The floor vanished under their feet.
Ariaxa didn’t even have time to scream.
Stone gave way to a vortex of shadow-light, runes spiraling downward like a whirlpool dragging her and Kaedan into darkness. Air whipped past her ears. Her stomach twisted violently.
“ARIA—!”
Kaedan’s arms wrapped around her mid-air, pulling her against his chest as they plummeted.
His wings snapped open—too late.
They struck the ground hard.
Her breath ripped out of her lungs; pain flared across her ribs.
Kaedan grunted, absorbing the worst of the impact, rolling with her to break the fall. His wings cracked against the cave floor, dust and fragments exploding around them.
Silence followed.
Cold.
Echoing.
Wrong.
Ariaxa coughed, pushing herself upright.
Kaedan was already beside her, scanning the shadows with bared fangs.
“Riven?” Ariaxa gasped, hope strangling her chest.
But Riven was nowhere in sight.
A faint voice echoed from above — distant, strained:
“Ariaxa! Kaedan! HOLD ON—”
He must have caught the ledge.
He was alive.
But they were not getting back up that way.
Kaedan swore under his breath, his jaw clenched tight. “We need to find another exit.”
Ariaxa looked around — and her breath caught.
They were in an enormous cavern. The walls glowed faintly with eerie violet runes, etched deep into the stone like scars. The air hummed with old magic — old pain.
Chains hung from the ceiling like skeletal vines.
Broken shackles littered the floor.
And carved into the earth—
Sun symbols.
Twisted.
Defaced.
Desecrated.
A temple of suffering.
A prison.
Ariaxa’s chest tightened. “This… this is a Sunborn catacomb.”
Kaedan’s eyes snapped to hers. “What?”
“This place—” she whispered. “It was used to imprison my ancestors. The ones Elyndor lost in the early wars. The Triarchs hid this.”
A low, gleeful laugh slithered out of the darkness.
“Well done, Sun Queen.”
Kaedan spun, positioning Ariaxa behind him.
From the shadows emerged the Triarch mage — mask cracked, robes stained with ritual ash. The runes on its arms glowed violently, feeding on the cavern’s power.
“You recognize this place,” the mage purred. “Your kind used to shine here. Scream here. Die here.”
Ariaxa trembled.
The mage lifted a hand. Runes flared.
“Your bond will break here too.”
A cold wave slammed into Ariaxa’s chest. Her mark burned.
“No—” she gasped, collapsing to one knee. “I feel—something—pulling my magic—”
Kaedan snarled. “DON’T touch her.”
He leapt — claws extended, wings flaring.
The mage flicked its wrist.
Runes along the floor ignited.
Kaedan’s body seized mid-air.
His wings folded violently.
He crashed to the ground beside her, breath tearing out in agony.
Ariaxa reached for him, pain searing through her as the runes drained their strength.
“This chamber,” the mage whispered, stepping closer, “was built to subdue Sunborn and Dravens alike. It weakens the light. It weakens the dark. Only necromancy thrives here.”
Ghostly forms rose from the runes—spectral figures shaped from fragmented souls, drifting like torn banners in a storm. Their mouths opened in silent screams.
Kaedan pushed himself up, fury and desperation blazing in his eyes.
“You won’t touch her,” he growled.
Ghosts lunged.
Kaedan met them with claws and shadow, ripping through incorporeal forms with sheer feral force. But each tear in the ghostly bodies triggered another ripple of pain through him.
Ariaxa struggled to her feet.
She raised her hands — Sun-fire flickered, then guttered to nothing.
“No—no, come on—” she whispered.
The runes flared again, siphoning her power.
Kaedan fought harder, wings snapping out despite the agony. Shadows erupted from his palms, striking ghosts back into the walls.
The mage laughed. “Watch him burn. Watch him break. Watch your bond shatter.”
Ariaxa’s heart thundered wildly.
“No,” she whispered. “I won’t let you—”
She grabbed Kaedan’s arm, forcing their bond to surge.
Light and shadow tangled violently, the cavern shaking under their combined power. Ghosts were ripped apart in waves of gold-black energy.
Kaedan snarled, “Ariaxa—don’t—this place will drain you dry—”
“And let you die?” she snapped. “Never.”
He lost his breath.
They fought together, back-to-back, their magic entwined despite the runes gnawing at their strength. Ghost after ghost dissolved into dust, but more poured from the walls.
The mage slammed its staff into the ground.
The runes answered.
Ariaxa screamed as her Sun magic was yanked from her like threads ripping out of her skin.
Kaedan roared, lunging at the mage despite the agony, shadows tearing wildly.
A blast hit him square in the chest.
He flew backward—slamming into the far wall, stone collapsing around him.
“KAEDAN!”
Ariaxa sprinted toward him—
But the ground shook.
Cracked.
Split open.
A shockwave rippled under her feet as the cavern walls began to peel open, revealing stone older than kingdoms.
Symbols glowed—
Sun symbols.
Draven symbols.
Merged.
Twisted.
Alive.
An ancient shrine pulsed with violent gold-black light, flooding the cavern.
A Sun-Eclipse shrine.
Hidden for centuries.
Awakened now.
Ariaxa’s knees buckled.
Her vision blurred to white-gold.
Her body fell.
And she collapsed—
as the shrine roared awake.