“We better keep moving. I can sense the fragment now.” Vesper pressed forward, following the steady thrum of power. The mist crept in around them, transforming the trees on the shoreline into looming shadows.

  She stopped, looking back at the lake, then towards the forest.

  “In?” Rafe asked.

  “In,” she murmured.

  They entered the woods together, the forest floor soft beneath their feet, carpeted with centuries of fallen leaves that muffled their steps. Weathered oaks towered around them, their gnarled roots clawing through the soil and twisting the ground beneath their feet. The air grew thicker with each step, long-buried magic hanging in it like mist too heavy to rise.

  Vesper paused beside a tree whose bark bore strange spiral markings, similar to the runes she’d seen on the Echo. “These trees…they’re marked.”

  Rafe traced one of the spirals with his finger. “The magic here is old. Older than anything I’ve felt before.”

  They pressed deeper, the canopy closing overhead until barely slivers of light penetrated the gloom. Vesper’s magic stirred restlessly, responding to the ancient power that pulsed through the very soil. Each step forward felt like walking upstream against an invisible current.

  Something rustled in the undergrowth ahead. Both mages froze, magic crackling to life in their palms, but whatever had moved melted back into the shadows without revealing itself.

  “The fragment’s pull is getting stronger,” Vesper whispered, her voice barely audible in the cathedral-like silence. The thrum of power drew her forward like a lodestone, but now she could feel something else too—a sense of vast, sleeping presence that made her skin crawl.

  The trees began to thin, their massive trunks giving way to smaller saplings, then to open space dotted with weathered stones. The very air seemed to shimmer with contained energy.

  Then, the forest ended abruptly, opening onto something that made Vesper’s breath catch in her throat.

  Before them stood a ring of massive standing stones, their weathered surfaces stretching toward the sky. Despite centuries of exposure, the stones remained proud, arranged in a perfect circle. Moss clung to their faces, but beneath the green, complex runes carved deep into the rock pulsed with a faint, steady light. More crystals grew here too, clustered like weeds around the base of the circle.

  The air was charged with an energy that made Vesper’s magic stir beneath her skin. This wasn’t the raw power of the ley lines or even her own Resonant magic. This was older, deeper, a force that had existed long before humans learned to harness magical energy.

  A wild convergence point.

  Vesper’s steps slowed as they approached the nearest stone. The runes seemed to shift beneath the moss, their glow intensifying as she drew near. Her magic responded instinctively, reaching out to brush against the ancient power embedded in the rock.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Rafe murmured beside her. His own magic signature flickered with uncertainty.

  The standing stones hummed with contained power, a resonance that vibrated through Vesper’s bones. Whatever this place was, it had been here for millennia, gathering and holding magic. No wonder the fragment had settled here.

  Vesper stepped closer to the nearest stone, her magic recoiling from the ancient power that radiated from its surface. The runes pulsed beneath the moss, their light shifting in a rhythm that felt wrong, discordant. Like a heartbeat out of sync.

  She traced the pattern with her eyes, following the flow of symbols as they spiralled inward. The design was familiar, though she couldn’t place why until⁠—

  Her breath caught. The runes matched those she’d seen writhing across the Echo. Not identical, but similar enough that there could be no mistake. These stones weren’t just markers or focal points for magical energy.

  They were anchors.

  Someone had guided the Echo here, but not recently. Not even in the last thousand years. Some long forgotten people had built this place long before Nightreach was created to imprison the stone. A piece of the mythical Arcana.

  Magic thrummed through the stone circle, but the rhythm was wrong. Incomplete. The binding that had once existed here was shattered, leaving only echoes of its original purpose.

  The fragments weren’t moving of their own accord. They were being called back to places just like this. Ancient echoes of how the world once was.

  “Who were these people?” she murmured, stepping through the outer circle of stones. “I think they were trying to contain the Echo, too.”

  “Or use it themselves,” Rafe said. “The circle marks a convergence. An old one, if I’m feeling it right.”

