Dawn broke slowly, a pale band of gold spreading across the eastern horizon. The contours of the dunes sharpened in the early light, frozen waves stretching endlessly across the land.

  Erica opened her eyes and let out a long breath.

  Last night’s dream clung to her with unsettling clarity. The imprint of the on her palm had faded, yet a faint heat still lingered beneath the skin. She knew it hadn’t been an illusion.

  It was an inheritance.

  Outside the tent, Jabari was already awake. He held his short blade low, carving circular patterns into the sand. Each movement was deliberate, reverent—part ritual, part remembrance. He pressed his forehead briefly against the spine of the blade, murmuring an ancient chant. The blue flame flared, then died, leaving behind a ring of scorched earth.

  Lucas, by contrast, was buried in his instruments. A copper hexagonal disc caught the morning light, reflecting a cold sheen. The runes etched into his lenses pulsed faintly—proof that he hadn’t slept at all, still tracing the fractured energy paths of the rune-stone shard.

  Amina approached with the camels in tow, her voice sharp and low.

  “We move before the sun fully rises. The desert will drink your water—and your strength—once daylight takes hold.”

  The three of them packed quickly and followed her onward.

  The desert was merciless.

  The early light was tolerable, but as the sun climbed, the air itself seemed to dry and tighten. Heat poured down from above, each step like walking across the surface of a furnace.

  Erica’s throat quickly grew raw, sweat evaporating almost as soon as it formed. And yet—strangely—the jade pendant at her chest pulsed in a steady rhythm, releasing a thread of coolness that slowed the rise of her body temperature.

  Her unease deepened.

  The jade wasn’t just reacting to relics anymore—it was adapting, regulating her in extremes.

  Lucas fared far worse.

  His face had gone pale, lips cracked and bleeding. Though he still clutched his instruments, his steps lagged, each one heavier than the last.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Stop,” Erica said, stepping forward to steady him.

  “We can’t,” Lucas muttered stubbornly, shaking his head. “If we lose momentum, the sun will finish the job.”

  Frowning, Erica pulled a small porcelain vial from her pack. As she opened it, a cool medicinal scent spread through the air. She swiftly drew a silver needle and inserted it into a point on Lucas’s wrist, guiding a thin stream of qi inward.

  Lucas jolted, sucking in a sharp breath—as if hauled back from suffocation. Color slowly returned to his face as sweat streamed down his jaw.

  He blinked at her. “You… practice traditional medicine?”

  “A little,” Erica replied calmly. “Acupuncture regulates breathing and circulation. It won’t cure you—but it’ll keep you moving.”

  Jabari snorted softly but said nothing, simply quickening his pace to take point.

  They pressed on.

  By noon, the sun stood directly overhead. Shadows shrank until the dunes seemed stripped of depth, the world reduced to blazing gold.

  Then the wind shifted.

  Amina stiffened, lifting her head.

  “Damn it… the wind’s turning.”

  On the horizon, a gray-yellow haze began to rise, rolling forward with slow inevitability.

  A sandstorm.

  Erica’s heart tightened as last night’s warning echoed in her mind. She clenched the jade pendant and stared into the distance.

  The wind howled louder, like a beast drawing breath.

  Suddenly, Lucas stopped. He raised his device—the needle spinning wildly, nearly tearing itself loose. The runes in his lenses flared as he whispered in disbelief:

  “No… the energy pulse has shifted against the stars. Our heading—it’s being deliberately distorted.”

  “What do you mean?” Erica asked.

  “This desert isn’t natural terrain anymore,” Lucas said, sweat sliding from his temple. “The Night Veil has deployed an energy field around the pyramids. Even stellar navigation is compromised.”

  “We’re being led off course.”

  Jabari tightened his grip on his blade, blue fire dancing even beneath the sun.

  “Then they’re ahead.”

  Amina’s expression darkened.

  “Worse than that. This may already be their hunting ground.”

  The air thickened as the four exchanged looks.

  Then the storm hit.

  Sand exploded upward. The sky collapsed into yellow and gray as visibility vanished. Wind-driven grit tore at exposed skin like countless blades.

  Erica raised her arm to shield her face—

  —and felt the jade pendant .

  Not in defense.

  In response.

  From deep within the jade, a thread of green light—so faint it was nearly imperceptible—was forcibly drawn out, piercing the storm and locking onto something unseen.

  Cold flooded her chest.

  “No… this isn’t right—”

  She never finished.

  From within the storm, a black banner unfurled.

  A crescent moon snapped violently in the wind.

  In that instant, Erica understood.

  It wasn’t that had found her.

  It was that she had already been written into

  path.

  The jade went still, as though something irreversible had just been completed.

  Erica lifted her gaze toward the heart of the storm, her throat tight.

  —This time, the thing that had been marked

  might not be just the group at all.