The mountain welcomed me like a long-lost daughter. The passage, which had been a place of desperate flight before, now felt like a homecoming. The air hummed with a familiar energy, and the glowing mosses pulsed in a gentle, rhythmic welcome. The two warriors with us glanced around, their eyes wide with a mixture of fear and reverence, but Borin and Selene walked with a steady determination, their faith in me an unspoken shield.
We did not stop at the first cavern with the altar and the pool. The pull was deeper now, a thread of destiny tugging me further into the mountain’s core. The passage narrowed, then opened into a chamber that took my breath away.
It was not vast and crystalline like the Heart. This chamber was intimate, its walls lined with smooth, dark stone that absorbed the l