  Vesper’s footsteps echoed against ancient stone as she moved toward the circle’s heart. There, in the centre, something lay buried, a point protruding from recently disturbed earth. Something was pushing its way out…

  “Rafe,” she said, her eyes wide. “The fragment.”

  It lay half-buried in dark soil, its crystalline surface catching what little light filtered through the canopy. Unlike the tall bluestone that’d towered over them in the Fold, this piece had smoothed edges, as if the ley lines had worn it down, perhaps uncovering its true form. Black clouded crystal.

  Her magic reached out, brushing against the fragment’s surface. The black crystal pulsed, its inner light shifting. The resonance hit her—raw power that sang through her bones. It matched the steady thrum of the ley lines beneath her feet, but twisted, changed by whatever force had brought it here.

  Vesper knelt beside the fragment, fingers hovering above its surface. The air grew thick, heavy with resistance that pressed against her skin. Not physical—more like trying to push two matching poles of a magnet together. Her magic recoiled, sliding off the fragment’s surface as if it had developed a mind of its own.

  The message was clear: it didn’t want to be moved. This place had claimed it, bound it to an ancient purpose she didn’t understand.

  Looking down at the half-buried crystal, she remembered the invasive pull she had felt before, the Echo pressing into her mind with a pressure that left no space untouched. This fragment was different, smaller, but it carried the same hungry awareness.

  “It’s okay,” she heard herself whisper. “We’re meant to be together.” Her magic flared, opalescent light dancing across her skin.

  The fragment pulsed in response, its black depths swirling like storm clouds. The resistance intensified, pushing back against her power with increasing desperation. Around the stone circle, the ancient runes began to glow brighter, as if the stones themselves were fighting to keep their prize.

  “Vesper, something’s happening,” Rafe called out. The standing stones were humming now, a low vibration that resonated through the ground and into their bones.

  The fragment’s resonance changed, its rhythm falling out of sync with the ley lines. The resistance grew stronger, magic crackling between her fingers and the crystal’s surface.

  “It’s fighting back,” she called to Rafe, who stood at the circle’s edge.

  The air around her hands began to burn, not with heat but with raw magical friction. Every instinct screamed at her to pull away, to leave the fragment buried where it lay, but she could feel the Echo’s call, the way this piece belonged with the others, belonged with her.

  “I have to do this,” she said, more to herself than to Rafe. The fragment’s struggle grew more violent, the crystal actually beginning to sink deeper into the earth as if the ground itself was trying to swallow it.

  Vesper pressed closer, her magic forming a net around the shard. “You can’t hide forever.”

  The fragment stilled for just a moment, and in that silence, Vesper struck. Her power wrapped around the crystal, trapping it in her grasp.

  Magic crackled against Vesper’s palm as her fingers closed around the fragment. The crystal’s surface felt wrong. It wasn’t cold like stone, but alive, pulsing with contained power that fought her grip.

  The moment her skin touched the shard, pain lanced through her skull. Images flooded her vision—flashes of the ancient people who had built the circle, their desperate attempt to contain something they barely understood.

  “Now I understand,” she gasped, her grip tightening despite the agony shooting up her arm. “You were never meant to be separate. None of us were.”

  The fragment’s resonance built, climbing to a fever pitch. Power gathered, condensed, then⁠—

  The shockwave hit.

  Energy exploded outward from the shard, throwing Vesper backwards. Her magic cushioned her fall, but the impact still drove the air from her lungs. Through watering eyes, she watched ribbons of light spiral up the standing stones, following the paths of ancient runes.

  The carved symbols flashed once, brilliant and blinding. Then they began to fade. The steady thrum of power that had saturated the circle wavered, its rhythm faltering. Contained magic unspooled, dissolving into the air.

  Vesper pushed herself up, the fragment still clutched in her hand. Its surface had cleared, the clouded crystal becoming transparent. Whatever force had bound it here was gone, spent in that final pulse of power. The ancient stones stood silent now…maybe their purpose had finally been fulfilled.

