Moonlight illuminated the ruins deep within the forest past the magical border of Arcanis Academy with an otherworldly glow. Centuries-old trees stood sentinel, their gnarled limbs reaching out as if to warn intruders away. The crimson-lit stone archway before pulsed with a faint light, too weak to behold—but Elira felt it in her very marrow. The same pounding, alluring pull that had tortured her sleep for days. The same voice which summoned from beneath the stone.
Kael stood by her side, jaw set and arms crossed. He'd hardly said a word since they'd escaped the Council's dark hands, and the charged air between them now thrummed like stretched bowstring.
"You're sure it's here?" he inquired quietly, his voice husky but tinctured with warning.
Elira nodded, eyes on the arch. "It called me. In my dreams. This place. it's not just some ruin. There's something alive beneath it. Or trapped."
