Liora POV
The cave mouth swallows us whole, the last weak rays of dawn vanishing into an inky, suffocating blackness. The air turns instantly freezing, thick and damp, laced with the musty reek of stagnant water and the sharp, metallic bite of silver-laced stone. The weight of the mountain presses down on us immediately, stealing the breath from my lungs.
Torches flare to life, their sudden hiss echoing too loudly. Mara hands them out, but the flames gutter wildly against unseen wards, casting long, twisted shadows that coil like living things along walls etched with faintly glowing runes. They pulse with a sickly light—guiding or trapping us, I cannot tell.
The cave system is a brutal, twisting labyrinth. We are forced to wade through underground streams that rush cold and black aro
