The ledge narrowed as they moved toward the river. Selene kept one hand against the rough stone wall, the other gripping Selis’s hand tightly. The sound of rushing water grew louder, drowning out the distant voices of the searchers behind them.

  Then, she heard it. Children’s laughter.

  Bright and clear, from somewhere among the temples below.

  Selene froze. The sound rang out again—playful shouts echoing from the gloom. A game played in the dark."

  A cold pressure settled over her chest, like invisible hands pressing against her insides, making it harder to breathe.

  Echoes.

  Children running between temple columns.

  Then raw screaming. Silence.

  The blood within Selene spoke inside her, low, bored, and dripping with amusement:

  “Oh, after all this time, they still don’t get it, do they?”

  The blood spiraled through her thoughts, indifferent.

  “After all, they’re still stumbling around in the dark like idiots. Pathetic.”

  Selene closed her eyes hard. When she opened them, what remained was only empty darkness. Silent temples and ash.

  "Selene?" Selis whispered, the sound barely registered. Her fingers tightened around Selene’s hand, sensing the sudden rigidity in her posture. "What is it?"

  "Nothing," Selene breathed, though her heart hammered against her ribs.

  She leaned forward, searching for the next foothold. Her boot struck something, a loose stone. It shifted under her weight, then broke free entirely.

  It skittered across the ledge—

  —and dropped.

  The sound of it striking the cavern floor below rang out like a bell at midday. The impact vibrated through the vast space, traveling between the temples, echoing off distant walls.

  Then voices echoed across the cavern.

  “There! Did you hear that?”

  “Northwest section, near the upper passages!”

  “Let's move! Now!”

  Torchlight swung toward them. Footsteps broke into a run. Selene didn’t think. She grabbed Selis’s hand and ran.

  They sprinted along the ledge, no longer caring about stealth. The river roared ahead, closer now, its dark waters rushing unseen through the shadows. Behind them, shouts echoed. The searchers were moving fast.

  The ledge sloped downward, merging with the cavern floor. Selene’s boots hit ash, ancient remains crunching beneath her weight. Her foot caught on something buried, a bone perhaps, or the suggestion of one. The ash shifted like sand, threatening to send her sprawling. She stumbled, caught herself, and kept running.

  Behind her, Selis gasped as her own leg nearly gave way. She caught herself, gripping Selene's hand tighter, blood tears streaming faster down her face, spattering the ash below.

  "Keep moving!" Selene pulled her forward, weaving between the scattered remains. Ash billowed around their feet with each step, ancient dust rising in small clouds.

  More bones cracked beneath their boots, snapping like dry twigs, finger bones crushing to powder. The dead protested their disturbance with brittle sounds that echoed louder than their footfalls.

  The river. Just ahead. She could see it now, dark water cutting through stone, moving fast, too fast. The current churned white where it struck the rocks, the surface roiling with dangerous speed. Water sprayed up against the stone walls, misting the air and slicking the ledge beneath her feet.

  There. That's the only way out.

  "Stop!" A voice bellowed behind them. "In the name of the Circle of Luminars, stop now!"

  They didn't stop.

  She pulled Selis towards the water's edge, her mind racing. The tunnel beyond—it had to lead somewhere. Out. Away. Anywhere but here.

  Behind them, torchlight blazed brighter. Multiple figures converging. Too close. Too fast.

  They reached the river's edge.

  The water rushed past, black and cold and violent. Rapids churned downstream, disappearing into a tunnel mouth carved through solid rock. The roar was deafening this close, spray hitting their faces like ice.

  Selene looked back once—saw torches bobbing through the darkness, saw figures running through the ash-covered remains, saw the vast cavern filled with temples and the forgotten dead.

  She met Selis’s gaze, a silent look that said, I’m going to jump.

  Selis stared at the churning water. Her whole body trembled. The last time—the blood vortex in the Vault, the world twisting sideways, reality bending—

  "I can't—" she whispered, her voice breaking. "Not again—"

  "Hold on to me," Selene said, gripping both her hands. "Don't let go. No matter what."

  "Please—"

  The torches were nearly upon them. Shouts. Boots pounding through ash.

  "Trust me."

  And she jumped, pulling Selis with her.

  They hit the water together.

  The cold didn’t just strike; it bit. It slammed into them like a hammer of ice, driving every thought from Selene’s mind, every breath from her lungs. The current seized them instantly, violent and merciless, pulling them under. Water closed over their heads, black, churning, impossibly strong.

  Selene held tight to Selis’s hand as the river tore at them, trying to rip them apart. Her body tumbled, spinning in the current’s grip. Up became down, became sideways.

