The air in the shrine still vibrated with the lingering pulse of the Echoheart. Kael's chest burned faintly where the relic rested beneath his cloak, its energy simmering like coals left untouched. Each breath he took was shallow, as if the relic was both sustaining and suppressing him.
Tovan walked a few paces ahead, weapon lowered but ready, while Elira knelt beside the shattered remains of the guardian, inspecting the brass plate with the etched name—Vareth.
"That name still bothering you?" Tovan asked over his shoulder.
Kael nodded, though he barely heard him. Vareth. The name tugged at something buried in his mind, as if part of a memory he'd never lived. The echo of it stirred faint emotions—loss, urgency, something almost familial.
Elira stood, brushing dust from her gloves. "We can't make assumptions. Could be a person, a place, or even a relic."
Kael's eyes lingered on the coffer's other contents—those faded parchment scraps and the broken insignia. They weren't just artifacts. They felt like breadcrumbs, part of a trail someone had left behind.
"We'll find out," he said quietly.
The corridor ahead narrowed into a low, arched passage veined with luminous moss. They moved cautiously, their footsteps muffled against the damp stone. The deeper they went, the warmer the relic felt, syncing with Kael's pulse until he couldn't tell which rhythm was his own.
They emerged into a smaller chamber—a shrine within the shrine. It was circular, with seven stone pedestals arranged around a sunken dais. On the central altar, something floated—encased in a field of blue energy. Another relic. Smaller than the Echoheart, but more intricate, shaped like an open eye with a shard of obsidian at its center.
Kael stepped forward instinctively.
"Wait," Elira warned. "We don't know if it's active."
But Kael couldn't stop. As he neared, the Echoheart pulsed violently. The eye-shaped relic reacted, flaring with light. A force lashed outward, flinging him backward. He hit the ground hard, gasping.
Tovan rushed to him. "Damn it, Kael—what were you thinking?"
Kael didn't answer. His vision swam, not from pain but from something deeper. The relic had shown him something again.
A city of spires. A woman cloaked in crimson, standing atop a tower with a relic on her brow. The same eye-shaped device. Her mouth moved in silent command as the sky fractured above her.
Kael sat up, breath hitching. "That relic... it's part of something bigger. They all are."
Elira stepped carefully to the edge of the altar. "Then we need to be careful. Whatever this place was, it wasn't just for worship. It was a vault."
Kael approached the pedestal again, this time slower. The Echoheart vibrated but didn't resist. He extended a hand toward the eye-shaped relic. The energy field parted.
As his fingers brushed the relic, a surge of understanding shot through him. Symbols, languages, and fragments of history not his own flooded his mind. This one wasn't just a weapon—it was a key.
A resonance formed between the two relics.
Kael fell to one knee, overwhelmed. Voices filled his ears. Not from the past, but possibilities—paths branching ahead of him. Echoes of futures. Some bright. Some terrible.
Elira touched his shoulder. "Kael? Can you let go?"
He nodded slowly, breaking contact. The eye-shaped relic dimmed and settled into his palm. He tucked it away with care, chest heaving.
"We need to leave," Tovan said. "Before this place decides to throw another monster at us."
Kael looked back once more at the altar, then at the twin relics in his possession. "We've found more than we expected. But this is just the beginning."
As they exited the inner shrine, the air behind them grew still. But the relics throbbed faintly in Kael's grasp—as if they too knew the path ahead would demand more than any of them were ready to give.