Chapter 44: The Lost City of Ashenfall

The morning arrived shrouded in an unnatural mist. The outpost's crumbling walls felt even more suffocating after Lyra's vision, the weight of it pressing against her chest like a vice.

Kael and Silas sat across from her at the table, their expressions shadowed with concern as she recounted what she had seen. The Codex sat open before them, its pages still glowing faintly, as if acknowledging her words.

Kael's voice was low, controlled. "You're sure about this? The Veil isn't just weakening—it's being destroyed?"

Lyra nodded, gripping the shard in her lap. "I saw cities burning, the sky splitting apart. And there was someone… I couldn't see their face, but I know they were connected to the Veil's destruction."

Silas let out a slow breath, dragging a hand through his messy hair. "Well, that's horrifying. Anyone else need a drink?"

Kael shot him a glare. "Focus."

"I am focused. Just trying to process the part where we're now officially in the middle of a world-ending disaster."

Lyra swallowed the lump in her throat. "We need answers. The Codex led us here for a reason, but I think this isn't the end of its secrets." She tapped the open pages. "There's something more. We just need to figure out what."

Kael studied the text, his fingers tracing the ancient runes. "If there's any place that might hold more answers, it's Ashenfall."

Lyra frowned. "Ashenfall?"

Silas let out a low whistle. "Oh, that place. You mean the city that was wiped off the map centuries ago? Sounds very safe."

Kael's jaw tightened. "It wasn't wiped off the map. It was sealed away. The last known records say it was once a stronghold for the Guardians of the Veil, but something happened. Something no one survived to tell."

Lyra shuddered. "And you think the answers are there?"

Kael met her gaze. "I think it's our best chance."

Silas leaned back, resting his boots on the table. "Great. Just what I wanted—a field trip to a cursed city."

Lyra sighed, rubbing her temples. "If the Veil is being destroyed, we don't have time to be afraid of ghosts."

Silas grinned. "Who said I was afraid? I'm just reasonably cautious."

Kael ignored him. "We should move soon. If the Codex has been guiding us, then the shadows are already watching."

That part wasn't even a question.

---

The Journey to Ashenfall

The journey took them deep into the forgotten lands—an eerie expanse of wilderness where the air was thick with magic and decay. The land itself seemed untouched by time, the skeletal remains of ancient ruins swallowed by nature.

Lyra felt the weight of the shard against her chest grow heavier as they neared their destination. It pulsed, as if responding to something ahead.

Silas, who had been unnaturally quiet for the past few miles, finally spoke. "Anyone else feeling like we're being watched?"

Kael's grip on his sword tightened. "You're not wrong."

The wind howled through the broken cliffs, whispering through the trees like a voice just out of reach.

Then, they saw it.

Ashenfall.

The city lay before them, half-buried in mist. Once a grand fortress, now a shattered skeleton. Crumbling spires jutted into the sky like broken teeth, and eerie blue flames flickered along the streets—ghostlights, remnants of a long-dead magic.

Lyra exhaled sharply. "This place… feels wrong."

Silas shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah. Probably because the last people who walked in here never walked out."

Kael scanned the surroundings. "Stay close. We move quickly, get what we need, and leave."

Lyra nodded, clutching the shard. The moment they stepped into the ruins, a strange pressure filled the air—as if something ancient had just woken up.

And then…

A voice, soft and eerie, echoed through the empty streets.

"You should not have come."

The three of them froze.

Lyra's breath caught in her throat as a figure emerged from the mist—a tall, hooded figure draped in shimmering black robes, its face hidden beneath a veil of shifting shadows.

Silas' hand went to his daggers. "Well. That's not ominous at all."

The figure raised a hand, and the mist around them thickened, pressing inward like a living thing.

"You carry the shard," the figure murmured. "But do you carry its curse as well?"

Lyra's fingers dug into the shard, her heart hammering. "Who are you?"

The figure tilted its head. "The one who remembers."****"The one who waits."

Kael stepped between them. "If you know about the shard, then you know why we're here. We need answers."

The figure was silent for a long moment. Then, it lifted its hand, revealing a symbol—a mark burned into its palm, the same sigil that had been etched into the walls of the temple.

Lyra's breath hitched. "You're a Guardian."

The figure chuckled, though there was no warmth in the sound. "I was."

The wind howled. The ghostlights flickered.

And then the figure whispered:

"But I am not the only thing that waits in Ashenfall."

---

Sneak Peek for Chapter 45:

The hooded figure reveals chilling truths about the fall of Ashenfall—and the betrayal that led to its downfall. As Lyra, Kael, and Silas search the ruins for answers, they realize something else has been waiting for them in the city. Something old. Something hungry.