  Her shoulder slammed into rock. White-hot pain lanced through her, Aldric’s older joints screaming in protest, but the current gave her no time to react. It dragged her onward, down, deeper into the tunnel’s throat. She felt Selis’s body collide with hers, both of them helpless as dolls in the river’s grip.

  Selis's nails dug into Selene's skin, drawing blood that immediately washed away.

  Selene’s lungs burned like fire. Every instinct screamed at her to breathe, to open her mouth, to take in anything.

  Hold on. Just hold on.

  Her vision began to darken at the edges—not from the water’s blackness, but from her brain starting to shut down.

  Selis’s hand slipped slightly in her grip.

  Selene tightened her hold with strength she didn’t know she had left, hauling Selis closer even as the river tried to tear them apart. Her consciousness wavered like a candle in the wind. The burning in her lungs grew unbearable.

  Then—

  Light.

  Dim at first, gray and distant. Then brighter. The tunnel’s end. The water surged forward with brutal momentum, and suddenly they were through, expelled from the mountain’s grip into open air.

  They surfaced gasping, choking, retching water. The current still carried them, but slower now, less violent. Morning light spread across the river, full daylight at last, the sun already climbing above the Veilspine Range behind them.

  The water here was different. Warmer. Touched by sunlight, alive in a way the underground river hadn’t been. The Arlen’s familiar current, fed by mountain springs but softened by its long journey through the valley.

  The current dragged them toward the southern bank, where the water ran shallow over smooth stones. Selene’s boots scraped bottom. She tried to stand and failed; her legs were useless. She let the river carry her until she finally bumped against the muddy shore.

  She lay there, chest heaving, water streaming from the veil. Her body refused to move. Everything hurt. Aldric’s body had taken damage it wasn’t built to endure.

  Beside her, Selis lay motionless in the shallows, her face half-submerged, blood-tears mixing with river water in pink swirls.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Selene’s eyes opened. Her vision swam, doubled, tripled. She coughed, and water poured from her mouth in thick streams. Her body convulsed, violently rejecting the river.

  She rolled onto her side and retched. More water came up, mixed with blood, bright red against the mud.

  Finally, the convulsions stopped.

  She crawled toward Selis, every movement sending fresh pain through her battered body. She reached her and dragged her higher onto the shore, pulling her clear of the water’s reach.

  "Selis," she gasped, her voice raw and foreign. "Selis, breathe—"

  Selis coughed once, a wet, choking sound, and river water spilled from her mouth in a torrent. Her eyes opened, bright and luminous.

  They lay there together on the muddy bank, both gasping, both shaking from cold, exhaustion, and the violence of their escape.

  The wind shifted, carrying with it the smell of smoke and burning wood, sharp enough to cut through the river’s earthy scent.

  Selene tilted her head back, squinting up at the sky. Smoke. A dark column rising in the distance, drifting east with the morning wind.

  She followed it with her eyes, tracing it back to its source.

  There, rising above the town on its hill, stood the Baron’s clock tower. Even from here, she could make out its familiar silhouette against the brightening sky. And beside it, smoke billowed from the manor’s eastern wing, thick and black.

  The fire she’d started.

  Still burning.

  “We made it,” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the river’s rush. The relief was nearly as crushing as the water had been. “We’re out.”

  Selene pushed herself up to sitting, every muscle screaming in protest. Aldric's body felt like it had been thrown down a mountain, which wasn't far from the truth. She looked at Selis, still lying in the shallows, blood streaming steadily down her face and mixing with the river water.

  "Are you all right?" Selene said quietly. "Can you stand?"

  Selis nodded and sat up slowly, wiping blood from her eyes with the back of her hand.

  They helped each other to their feet, standing unsteadily on the muddy bank. Water dripped from their clothes, forming small pools at their feet. They moved farther up the bank, finding steadier ground among the river grass.

  Selene looked toward the smoke rising from the Baron's manor. The column was thick and dark, the fire still burning.

  "That'll keep them occupied," she said aloud, more to herself than Selis. She hadn't meant to cause such destruction, but... "The Baron, Dalen, all his men. They'll be fighting that fire for hours."

  From where they stood, she could see the old gate in the distance, the two weathered towers flanking a high arch of gray stone. They'd emerged closer to the village than she'd hoped.

  Selis followed her gaze, her bright eyes reflecting the distant smoke. "You did that. To save me."

  Selene's gaze lingered on the gate for a moment. "We need to find answers," she said with a quiet steadiness.

  Selis wiped more blood from her face, the gesture futile but habitual. "Whatever you command."

  Selene felt the weight of everything pressing down. Questions without answers. Mysteries layered upon mysteries. She thought of the vast cavern beneath the valley, the temples, the thousands of dead. The Circle of Luminars searching in secret. Her blood, this thing inside her. The memories it carried.