  The air felt lighter, cleaner somehow. The oppressive weight of old magic lifted, leaving only the natural flow of the ley lines beneath. Around the circle, the crystalline formations that had spread through the forest began to crack and dissolve, returning to ordinary stone.

  The fragment lay quiet in her arms, its resonance now harmonising with her own magic instead of fighting it. No longer bound to this place of power, it felt…different. Changed. Or perhaps it was simply returning to what it had always been meant to be.

  “Vesper?” Rafe called. “Are you okay?”

  Vesper pushed herself up, the fragment warm in her arms. “Yeah,” she said, studying the now-clear crystal in her hand. “I’ve got the fragment. It’s…smaller than I thought it’d be.”

  “We should leave,” Rafe said, scanning the treeline. “Those constructs could return.”

  Vesper nodded, setting the fragment into her bag, though something told her the constructs were already gone.

  Her legs trembled as she followed Rafe through the darkening forest. Light filtered through the canopy in scattered beams, catching motes of dissipating magic that sparkled like dust in the air.

  It wasn’t long before they emerged from the treeline onto the shore of Ellesmere Lake. The crystalline formations that had dotted the landscape were dissolving, crumbling into fine powder that sank back into the earth. Each formation unravelled like frost melting in sunlight, leaving only bare rock behind.

  The lake’s surface rippled now, stirred by a natural breeze rather than the unnatural stillness that had gripped it before. No shadows lurked beneath its surface, no void-like presence pressed against her senses. The constructs that had emerged from its depths were gone, leaving no trace that they’d ever been there.

  “It doesn’t feel so haunted anymore,” she murmured. “Maybe people will come back.”

  Rafe’s gaze swept across the lake’s surface, tracking the last ripples as they faded into stillness. His magic pulsed, ready to react at the first sign of those shadow constructs returning.

  Finally, he nodded towards the shoreline. “We should check on that mage. If the magic binding her is breaking down too, she might still be alive.”

  “Do you think she could have survived?” Vesper asked, already moving towards where they’d left the woman.

  “I’ve never seen magic like this before.” Rafe fell into step beside her. “But if the formations are reverting…”

  They rounded an outcropping of rock. The crystalline structure that had encased the woman was crumbling, fine powder drifting away on the breeze. Beneath the dissolving crystal, Vesper caught glimpses of fabric, skin.

  Her pulse quickened. The researcher’s hand twitched, fingers flexing as they were freed from their crystal prison. A choked gasp broke the silence.

  “Rafe!” Vesper cried, rushing forward. The woman’s eyes fluttered, unfocused but aware. “Quick!”

  Rafe rushed towards the mage as the crystal holding her upright cracked. She fell, but he was there to catch her before she hit the pebbled shore.

  The mage’s eyes flickered open, unfocused at first, then sharpening as they found Rafe’s face. Her skin was pale, almost translucent after being trapped in crystal, and her clothes hung in tatters.

  “Where—” Her voice cracked, dry and raspy. “Where am I? Where is… Where is the vessel?”

  Chapter 30

  Rafe’s arms trembled under the woman’s weight. Her clothes hung in tatters, crusted with crystal dust that caught the weak sunlight. The clarity in her eyes from moments ago vanished, replaced by a glassy stare that made his skin crawl.

  “What vessel?” he asked.

  The mage’s head lolled against his shoulder. Her lips moved, but no sound emerged. The urgency behind her earlier question had vanished, leaving behind this hollow shell.

  Magic lingered on her skin. Old, stale magic that reminded him of the Echo. His own power recoiled from it, sending warning signals through his body. Whatever the crystal had done to her, it had left its mark.

  Beside him, Vesper’s magic pulsed. The fragment in her bag seemed to respond, its energy rippling outward in waves that filled him with unease. The woman’s eyes tracked the movement, but there was no recognition there, no sign of the person who had demanded answers moments before.

