The Luna docks near the entrance to the ruins Stella lifted her lantern, its glow trembling against the carved stone.

  “Stay close,” she murmured. “This place… it predates the Veilguard by centuries.”

  Rodrick didn’t answer. His eyes were fixed ahead, jaw tight, as though he recognized something he wished he didn’t.

  Elijah followed, one hand pressed to his chest. The seal beneath his shirt glowing a faint purple hue with tinges of blue and yellow streaking throughout the intricate pattern now covering the majority of his chest.

  The hallway stretched forward, long and narrow, its walls carved with deep reliefs. Dust clung to every surface, yet the carvings shimmered faintly, reacting to their presence.

  No—reacting to him.

  Vays whisper brushed the back of his mind.

  …don’t go

  Vels voice followed, sharper.

  "Danger"

  Elijah swallowed hard.

  ---

  The First Mural

  Aidan’s voice broke the silence.

  “Uh… guys? Tell me I’m not the only one seeing that.”

  The mural towered over them—an entire battlefield carved into stone. Humans and massive spirit?beasts clashed against something far larger.

  A wolf?like creature dominated the center.

  Six legs.

  Six eyes.

  Fur carved in jagged, flame?like patterns.

  A maw full of spiraling teeth.

  It fought… something. Or someone. The details were worn, the stone cracked, as if time itself had tried to erase the truth.

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  "JACOB." rodrick calls out.

  "Yeah boss?"

  “Document everything!” Rodrick exclaims with the kind of intensity that suggests the universe itself has personally wronged him. “Every detail, miss nothing.

  Hokori’s ears flattened.

  “That is no spirit,” he said quietly. “That is something older.”

  Jacob snapped photos rapidly, breath quick.

  “This predates the Veilguard’s entire archive… this shouldn’t exist.”

  Elijah’s seal throbbed painfully.

  The creature’s carved eyes seemed to glow.

  ---

  The Second Mural

  They moved on.

  The next mural showed the world breaking.

  A massive war and multiple massive landmasses rose upward, lifted by pillars of light. The sky split into layers—bright above, dark below. The ground cracked open, swallowing entire cities.

  And at the bottom of the mural, watching from the shadows of the fracture, was the six?legged wolf?beast.

  Stella’s voice trembled.

  “This is the origin of the layers… the birth of the world as we know it.”

  Imala muttered, “So the islands weren’t always floating. Fantastic.”

  Rodrick said nothing. His silence was louder than words.

  ---

  The Third Mural

  The next wall glowed brighter as Elijah approached.

  Dragons with lightning?striped scales.

  Frost?fur beasts with glowing sigils.

  Elemental creatures towering over humans.

  High Blood spirits—in their ancient forms.

  Aidan pointed.

  “Those look like Vay and Vel… but older.”

  Casey shook her head.

  “Not them. Their ancestors.”

  Elijah’s seal pulsed again—a soft, aching warmth.

  Vays voice drifted through him, faint and reverent.

  "Before vay"

  "before vel"

  The mural’s glow deepened, as if answering the whisper.

  ---

  The Fourth Mural

  The hallway darkened.

  The next mural showed a world before the Cloud Sea.

  People stood on solid ground, surrounded not by mist, but by a vast, swirling ocean of darkness. Tendrils of shadow rose from it. Massive beasts swam through its depths.

  And emerging from that ocean—towering, monstrous—was the six?legged wolf?beast.

  Stella stepped back.

  “This… isn’t the Cloud Sea.”

  Rodrick’s voice was low.

  “No. This is older. The Primordial Sea.”

  Hokori’s hand drifted toward the hilt of his sword.

  “The place where the First Men walked.”

  Elijah’s heart pounded.

  His curse flickered around his fingertips—a faint crackle of dark energy.

  ---

  The Fifth Mural

  The final mural before the chamber.

  Tall, robed figures stood between the rising islands and the Primordial Sea. Their eyes glowed with carved light. They held tablets, staffs, sigils—symbols of power.

  Behind them, looming like a shadow, was the wolf?beast.

  Jacob whispered, “These are the First Men…”

  Rodrick’s voice cracked.

  “They were the last to walk the true ground.”

  Elijah stepped closer.

  The mural glowed brighter.

  The seal burned.

  His curse flickered.

  The ruin hummed.

  Stella grabbed his arm.

  “Elijah—stop. It’s reacting to you.”

  He couldn’t.

  Something pulled him forward.

  ---

  The Tablet Room

  The hallway opened into a circular chamber.

  At its center stood a massive stone tablet, covered in the ancient script of the First Men—the same language Elijah had seen in dreams he never understood.

  Rodrick approached slowly, reverently.

  “I can read… some of this,” he murmured. “Not all.”

  Elijah stepped closer.

  The seal flared.

  The murals behind them glowed.

  The air vibrated.

  Vaylren and Velnra whispered in panic.

  He remembers us.

  He sees you.

  Elijah reached out—not touching the tablet, just close enough for the warmth to brush his fingertips.

  The ruin shuddered.

  A deep, distant growl echoed through the stone.

  The six?eyed wolf?beast’s carved eyes lit up across the hallway.

  Elijah’s curse erupted in a crackle of dark energy.

  Stella shouted his name.

  Rodrick stumbled back.

  Hokori’s sword flashed free, steel catching the faint glow as he stepped between Elijah and the murals.

  “That presence…” he growled.

  “something is waking”

  ---