Valentine Spade felt it the moment she crossed the inner threshold. The air shifted around her, warmer now, threaded with a low vibration that pulsed in time with her heartbeat. The sigils carved into the stone walls brightened as she passed, their silver veins glowing brighter beneath her feet, as though the place itself were waking in response to her presence.
Eryx Caelum walked ahead of her, unhurried, his steps soundless against the ancient floor.
“You feel it,” he said quietly, not turning around.
Valentine nodded. “It feels like… recognition.”
“Yes,” he replied. “That is not coincidence.”
They entered a circular chamber, wider than any she had seen so far. At its center stood a raised platform of pale stone. Floating above it was a crystalline structure, fractured and asymmetric
