The Ice hands melted into the stream behind us, and Lindon let go of the tension he’d been carrying.

The cave was covered in sparkling gems the crystals came in all shapes and sizes, it was a breathtaking scene. The iridescent light shining from the crystals reminded me of the lighting sparks floating around Sempiterne.

“Lets go deeper, i want to see what else is in this place”

I was hesitant to go deeper when we knew nothing about this place but we began to follow the stream through the cave anyway, the crystals gave us adequate lighting and anyone I know we can put up a fight.

***

After walking for what seemed like an eternity we found a branching tunnel, the tunnel on the right continued on with the crystals lining the walls, the one on the left however; It was dark and it smelled like wet boots.

“We should continue on the right, something feels off with that left tunnel”

“I agree”

Lillian huffed

“You two are so boring”

She bolted down the dark tunnel on her own, me and Lindon gave each other a look of irritation before we followed behind her. From where we were i could see a light ahead.

I assumed that it was Lillian using her lightning as a torch of sorts.

When me and Lindon heard a scream from up ahead however, I thought I may be wrong so I sprinted down the tunnel. Eventually I caught up to Lillian, she had fallen over a oddly shaped rock.

We stayed there for a minute waiting for Lindon to catch up, and the first thing he did was tell his sister off.

“This is why we wanted to go on the right”

“Shut up brother”

“You two should stop arguing I think we should get going.”

I looked to Lindon expecting him to agree with me, however his focus was elsewhere.

“Hold on, look at this rock”

Lindon conjured lighting in his hand and hovered it above the rock that Lillian had fallen over, on closer inspection it looked like some kind of snake.

Lindon started feeling the rock and when he pressed on the snakes head a loud rumbling began. After it had finally stopped a weird noise like chains banging against a wall began then the wall behind us opened up like a door

Inside I could see what seemed like some ruins, there was some kind of force pulling me in. I felt an attachment to this place and I have no idea why.

“Okay lets go”

“Oh, so when I want to go down the dark tunnel its not okay, but we can go in the weird room that opened from pressing on a rock?”

“Sorry Lillian, i just want to know why i feel attracted to this place”

Both of them summoned lightning in their hands and they used it to light up the surrounding area. Once I was inside I could see clearly, there was loads of crumbled ruins.

There were snake statues everywhere and hundreds of vials on the floor smashed to pieces.

As we walked further and further in I felt a force pulling me in getting stronger and stronger, until eventually my hand rested on the cover of an ancient book.

The writing on the cover was indecipherable and the writing on the inside was no different.

But there was something strange about it, a word that looked like my name was repeated all the time.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Lindon and Lillian stood beside me trying to decipher the words too.

“Is it just me or does that look like your name?”

Lillian touched me and pointed to the word i had seen before.

“I noticed that too, I wonder what its doing here”

“We should take it back with us and see if Grandfather can read this”

“Good idea”

The three of us lifted the hefty book together and as soon as we did so a blinding light appeared in the centre of the ruins.

Now with the area fully lit up i could see 7 other doors identical to the one that we had entered through.

“Not that i don’t appreciate the light, but what just happened”

“I think lifting the book triggered it”

I felt the ground beneath me begin to tremble.

“Do you two feel that?”

“Yeah, what’s happening now”

“This is like what happened when I pressed on the snakes head”

I thought back to when Lindon activated the door and he was right, the ground shaking felt identical to this.

I was considering running but I was too curious about who else would be entering this place.

“If thats the case then we should probably run”

“No, i want to see whoever it is. Maybe they know more about the book”

Lindon and Lillian both gave me concerned looks but they were interrupted by the noise of the chains clanging off the wall.

We stayed silent until the door opened and the silhouette of a large group of people appeared through one of the doors, one by one they all streamed into the ruins.

Some were carrying large sacks overflowing with the glowing crystals, others were carrying mining gear.

I could hear them speaking but I couldn’t make out what they were saying, one of them looked in our direction and then said something to the rest of them and they all turned towards us.

“You three, what are you doing here”

Her voice sounded like needles scraping on a metal sheet, I winced away from the sound.

After she stopped shouting Lindon responded.

“We got lost after coming in the cave through a river”

“Yeah right, and we came here to meet with Sendlin Whiteclaw.”

I could just barely make out the rolling of her eyes.

“Why are you actually here?”

A few of the group members laughed at the joke but Lindon just sighed.

“Im telling you the truth”

“Ill give y-“

She stopped talking as a thick grey fog began to fill the room.

“Which one of you is doing this”

I scoffed.

“I could ask you the same thing”

In mere seconds the entire area was filled with a

blinding mist, next to me the substance started to coalesce into the shape of a person.

He reminded me of Telluric, He stood at an absurd height and his youthful features belied the wise expression he wore on his pale face. His navy blue attire seemed reminiscent of the outfits worn by nobles who had attended an event at the Greenfeather manor.

“Interesting that i would find you here, The prodigal child destined to save his people. Although now there are no people to ‘save’ as it was put.”

“Who are you?”

“You can simply call me anything as it does not matter to me, what would a name mean to me.

I have observed every centimetre of our world since the day I was born, Including the history of your people.

The once powerful and great Blackhorn clan reduced to rubble by the king out of fear for that which he cannot control.”

Blackhorn was my fathers last name, I didn’t know why this guy mentioned it but I was certainly curious what he meant with that saviour talk.

“Your people had the miraculous power over something that even the king had not been blessed with. Toxins.

He has the ability to control all nightmare powers: wind, lightning, fire.

All of them are slave to his control.

Because of this he feared your ancestors and he had them wiped out, the remaining members fled and scattered across the land.

Now their saviour is born after the scattered remnants have already passed away.

It’s unfortunate.”

I couldn’t really process all of the information, what would the king gain from killing my ancestors. Just because he couldn’t control toxins?

“Other than you, the only remaining Blackhorns work under the king. His diabolical plot to destroy your ancestors led to the birth of twins from both his and Blackhorn lineage.

The twins were born with devastating powers and were used to eradicate their own family without ever knowing, its almost poetic considering what you did as an infant.”

“I didn’t have control over myself and besides, how could the king do all of this out of pure selfishness?”

“He is the embodiment of selfishness, he has rested on the throne for over a thousand years and never once considered giving the crown to one of his descendants.”

He waited for me to reply but when i didn’t he continued anyway.

“I have given you a small amount of insight on the history of your people, your destiny is of great intrigue to me.

In my long life i have never seen anyone with the power to potentially change the state of the kingdom and dethrone that old man, I wish you luck on your journey and I hope you use his deeds against your clan as a motivator to be greater.

Before i leave i have a final warning for you, your name may bring you great pride in the future but for now it will be beneficial for you to hide it from the attentive ears all over the country.”

The man i have decided to name The Watcher disappeared and the mist began to fade away, when it had completed dissipated i found everyone passed out on the floor.

I wanted to know who The Watcher truly was and what he was doing here but getting Lindon and Lillian out of here was more important.

***

Getting them both back to the cave entrance took me far longer than expected, I decided to leave the other group there in the hopes that they would make it out on their own.

I needed to wake up Lindon so I did the most logical thing I could think of, I put his head under the cold stream.

He sprung up like a trap and started coughing.

“What the hell happened, first it was people, then there was fog, and now I wake up here?”

“I couldn’t explain it to you even if i wanted to”

“What about Lillian?”

I pointed to the girl laying on the floor sleeping and he let out a sigh of relief.

“Lets try to go back without waking her up”

“Yeah”