The storm swallowed the mountainside. Alex and the priestess pressed against the cliff face, battered by wind and stinging rain. Violet lightning seared the sky—each strike synced with the scar's pulse, now a dull throb beneath Alex's ribs.
"Hold here!" the priestess shouted, gripping his arm as debris hurtled past. A boulder shattered nearby, revealing jagged crystal veins beneath the rock—the same violet hue as his scar.
The scar stirred, its voice slippery with false concern. She'll let you die here. Let me protect us.
Alex clenched his jaw. Ahead, the path had collapsed, leaving a gaping crevice. "We need to jump!"
The priestess shook her head. "The storm's magic corrupts the air. A normal leap won't—"
Alex didn't wait. He sprinted, the scar screeching as he vaulted over the edge. For a heartbeat, weightless, he felt the scar's power surge—an offered hand. He refused.
He landed hard, knees buckling on the far side. The priestess followed, her leap unnaturally graceful, golden light flaring at her heels.
"You gamble recklessly," she said, but her eyes betrayed a flicker of respect.
The scar hissed. She envies your defiance.
Lightning struck the cliff above. The ground shuddered, and the remaining path crumbled. Alex slid, clawing at wet stone. The priestess caught his wrist, her grip iron-strong.
"Climb!" she ordered.
Below, the crevice yawned, glowing with those same violet crystals. The scar writhed, whispering of their power, their kinship. Alex kicked upward, ignoring it.
They collapsed in a shallow cave, breath ragged. Outside, the storm raged on. The cave trembled with each thunderclap. Alex pressed his palm to the scar, willing its whispers to silence. The priestess rummaged through her soaked satchel, pulling out a vial of murky liquid. She drank it grimaced, then offered it to him.
"Strength," she said. "But it burns."
The scar purred. Poison. She fears what you'll become.
Alex hesitated, then swallowed a gulp. Fire seared his throat. His vision sharpened—the cave walls weren't bare stone. Faint symbols shimmered, eroded by time.
"Wards," the priestess muttered, tracing a glyph. "Ancient. Broken."
A crash echoed from the cave's depths. Something scraped against rock—a slow, grating drag.
Alex stood, fists raised. "What else is in here?"
The priestess unsheathed a dagger glowing faintly gold. "Nothing living."
The scar laughed. Liar.
They edged deeper. The symbols thickened, swirling around a massive crystal jutting from the floor—cracked, oozing violet smoke. The scar bucked in Alex's chest, hungry.
"Don't touch it," the priestess warned.
But the crystal pulsed, singing a note that vibrated Alex's teeth. The scar's voice merged with it, sweet and urgent. One fragment. Just one.
Lightning struck outside. The cave's entrance collapsed, sealing them in darkness. The cave's collapse forced them into a narrow tunnel, its walls slick with glowing lichen. Alex's violet-stained hand left faint smears on the stone, the scar humming like a struck bell. The priestess led in silence, her dagger's dim light barely piercing the gloom.
The tunnel narrowed, forcing them to crouch. The lichen's glow intensified where Alex's smeared hand passed, as if awakened by the scar's resonance. His chest ached with each step, the scar murmuring promises of power—louder here, hungrier.
"Wait," the priestess hissed, halting. Ahead, the tunnel split. The left path sloped downward, choked with jagged crystal growths. The right curved upward, its ceiling studded with crumbling wards. She frowned, dagger raised. "The air is wrong. This place is a trap."
She knows,the scar crooned. She'll choose the path that kills you.
Alex gritted his teeth. "Which way?"
Before she could answer, a low rumble shook the tunnel. Dust rained as the left path's crystals flared violet, pulsing in time with the scar. The right path's wards flickered gold, then died.
"Up," the priestess said, but uncertainty edged her voice.
They crawled, the lichen dimming as they ascended. The scar writhed, furious. Fool. They've starved this path of power. You'll weaken.
Alex's breaths grew labored. The vial's fire in his veins had faded, leaving a metallic chill. He glanced back—the crystals below throbbed, beckoning.
The tunnel opened abruptly into a circular chamber. Roots snaked through the walls, cradling a stone altar. At its center sat a fractured orb, veins of gold and violet warring within.
The priestess froze. "A binding seal," she whispered. "Do not approach."
But the scar roared to life, drowning her words. Mine. It's MINE.
Alex stumbled forward, drawn. His scar burned, violet light bleeding through his tunic. The orb responded, cracks spreading.
"Alex, stop!" The priestess grabbed his shoulder, but he wrenched free.
The orb shattered.
A wave of force hurled them both against the wall. Darkness swallowed the chamber—then a single violet eye blinked open in the void. Cold laughter echoed, ancient and familiar.
The priestess groaned, clutching her dagger. "What have you done?"
The scar exulted. Finally. We are seen.
Outside, thunder boomed.
The violet eye dilated, its gaze a physical weight pressing against Alex's skin. The laughter crystallized into a voice, deep and resonant, shaking the chamber. "Bearer of the shard,"it boomed, roots quivering as if in worship. "Kneel."
Alex's scar blazed, tendrils of violet light snaking toward the eye. His muscles locked—not in fear, but in defiance. "No."
The priestess lunged, her dagger carving a golden arc through the darkness. The blade struck the eye's pupil, and the entity shrieked, the sound splintering stone. Cracks raced up the walls as the chamber began to implode.
"Run!" she roared, seizing Alex's arm.
They stumbled through the crumbling tunnel, the entity's howls pursuing them. The scar raged, You owe it allegiance! But Alex focused on the priestess's grip, her gold-lit dagger cleaving through fallen rubble. Behind, the ceiling collapsed, sealing the eye—for now.
Daylight pierced the gloom as they burst from the mountainside. The storm had stilled, replaced by an eerie calm. Below, the valley lay choked with violet mist, the crystals beneath the earth now glowing like a web of infected veins.
The priestess sagged against a boulder, her dagger dimming. "That seal held for millennia. Now…" She glared at Alex, but her anger faltered. Blood seeped from a gash on her temple. "It knows you. The scar is a key—its key."
Alex clutched his chest, the scar's pulse slower, sated. "Then we break the key."
A bitter smile twisted her lips. "Spoken like a fool." She pushed upright, nodding toward the distant horizon where storm clouds gathered anew. "Come. The temple's wards may yet hold answers. But know this—" She gripped his chin, forcing him to meet her gaze. "Next time you ignore a warning, I'll let the storm take you."
The scar seethed, but Alex nodded. As they descended, the mist coiled around his ankles, whispering. He glanced back once. High above, where the cave had been, a single violet star winked in the twilight—a watchful, waiting eye.