The gate of the Heart Below loomed before them like a horizon made of night. It wasn't forged, it was grown, shaped by a force that understood both metal and life, roots of blackened steel intertwining with veins of silver mana that pulsed like arteries.
Each heartbeat of light echoed faintly through the vault, deep and slow, as if it were the breath of something buried far below.
Lindarion stood before it in silence, hand resting lightly on the hilt of his blade. His golden eyes reflected the shifting sigils crawling across the surface of the gate, runes written in a script even the Eleniri had long forgotten.
Ashwing floated down to his shoulder, wings twitching nervously. "I vote we don't open the door that sounds like it's alive."
Nysha, standing beside Lindarion, gave the dragon a brief look. "You voted against coming down here too."
"And I was right about that one!" Ashwing hissed, his tail flicking. "Look at this thing, it's humming like it wants to eat us!"
