A silence settled again, heavier this time. Even the jungle outside the ruins had gone unnaturally quiet.
Dren cleared his throat. "So the relic didn't just give you power. It gave you a mission."
"Or cursed her with a burden," Ira added, her tone blunt. "Either way, that gate wasn't meant to be seen by mortal eyes."
Natasha looked down at her wrist. The bracer pulsed once, as if responding.
---
They traveled for hours before making camp in the high mountain pass that skirted the ruins. The wind whispered between snow-laced rocks, but they found shelter beneath a collapsed stone arch likely once part of a long forgotten fortress wall.
The fire Dren built was modest but warm, casting flickering light across weary faces. They sat close, shoulders brushing, not for comfort alone but for trust. They had fought together, bled together. And now, they were tangled in something far larger than themselves.
Alison broke the silence first. "Back in the temple... when the relic chose you, did you feel it? Like it was alive?"
Natasha nodded slowly. "Not just alive. Ancient. Like it's seen the rise and fall of civilizations. Like it remembers."
"And now it remembers you," Ira said softly.
Eldric stared into the fire, arms crossed. "We need to figure out why you. You weren't born with magic, weren't trained in the arcane arts."
"No," Natasha agreed. "But maybe... maybe that's why. I'm not tied to their systems. I'm not corrupted by their rules."
Dren smirked. "That's the most dangerous kind of power."
Alison reached for her hand. His fingers were cold, but his grip was steady. "You are not alone in this."
Natasha looked at him. "I know."
---
At dawn, a shadow passed over the camp. A massive hawk spiraled down from the clouds, its wings slicing through the mist like blades. It landed on Eldric's forearm, gauntlet clinking softly.
He untied the scroll strapped to its leg, recognizing the sigil of the Ashen Court a half sun crest encircled by thorns.
As his eyes scanned the parchment, his expression tightened. By the time he finished reading, his jaw was clenched.
"What's wrong?" Ira asked.
Eldric handed the scroll to Natasha.
To Eldric Vael and his current company,
"You are summoned to the Spire of Judgment. The relic awakening has not gone unnoticed. The Court requires your testimony. Bring the bearer. Resistance will be considered treason."
"By Order of the Ashen Court."
Archwarden Thalos
"They know," Natasha whispered.
"They always know," Eldric said bitterly. "They have eyes in every realm."
Ira shook her head. "The Court won't just ask questions. They will want to own her. Control her."
"They will try," Natasha said, voice colder now. "But I won't be their weapon."
---
Far beyond the jungle, past the Wastes and the sky-broken mountains, the Fortress in the Void stirred.
Black clouds swirled above its peaks. Ash rained in silence. Inside its deepest chamber, the gate pulsed once soft, like breath through stone. Then again. Stronger.
With each beat, the air shimmered with threads of lost language incantations etched into reality itself. A crack, thin as a hairline fracture, split across the gate's surface.
Behind it, something moved.
It wasn't alive, but it remembered life. And it remembered betrayal. It remembered names.
Natasha.
Alison.
Eldric.
And worst of all it remembered the relic.
---
The journey toward the Ashen Court's Spire was long but swift. Eldric led them through hidden paths, avoiding main roads and way stones where the Court's influence was strongest.
Each day, Natasha felt the relic become heavier not physically, but mentally. Its whispers were clearer now, dreams sharper, thoughts less her own.
At night, she saw glimpses of the gate. Not visions this time, but echoes. As if she were tethered to it.
By the seventh day, they stood on the cliff's edge, overlooking the silver towers of the Spire. The seat of order. The throne of judgment.
Alison exhaled. "Feels like walking into a lion's den."
"Then let's make sure we're not wearing meat," Dren muttered.
Eldric turned to Natasha. "Once we enter, they'll try to split us up. Isolate you. Stay close. Say little."
Natasha looked down at the bracer, then back up. Her eyes burned with quiet resolve.
"Let them try."
Of course.
He told them, "You will obey geas when this is done." "A powerful and magical promise. If you try to open the lock, get knowledge from a forbidden book or activate the relic for something other than defense—
"I will die if you kill me," she said.
He smiled. "We will take away your life."
She moved, but he halted when she gave him a look.
"I accept."
Thalos gave a slight lift to his eyebrow. "No argument?"
"You can only threaten someone who's afraid to die," she said. "I have overcome problems that were much more difficult."
The Archwarden gave a single nod. Then let the record be made.
A faint symbol glowed on her collarbone as soon as the spell was cast, only those with Sight could see it.
Even so, Natasha wasn't held back.
She was prepared.
The huge gates of the Spire of Judgment were visible made of gleaming stone with silver lines, adorned with markings no one wanted to speak. It served more purposes than being a fortress. It was something to remembered. A warning. A guarantee of power tied to the rules of the law.
Natasha wrapped the cloak tighter around herself, as the wind tugged at her hood and tried to uncover her to the judgment that was to follow. She was always right beside me and did not make a sound, even when she knew I was listening for her. Ira and Dren covered the back, while Eldric went ahead, his coat blowing out behind him as if announcing his return.
As they came near the entrance, Sentinels dressed in armor appeared and stood with their weapons ready.
"Stop," one of them shouted and his voice reverberated in his silver helmet. Give your names and explain why you are here.