orbs emerged — one crackling with thunder, the other burning with inner fire.
The voice returned, deeper now. Real. Ancient. Alive.
"Only those who endure their truth may wield what was once forsaken. Your burdens are yours. But so is your strength."
The orbs floated to them. Light enveloped their weapons, armor, and even their bonded panthers, fusing with their essence.
Their weapons — already powerful from Duskmire Vale — shifted.
Shadowrend grew jagged, its edge infused with flame-light and darkness. Runes ignited along its hilt.
Tempest Fury's blade extended, wider and heavier, arcs of lightning pulsing in rhythm with Theo's heartbeat.
Their mantles shifted too.
Kaleon's Shrouded Mantle now trailed shadow-fire, the edges burning without consuming. Theo's Stormborn Vestments glowed with celestial blue, like stormlight woven into silk.
Even Nyx and Umbra changed — their forms growing leaner, fiercer, their eyes glowing with twin runes of storm and flame.
Theo looked Umbra up and down. "You've been lifting rocks without me?"
Umbra growled softly. Nyx licked Kaleon's hand, then nudged his sword.
Kaleon smiled faintly. "They're ready."
Theo twirled his blade. "So Duskmire gave us weapons, but this place? This place gave us... ourselves."
Kaleon chuckled. "And a near-death breakdown."
Theo mock-nodded. "Wouldn't be us without trauma, huh?"
Theo blinked at Umbra. "You've been lifting weights without me."
Kaleon grinned. "He's got better form than you."
"Rude."
As they exited the chamber, the ash in the Sanctum parted before them, revealing their steeds — now taller, stronger, eyes gleaming.
Their cloaked guide was gone. Only his staff remained, stuck in the ground.
Theo picked it up. "You think he was a ghost?"
Kaleon raised a brow. "Or another test."
Theo sniffed. "Well, he owes me a thank-you. That was cardio."
They looked ahead.
Far beyond, the ruins of Ashenreach loomed — broken spires against a blood-orange sky.
Kaleon exhaled. "We're close."
Theo nodded. "This is where it begins."
The ride out of the Sanctum was quiet. The air still thrummed with the echo of the trials they'd endured. Kaleon felt the weight of the new mantle upon his shoulders, both literal and symbolic. His sword, Shadowrend, felt like an extension of his will, the power of shadow and flame now in his grasp. Theo's laughter had lightened the mood, but the journey ahead pressed on their minds.