  He shifted his grip, laying her at a more comfortable angle. The crystalline dust coating her clothes left smears of rainbow light across his sleeves. Her head dropped forward, chin touching her chest, as if the effort of remaining conscious had become too much.

  The urgent question about the vessel nagged at him, but the woman was clearly in no state to explain. Whatever knowledge the fragment had given her had slipped away with the rest of the dispelled magic.

  “What’s your name?” he asked, hoping she remembered at least that.

  The woman’s body tensed in his arms. A sharp exhale broke the silence as she twisted, face contorting in pain. Her joints crackled like breaking ice as she attempted to move limbs that had been frozen for who knew how long.

  “Faith Evans.” Her voice was rough but sure. “College of Artifice field researcher.”

  That much was already clear, but the fact she knew her name was a good start. She’d likely been here studying the lake’s anomalies when she was caught up in the fragment’s influence.

  “I’m Rafe. This is Vesper. Can you tell us what happened?”

  Faith’s fingers clutched at his sleeve, leaving iridescent smears. “The College…how long?”

  “We can get you back to them,” Vesper said, stepping closer. “But first⁠—”

  “No.” Faith’s grip tightened. “Need to report. The vessel… The readings were off the scale before…” Her voice cracked, eyes losing focus again.

  Rafe shifted his weight, supporting Faith’s back as she struggled to sit upright. Her muscles trembled beneath his touch, fighting against the remnants of crystalline magic that had held her frozen.

  “Easy now,” he murmured. “Your body needs time to remember how to move.”

  Faith’s head bobbed in a weak nod. Her fingers clutched at the ground, curling around slick pebbles. Crystal dust fell from her clothes in rainbow cascades, dissolving into nothing before it touched the shore.

  Vesper crouched beside them, her eyes fixed on Faith’s face with an intensity that spoke of more than simple concern. She was hunting for answers about the vessel, Rafe knew. But Faith’s earlier urgency had vanished along with the crystal prison.

  The researcher’s gaze drifted across the transformed landscape, taking in the last fragments of crystal melting away into the earth. When her eyes reached the lake, something flickered across her expression. Her brow creased, head tilting as if listening for a half remembered song. The dark water reflected her confused face perfectly, unnaturally still.

  Rafe waited, recognising the look of someone grasping at memories that kept slipping away.

  Faith pressed her fingers against her temple, a sharp exhale escaping through clenched teeth. Whatever revelation had been building crumbled away, leaving only frustration in its wake.

  Rafe pulled his water bottle from his bag, uncapping it before offering it to Faith. Her hands shook as she lifted it to her lips, but she managed to drink without spilling.

  “Thank you.” The mage wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, leaving another streak of crystal residue on her skin. “I was sent here by the College. After the Echo shattered, we detected massive fluctuations in the ley line network. I was to map the changes, document any anomalies.”

  The precision in her voice surprised him. Despite her weakness, her mind seemed to be recovering quickly.

  “Did you find what you were looking for?” he asked.

  Faith’s expression shifted, a frown creasing her brow. “There were these crystals growing out of the water… I-I had my equipment set up. The readings were…unprecedented. The ley lines here weren’t just disturbed, they were…” she trailed off, fingers pressed to her temple. “There was something wrong with the magic. Not just changed or damaged, but…wrong. Like it was waking up.”

  Rafe exchanged a glance with Vesper. The fragment in her bag seemed to pulse in response to Faith’s words.

  “I was taking measurements, tracking the energy patterns, the resonance coming from the crystals, and then…” Faith’s voice faltered. The certainty drained from her face, replaced by confusion. “Nothing. There’s nothing after that. Just…darkness. Until I heard your voices.”

  Her hands clenched around the water bottle, knuckles white. The gap in her memory clearly disturbed her more than being taken over by crystal. Rafe was suddenly glad he didn’t touch anything.