"Stay alert," Kairon warned, keeping an eye on everything. "There's more here than just power. Something else is hiding."
With a heightened sense of awareness, they ventured farther, the air shimmering with energy as an ancient structure emerged—a colossal tree surrounded by a stone formation, its intricate design resembling an elaborate calendar.
"Look!" Ynara cried, her voice filled with excitement. "It's the same symbols like the last, from the arena! They connect...again!"
As Kairon and the rest neared the tree, the hum of energy shifted. It deepened, growing into an almost tangible presence, like the tree itself was more than just alive — breathing in time with their own uneasy steps. The bark of the tree pulsed faintly with dark and white light, casting twisted shadows that seemed to move, curling and unfurling as though they had a life of their own.
When his hands brushed against the rough surface, expecting the same disorienting reaction as before, a pulse of light erupted from the tree's core. It washed over him, flooding his senses in a burst of warmth and brilliance. But this time, the vision was different.
The images were fleeting — jumbled.
Fragments of ancient battles, silhouettes of figures caught in endless struggle, their forms blurred by the haze of time. A sense of something… wrong lingered in the flashes: something had been lost, something distorted. An image of finely crafted objects — objects that seemed harmless, even beautiful at first. But as they flickered into focus, they grew strange.
Alien.
The initial allure turned to something more sinister, as though these objects, these creations, had been twisted — altered. The soft beauty had morphed into something unnatural.
A cold dread began to settle in his chest, thick and suffocating. The air felt heavier now, pressing down on him, as if the ground itself was shifting beneath his feet. A sense of foreboding slithered into his thoughts like a dark premonition, curling around his mind, squeezing the breath from his lungs.
This wasn't just about power, he thought, but he couldn't yet form the rest of the thought. Something about this place — this tree — was far older, far darker than they'd imagined.
He murmured under his breath, the words barely escaping. "This... this isn't just about us. It's something deeper." His voice was soft, but in the silence, it felt loud, too loud, as if the shadows themselves were listening.
He stared at the landscape before him, the ruinous remnants of something that had once been whole. Was it a warning? Had it always been a warning?
"This was never meant to be," he murmured. His gaze shifted, taking in the distorted forms of the beings they had encountered. Not conquerors, not invaders, but something else.
Prisoners.
A shiver ran down his spine as the weight of his realization settled over him. His pulse quickened, his skin crawling.
"We need to stay vigilant," he urged, his voice rising in desperation, his eyes meeting those of his companions. "There's more here than we can understand. If we don't remain focused…" His words faltered, but the meaning hung heavy in the air between them, an unspoken fear.
The silence that followed was thick with unvoiced dread, the oppressive weight of their situation closing in. They had crossed a threshold, and the shadows had taken notice.
The soft hum of energy filled the air as the rest approached, vibrating through their bones and binding them to a shared purpose. It was as though the very tree resonated with them, its energy alive in a symphony that whispered of power yet to be discovered.
"Do you feel it?" Vael murmured, awe coloring his words. "It's like I can sense the energy flowing through the air... It's... alive, in them!"
Cael stepped forward, caution in his eyes. "Umm, guys," swirls of sand forming in his hands. "I think our new friends wants to get acquainted."
Just then, shadows started emerging from walls and cracks around them. Nyra nudged a distracted Vess who had not noticed the shadows albeit Cael's warning.
"If this holds the essence of our power, we can learn to harness it." She was saying, holding a relic shard before getting nudged back to reality.
Kairon nodded, his heart thudding with a connection he couldn't fully explain as he grabbed his make-shift weapon.
"We need to be careful since we don't know what we're dealing with. These powers may strengthen us or break us. What matters is that we find out why we are here and get out of here."
The rest agreed. One of the teenagers reached out towards a shadow. As his fingertips grazed the creature as it emerged from the tree, a rush of blinding white swallowed his world. Nareth tried to stop him was was too late.
"Don't touch that —"
A scream cut through the void — as he tore at his hair as if something unseen consumed his mind.
A platform, half-built, littered with forgotten bones, emerged where he had stood as machines clawed at the earth.
Nareth staggered back, gasping for breath. Around him, others reeled, hands clutching heads, faces pale. Like they were in agony.
"Hey! It's not real!" His voice faded suddenly. Still, he called out. "Can you all hear me?"
No clear answers. Only terror.
A loud ringing ensued, causing him to fall to the ground covering his ears as they bled. His vision blurred.
The tree pulsed — as if laughing.
"Stay alert," Kairon warned, keeping an eye on everything. "There's more here than just power. Something else is hiding."
Kairon's voice became clearer. As Nareth opened his eyes, he could see Kairon by his side.
"Are you okay?"
"I-I don't know what happened."
"Let's get outta here."
"Sure!"
The tree was immediately entwined with ancient roots, its branches reaching toward the sky like supplicating hands. Then more shadows began to emanate from it, their tendrils weaving through the branches as if seeking solace in its embrace. As the figures approached, the very air around the tree shimmered, revealing ethereal wings that seemed to sprout from its canopy, casting an otherworldly glow that pushed back against the encroaching darkness.
Suddenly, a blinding white light enveloped them. The light flickered, and out of the brilliance emerged a figure—a tall, ethereal man garbed in ancient attire, his presence heavy with authority.