  "We need to find out what happened to us. What the ruins are," she said finally, her voice firm despite her exhaustion. "All the answers are connected somehow…"

  "Yes," Selis agreed quietly, her voice reverent. "At least we know now that the ruins are connected. The architecture, the construction techniques—it's all the same. All part of something enormous."

  "And Eldric." Selene's voice tightened around his name. "He was part of the Circle before he withdrew. Did he know? About the ruins beneath the manor? About what would happen to us?"

  She looked down at her hands—Aldric's hands. The wrongness of it made her stomach turn.

  "Did he send me to the excavation knowing what I might find? Did he know about the Vault? About..." She gestured at herself, at the transformation she couldn't undo. "About this?"

  Selis was quiet for a moment, blood dripping steadily from her chin onto the mud below.

  "There are secrets," she said carefully. "The Circle kept the search beneath the Manor hidden from us. We were digging in the dirt while they were already inside the walls."

  She met Selene's eyes, her bright gaze unwavering despite the blood.

  "If they hid that from the excavation team, what else are they hiding?"

  Selene’s brows drew together. "Eldric spent more time in his study at the Athenaeum than anywhere else. If he knew something, if there’s any record of what the Circle was truly looking for, of what happened to us, it will be there. I need to search it."

  Selis nodded slowly, as if receiving a divine commandment. "Yes. You must."

  "You can't come with me." Selene gestured to Selis's face. The blood hadn't stopped; it carved red tracks through the river mud on her skin. "You look like you're weeping death, Selis. If anyone in the city sees that, they won’t ask questions—they’ll scream for help."

  Selis wiped the streaks from her cheeks in frustration, then squeezed her eyes shut to staunch the flow. The dripping stopped, almost unnoticeable. Then Selis tilted her head, her eyelids still sealed tight, yet her face tracked Selene’s movement with unsettling precision.

  "I can manage," she murmured, her "gaze" fixing perfectly on Selene despite her closed eyes. "What would you have me do?"

  Selene looked at her critically, thinking. "Your coat—pull the collar up. Use it like a hood. It won’t hide everything, but if you keep your head down and avoid eye contact…" She paused. "We’ll stop at the Copper Hearth Inn. You can wait for me there."

  Selis opened her eyes without realizing and said, "Will you go alone?" Her voice carried a note of concern, not for herself, but for Selene.

  "I can change my appearance. The clothes, at least." Selene looked down at the soldier's uniform, still dripping river water. "I need to look like I belong there."

  She closed her eyes, reaching for that strange new sense she'd discovered, the awareness of the living veil that clung to her like a second skin.

  The veil responded immediately to her will, flowing across her skin like water finding new channels. She felt it move, not just over her, but through her, as if it understood her needs before she voiced them. The rough soldier's tunic dissolved, threads unweaving and reweaving into familiar cloth. A dark green coat with gold trim emerged, Aldric’s scholarly attire perfectly recreated down to the worn patches at the elbows.

  As the fabric transformed, it drew the water from itself—the wetness simply vanishing, leaving the clothes dry and proper, as if they'd never been in the river at all. Even the mud stains disappeared, leaving only the appearance of a scholar returning from a morning walk.

  When she opened her eyes, she looked exactly as Aldric would returning from the Athenaeum.

  Selis stared at her, Her expression changed into something deeper—reverence mixed with awe, the look of someone witnessing a miracle.

  "You reshape reality itself with a thought," she whispered. "Command the very fabric of existence to obey."

  "Selis—"

  "I will wait for you at the Copper Hearth." Selis bowed her head slightly, as one might before an altar. "I am yours to command. Always."

  Selene let the words hang between them, unable to answer, unwilling to encourage this devotion that grew stronger with each passing hour.

  She turned toward Veilmouth, toward the Athenaeum rising on the northern bank. "Let’s go."

  Toward answers she wasn't sure she wanted to find.

  The gate stood ahead in the morning mist.

  The same two soldiers stood beneath the arch, though the usual lethargy of the watch had been replaced by nervous tension. Selene recognized them through Aldric’s eyes.

  There was Brann, his belly straining against his leather tunic, his spear leaning against the stone as he rubbed sleep from his eyes. Beside him stood Rook, lean and sharp-nosed, pacing with nervous energy.

  Selene tightened her grip on Selis’s hand and kept walking.

  Brann noticed them first. He straightened, hefting his spear with a grunt.

  "You there," he called out, stepping forward to block the road. "Hold up."

  Selene stopped, keeping her breathing steady. "Is there a problem?"

  Brann looked them over, his eyes lingering on Aldric’s fine green coat, then shifting to Selis, whose head was bowed, eyes squeezed shut, collar pulled high.

  "Bit early for travelers," Brann said, his tone flat. He looked tired; dark circles bruised the skin beneath his eyes. "Baron’s got the whole valley on lockdown. No one in or out of the main camp."

