The tunnel opens so gradually that at first I do not notice the change. The walls pull back, the slope evens out, and the runes grow faint along the stone until they finally gutter out like dying embers. The glow that once clung to every surface fades into a dull memory. Even the air shifts, losing the heavy hum of magic that has followed us for what feels like forever. My lungs expand a little easier with each step.
Ahead, a pale glow spills through the darkness.
Not rune light.
Not magic.
Real light.
It looks almost unreal after so long in the depths. Soft, natural, and distant, like the sky remembered we existed.
The tunnel widens into a tall chamber, its ceiling split open by jagged cracks where sunlight seeps through the mountain. Thin beams of natural brightness fall across the
