The two groups moved through the ruins at a cautious pace, spreading out far enough to cover ground but never so far that they could not see each other. Their boots scraped across pale stone that had long since lost its shine. Weeds grew between cracks, and some stones had shifted so much they looked like they were slowly sinking back into the earth.

  The whole place felt strange. Not because of something obvious, but because of the silence. Woods always had some noise, even quiet ones. A squirrel, a branch snapping, birds calling from the canopy. But here, nothing answered them. Even the air felt still. No wind reached into the broken walls or through the old pillars that stuck up like ribs of some giant creature dead for ages.

  Maruzan kept one hand on the hilt of his sword while his eyes traced every shadow. Ennett walked with the other half of the party on the far side, her movements steady even though she limped just a little from the earlier injury. The healing had helped, but it had not erased the memory of the pain.

  The ruins did not belong to anyone. At least that was what people said. They sat at a point where many lands overlapped. Dwarven lands pushed west, ogre tribes lived farther north, kobolds had taken the low valleys, dryads had their groves in the southern woods, and humans held the coastal plains. Yet none of those groups claimed these stones.

  Maybe because they knew better.

  Bram ran his hand along part of a carved column, tracing the shape of a pattern he did not recognize. The runes were too sharp for dwarven style, but too smooth for any human stonemason. Something else had raised these arches. The thought made him uneasy.

  Farrin smelled the earth. Her instincts said they were not alone, even if she could not see or hear anything. She stayed near Bram, eyes alert.

  Winnum walked between them, hands trembling slightly. He hated that they trembled. Ever since he healed Ennett’s ankle, the warmth that had flowed through him felt both familiar and cruel. It had been months, or longer, since he felt the Light answer him. Months since it had failed him when he needed it the most. His brother’s face still came back to him whenever he closed his eyes for too long. He rubbed his thumbs along his palms, trying to keep his breathing steady.

  A sudden cold ran up his spine, sharp and thin like a wire.

  He froze.

  Bram noticed first. “What is it?”

  Winnum swallowed. “I… heard someone.”

  “Where?” Farrin asked quietly.

  Winnum shook his head. His voice came out strained. “It sounded like my brother. But it wasn’t him. It wasn’t even close. Something wanted me to think it was.”

  He forced himself to meet Bram’s eyes. “It knows we’re here.”

  Those words seemed to spread through the ruin like a warning bell. Bram tensed. Farrin tightened her grip on her axe. On the far side of the courtyard, Xonya lifted her hand to signal Maruzan.

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  But a different sound reached them before they could gather, a soft vibration deep underfoot, almost too low to notice at first.

  Farrin crouched and pressed her palm to the stone. “Do you feel that?”

  Bram nodded. “Like something breathing.”

  The vibration grew stronger, moving through their boots and into their bones. It was not the kind of shaking caused by shifting rock. It was steady. Rhythmic. Intentional.

  Nethira turned toward the temple ruins ahead of them. The walls were half collapsed, and the roof had fallen long ago, leaving jagged stone teeth pointing toward the sky. She stood very still, letting the feeling wash over her. She did not like what it stirred inside her.

  Xonya stepped close and placed a hand on her shoulder. “What do you see?”

  Nethira blinked hard, trying to steady herself. “Not a clear vision. Just… pressure. Something pushing back at me. It wants us to come closer.”

  Maruzan called out. “All of us. Now.”

  The two parties moved toward the broken temple, staying close together. Ennett took point with Maruzan, checking each angle as they stepped inside the outer ring of fallen pillars. The shadows inside were strange. They did not fall the way shadows should. They wrapped around the stones, curling inward like they were being tugged.

  Maruzan raised his hand for silence.

  They listened.

  Nothing moved. No breeze stirred dust or leaves.

  Then a voice poured through the silence.

  “Why have you come?”

  It came from everywhere. The stones, the air, the cracks in the ground. Maruzan felt his stomach tighten. The others reacted the same, flinches, widened eyes, faces going pale.

  Maruzan swallowed. “We came for the girl.”

  A long pause followed. Long enough that several of them felt sweat forming on their backs despite the cold.

  Then the voice answered.

  “That was a mistake.”

  Nethira stepped forward. Her hands curled into fists to hide how much they shook. “Show yourself! Or surrender. Your power will fall before ours.”

  The response came like a slow scrape of metal dragging across stone.

  “Child of the trees… you know nothing of my power.”

  The sky darkened without warning. Clouds rolled in as if pulled by a giant hand, and shadows swarmed the temple floor.

  Then, from the center of the ruin, a burst of dark blue light shot upward like lightning frozen in place. It cut through the sky with such force that several of them staggered back, arms raised.

  The stones beneath the beam groaned, shifting outward as if pushed by something rising from below.

  From the rift came a single shape.

  Azandra.

  Lifted into the air as though weightless, her arms hanging at her sides, her head slumped forward. Her hair drifted around her face as if caught in a slow-moving current. Her expression was calm, almost peaceful. Too peaceful.

  “Azandra!” Ennett shouted, taking a step forward.

  Maruzan grabbed her arm. “Wait.”

  The voice returned, now close enough that it seemed to whisper directly into their ears.

  “No. You will surrender to me.”

  The blue light wrapped around Azandra’s body like strands of glowing thread.

  “Or the life of this girl ends.”

  The wind finally moved, rushing in all at once, washing over them with a cold that felt alive.

  Maruzan lowered his hand from Ennett’s arm.

  His jaw tightened.

  And the ruins fell quiet again, waiting for their answer.