The Elder's dwelling sat carved directly into the mountain itself, a cavern mouth wide enough to swallow daylight whole, lit from within by torches that burned an unnatural, steady gold.
Kaelen's legs ached with every step of the climb, but the ache faded the moment she crossed the threshold, replaced by something stranger, a low hum beneath her skin that felt like recognition, like walking into a room built specifically for someone shaped exactly like her.
"She feels it," the guardian who'd led them said quietly to someone waiting deeper in the cavern. "The old resonance. Just as you said she would."
A figure emerged from the shadows near the back of the cave, ancient beyond anything Kaelen had ever seen, skin like weathered bark, eyes the same molten gold shared by every guardian she'