  "We aren't coming from the camp," Selene said, pitching her voice low, channeling Aldric’s natural authority. She gestured vaguely toward the west. "Survey work. The scattered foundation stones past the ridge. We’ve been there since yesterday."

  Rook stepped up beside his partner, his sharp eyes narrowing as he looked at Selis. "What’s with her?" he asked, jerking his chin toward her. "She’s soaked, her clothes are torn, and she’s hiding her face. What happened?"

  "We found something," Selene said carefully. "At the scattered ruins. She looked at it too long—some sort of artifact. That’s why we’re heading back to the Athenaeum. She needs treatment."

  Rook scoffed. "Artifacts don't make you hide your face. Let's see it."

  "You don't want to see it," Selene warned.

  "I'll decide what I want to see," Brann said, stepping closer, though his grip on the sword seemed loose, uncertain. "Baron's orders. Identify everyone. No hoods, no masks."

  Selene held her expression steady. She squeezed Selis’s hand once—a signal.

  "Show them," Selene commanded softly.

  Selis lifted her head. She released the tension in her eyelids and opened them.

  The reaction was immediate.

  Her eyes, bright luminous blue, stared blindly at Brann. The moment they opened, the blood began. It welled up instantly, streaming down her pale cheeks in thick crimson tears that dripped from her chin to splatter in the dirt.

  "Baron’s mercy," Brann breathed, stumbling back a step, his boot scraping loudly on the stone.

  Rook hissed through his teeth, turning his head away and making a sharp warding sign against evil. "Told ya, Brann. I told ya. Them ruins ain’t right. It’s a curse, that’s what it is."

  Brann shook his head, trying to regain his composure. He pulled a worn ledger from his belt with shaking hands. "Right. Right then. Just... get her away from the gate. But I gotta log you. Baron's explicit orders after the fires."

  "Fires?" Selene asked, feigning ignorance.

  "Where you been?" Rook snapped, still not looking at Selis. "Excavation camp is gone. Burned to ash. And the Manor... half the east wing went up this morning. Sky's been full of smoke."

  Brann flipped the ledger open, licking his thumb. "Name?"

  Selene’s mind went blank. She couldn't say Aldric. Her gaze darted around—the weathered stone towers, the rusted gate, the river flowing past just beyond the road.

  "Cornelius," she said quickly. "Cornelius Riverstone."

  Rook snorted, breaking the tension. "Riverstone? That's a proper scholar name if I ever heard one. What, was your mother called Bookshelf?"

  Brann shot his partner a look, then scribbled into the ledger. "And her?"

  Selis’s bleeding eyes flicked upward briefly, to the weathered stone arch above them.

  "Petra," she said quietly, the blood dripping from her chin. "Petra Archstone."

  Rook let out a sharp, nervous laugh. "Riverstone and Archstone? What, did your folks just point at whatever they saw first when you were born? 'Oh look, a rock. That’ll do for a name.'"

  Brann ignored Rook, finishing the entry. Then he paused. He looked up at Selene, squinting at the lines of Aldric’s face, at the green coat with the gold trim.

  "Wait. Hold on."

  Selene froze.

  "I've seen you before, haven't I?" Brann said slowly, scratching his beard. "That coat. You passed here before didn't you? With the other group. The old gray-beard and the girl."

  Selene’s pulse hammered. He was remembering Eldric. And he was remembering Selene as she used to be.

  "I am a senior scholar of the Athenaeum," Selene said, making her voice cold and impatient. "Many of us wear the green. And yes, I travel between the sites often. Do you intend to delay my assistant's medical treatment any longer, soldier?"

  Brann held her gaze for a long second. The silence stretched, thin and brittle.

  "Nah," Brann decided, waving a hand dismissively. "You all look the same to me anyway. Fancy coats and big words." He stepped back, clearing the way. "Go on then, Riverstone. Get her to a healer. But if Captain Dalen stops you, don't say we didn't log you proper."

  "Understood," Selene said.

  She pulled Selis forward. "Let’s move," she whispered.

  Behind them, the voices carried on.

  "Riverstone and Archstone," Rook muttered. "I’m telling you, they make it up as they go along." He turned his head, eyes lingering on Selis’s swaying hips as she walked away. "Wonder if the rest of her bleeds like that…"

  Brann grunted, snapping his ledger shut. "Just be glad we don’t have to haul them in."

  "Still…" Rook licked his lips, the thought unfinished but heavy in the morning air. "Even cursed, it’s a damn shame about those eyes."

  Selene didn’t look back. She kept walking the city of Veilmouth rising before them in the morning light. Smoke from the Baron’s manor drifted across the valley behind them, a dark column against the brightening sky.