Silence held the chamber like a sealed tomb. The crew exchanged wary glances, the weight of Selene's words pressing heavier than the Martian air.
Jonas broke it first, his tone sharp. "We don't even know if she's real. For all we know, she's some projection cooked up by that damn crystal."
Selene's jaw tightened, but she didn't argue. Instead, she lifted her arm and pulled back the tattered sleeve of her suit. Scars webbed her skin — not illusions, but the brutal history of survival.
"Does that look like a phantom to you?" she rasped.
Mara stepped closer, scanning her with a medic's eye. The cuts were old, the burns healed in jagged patches. Her muscles were wiry, the kind born from years of hardship. Mara touched one scar lightly and nodded. "She's flesh and blood. Starved, dehydrated, but alive."
Jonas muttered, unconvinced. "Alive doesn't mean trustworthy."
Liora, still steadying Selene, spoke softly. "If the Heart kept her alive, it may have chosen her once… just as it chose Eris now."
That silenced Jonas more than any argument could.
Selene's gaze flicked around the chamber, wary, as though expecting the shadows to surge at any moment. "This place won't stay quiet. The Heart's awakening stirs everything. If you want to live, you follow me. I know the passages that lead out before the ground itself swallows us."
Jonas bristled. "And what if you're leading us to a trap?"
Selene turned, her tired eyes locking with his. "If I wanted you dead, I could have left you here to face what's coming. You'd already be corpses."
Eris raised a hand, cutting through the tension. "Enough. We came here seeking answers. Right now, Selene is the only one who has them." His voice wavered slightly, the glow of the Heart beneath his skin casting him in an otherworldly light. "We follow her. But we stay cautious."
Mara nodded, sliding an arm beneath Selene's to help her walk. "Then let's move before those shadows wake."
They stepped into the dark passageway, the walls slick with mineral veins that glimmered faintly like frozen lightning. The air grew colder, heavier. Strange whispers echoed from cracks in the stone, words none of them could understand.
Selene muttered, almost to herself, "Still singing… after all these years."
"What is?" Liora asked.
"The ruins," Selene replied. "This world hums with memory. Every step you take, something listens."
Her words chilled them more than the cold air.
The deeper they went, the louder the whispers grew, until Jonas hissed, "That's not just the walls."
He was right. From behind them came faint movements — like footsteps dragging across stone. Shadows stretched unnaturally long, curling into the shape of figures that were not entirely human.
Selene tightened her grip on Mara's arm. "Keep walking. Don't run. If you run, they'll know you're afraid."
Eris felt the Heart's pulse in his chest, synchronizing with the faint tremor of the shadows. It was as if they were following him.
He swallowed hard. For the first time since the trial, he wondered: had he accepted more than his soul could carry?