The wind howled through the arches of the Frostline Shrine, rising and falling in a low, melodic tone that blended with the soft hum of the runes carved into the four towering pillars. The air tasted of ozone and ancient dust—magic so old it felt woven into the stone itself.

  Team Argent fanned out across the shrine, each footstep sending faint echoes through the frost-laced chamber.

  Ronan took point immediately, his voice steady but firm.

  “Kael, check the perimeter. Lira, with Eis. Look for disturbances or recent traces. Slow and careful.”

  Kael nodded and disappeared into the misted edges of the shrine.

  Lira joined Eis, the light from her staff cutting through the gloom in warm gold.

  “There’s too much mana here,” Lira murmured, brow tight with concentration. “It isn’t flowing—it’s pooling. Like the place is… breathing.”

  Eis crouched near one of the runic circles. The carved sigils were pulsing irregularly—flickering between blue and red, unstable. She rested gloved fingers against the frost.

  The rune reacted instantly—flickering faster.

  “Someone tampered with the anchor,” she said quietly. “And not long ago.”

  Lira lowered her hand over the rune, feeling the residual energy.

  “This isn’t mountain magic,” she whispered. “It’s human. Familiar.”

  Eis met her eyes.

  “Vauren.”

  Lira nodded, grim.

  From the stairway above them, Kael’s voice echoed sharply.

  “Found something!”

  Eis and Lira moved at once. Ronan joined them at the top of the carved steps.

  Kael pointed toward a collapsed alcove where pale-blue light flickered behind a wall of ice. Embedded in the frozen wall was a broken crystal conduit, the kind used by the Archmage Division in containment wards.

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  Ronan scowled.

  “He left this behind?”

  “Or it overloaded,” Eis said, stepping closer. “He was channeling power through it.”

  The shard hummed faintly, arcs of mana sparking between its fractured edges. The warmth radiating from it felt unnatural amid the frost.

  Lira grimaced.

  “That core should be dead. Why is it still active?”

  “It must be connected to the vault,” Eis said. “He must have used it to power the vault somehow.”

  Ronan’s jaw tightened.

  “So he’s already there.”

  Kael adjusted his bowstrap.

  “And draining everything the mountain has to offer.”

  Eis nodded.

  “If he completes that link, the entire region will feel the surge. He’s trying to awaken the Vault.”

  Beyond the broken alcove, a deeper chamber lay half-buried in ice. The ground was a perfect circle of polished stone, covered in runes so faint they were nearly invisible beneath frost.

  At its center rested an ancient altar, intertwined with frozen roots and crystalline veins. The air around it vibrated—low, steady, powerful.

  Eis stepped forward. The heat in her chest pulsed in perfect rhythm with the altar’s light.

  “This mana signature feels familiar,” she said.

  Lira’s voice softened.

  “To?”

  Eis traced the nearest rune.

  “The relic in Lumaire.”

  The realization landed heavily over the group. The Frostline Shrine was not just a waypoint—it was part of the same forgotten architecture Vauren was trying to control, the Sun Vault.

  Ronan’s voice cut through the stillness and looked to Lira.

  “Can you shut it down?”

  Lira shook her head.

  “No. But I can seal the link. Stop the ley current from feeding the Vault.”

  “Do it,” Ronan said.

  Lira stepped onto the altar. A chill rippled through the air—the shrine acknowledging her presence.

  She began chanting a spell meant to disrupt ley flows. She released it, letting the mana she gathered dissolve into a stream of molten runes.

  The symbols circled the altar, melting frost as they carved themselves into stone. Light expanded… pulsed… then settled into a calm, steady rhythm.

  The air lightened.

  The hum softened.

  The leyline grew still.

  “It’s sealed,” Lira said. “He can’t draw power from this anchor anymore.”

  Eis let out a slow breath.

  “That’s Good.”

  Ronan nodded sharply.

  “Then we move. We follow his trail while he’s still cut off.”

  Kael slung his bow back over his shoulder.

  “Before he finds another anchor.”