Aeron jumped.
The darkness swallowed him.
He expected to fall.
Instead
THUD.
His feet hit stone.
He immediately raised his sword.
Nothing.
No Rian.
No creature.
No chains.
Just darkness.
Kael landed beside him.
"Where are we?"
Aeron looked around.
"We're still inside the Court."
Kael shook his head.
"No."
He pointed ahead.
Aeron followed his finger.
A corridor stretched into the darkness.
Ancient torches suddenly ignited one after another.
WHOOSH.
Aeron stared.
Every torch carried the same symbol.
A warrior holding a dragon's head.
His mark.
Kael's face changed.
"This place was sealed centuries ago."
Aeron walked forward.
"Then why did it open for me?"
Neither had an answer.
They moved deeper.
The corridor suddenly split into three paths.
Left.
Right.
Straight.
Aeron's mark burned.
The middle path opened.
Kael looked at him.
"You didn't touch it."
"I know."
They entered.
---
The corridor ended at a small wooden door.
Aeron frowned.
A wooden door?
Inside an ancient underground palace?
He pushed it open.
CREEEAK.
A small room appeared.
A bed.
A table.
A broken wooden toy.
And a faded drawing pinned to the wall.
Aeron stopped breathing.
The drawing showed two boys standing beside a dragon.
One boy had a sword.
The other held a small dragon egg.
Below them was a single word.
AERON.
Kael stared at it.
"That shouldn't be here."
Aeron slowly approached.
He touched the drawing.
Pain exploded through his head.
FLASH.
A burning village.
His mother screaming.
A little boy crying.
Rian.
Then
Aeron saw himself running toward the Ancient Court.
Not as an adult.
As a child.
Someone was chasing him.
A man in black armor.
The child Aeron reached the same door.
His mother grabbed him.
"Forget this place."
She pressed her hand against his forehead.
The memory shattered.
Aeron fell to his knees.
Kael caught him.
"What did you see?"
Aeron looked at him.
"I came here before."
Kael went silent.
Then
CLICK.
The wooden toy on the table moved by itself.
Aeron turned.
The toy dragon opened its mouth.
A tiny key dropped from it.
TINK.
Kael picked it up.
"Why would a child's toy contain a key?"
Aeron looked at the wall.
There was no lock.
Until his eyes fell on the floor.
A tiny golden symbol appeared beneath his feet.
He inserted the key.
KRAAAK.
The entire room rotated.
The walls disappeared.
The floor dropped.
A hidden chamber was revealed beneath them.
Inside stood
two empty stone coffins.
One was marked:
AERON
The other:
RIAN
Kael stepped backward.
"No…"
Aeron stared at the coffins.
His voice became barely a whisper.
"We weren't brought here to become Warriors."
He looked at the second coffin.
"We were born here."
Suddenly
footsteps echoed behind them.
Slow.
Calm.
Someone was walking through the corridor.
Kael drew his broken sword.
Aeron raised his blade.
The footsteps stopped.
A man's voice came from the darkness.
"You finally found your room."
Aeron's eyes widened.
He knew that voice.
The voice from his childhood.
The man stepped into the light.
And Aeron whispered
"Father?"
The man smiled.
"Hello, son."
Then he looked at the two coffins.
"Now you know where your brother was born."
Aeron's sword trembled.
"Where is Rian?"
His father's smile disappeared.
"Not where you think."
Behind him
something began scratching against the stone.
SCRATCH.
SCRATCH.
SCRATCH.
His father slowly turned toward the sound.
And for the first time
fear appeared on his face.
"Run."
The wall exploded.
Something crawled through.
And it was wearing Rian's face.