Chapter 3: The Relic Road
They left Kalaman under cover of morning fog.
The city gates creaked shut behind them, sealing in thousands of worried eyes. Kaela didn't look back. She knew what was at stake. Every step they took now wasn't just for survival — it was to stop something far worse than war.
Captain Halwen had given them little: an old map, a description of a long-forgotten temple, and a warning.
"If they get the Staff of Bones," he had said, "Krynn won't survive what comes next."
They had three days to reach the ruins of Valkhall Glen, an overgrown stretch of forest that had once been a sacred grove before the Cataclysm split the world. Now, it was said to be haunted.
Thalen walked in silence, his staff clicking against the trail. His eyes kept drifting to the parchment map, then to the horizon. His thoughts weren't on the journey, though. They were on the voice he'd heard in his dreams — a whisper in an ancient tongue, calling him toward the relic.
Lira scampered ahead, unbothered by the chill. She collected pinecones, poked mushrooms with a dagger, and twice tried to pet a spider. Kaela had to pull her back more than once.
"You don't have to touch everything you see," Kaela growled.
"But what if one of them's enchanted?" Lira beamed. "Wouldn't that be interesting?"
Kaela groaned. "Interesting gets us killed."
They reached the edge of Valkhall Glen by dusk. The woods were thick and unnaturally quiet. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
That's when Thalen froze.
"Something's watching us," he whispered.
Kaela drew her sword. The silver edge gleamed in the gloom. "Where?"
"No… not watching. Listening. It's beneath us."
Suddenly, the ground split.
Roots twisted upward like claws, dragging stone and soil into the air. The path behind them crumbled. A circle of blue flame erupted ahead — and from the light stepped a figure in crimson robes.
A woman.
Her face was hidden beneath a mask of bone. Her voice was soft, but layered — as if several voices spoke at once.
"You are not welcome here," she said. "This place belongs to the Queen now."
Kaela raised her blade. "Then she'll have to take it from us."
The woman tilted her head.
"She already has."
She lifted her hand, and the dead began to rise from the forest floor — old soldiers, rotting knights, dragonspawn.
And at the center of them all, a shadow with glowing violet eyes stepped forward…
"Thalen," it said in a voice he hadn't heard since childhood.
"Father?