Kaia

The wind howled across the Ashlands, swirling fine ash into the air and stinging my skin. The barren land stretched endlessly in every direction, the jagged peaks of the distant mountains casting long, ominous shadows on the cracked earth below. We had been walking for what felt like hours, the landscape growing more oppressive with each step, as if the ground beneath us resisted our presence.

My chest becomes unbearably heavy and I stop in my tracks, "We're here." I say softly. Eris paused, glancing over her shoulder.. It was clear she was as uneasy as I felt. "Are you sure this is the right place?" she asked, her voice barely carrying over the howl of the wind.

I didn't respond immediately. How could I? After all these years, after the countless journeys and whispers of the Nexus, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were chasing a ghost. The legends spoke of an artifact that could bind or unleash the power I carried within me, something that could change the course of the Veil. But here, in the Ashlands, I had seen nothing to suggest the Nexus was anything more than a faded memory. Still, the symbols etched into the rock, the ancient markings that could barely be made out against the soot-darkened stone, called to me. They felt right. They felt like the piece of the puzzle I had been missing.

"Keep moving," I said finally, my voice hoarse. "It's close. I can feel it."

Eris nodded, though I knew she was uncertain. 

We pressed on, and the landscape began to shift. The air grew heavier. Jagged rocks jutted out of the ground, and the very earth seemed to rumble underfoot. The further we ventured into the Ashlands, the more oppressive it became. It wasn't just the land—it was me. The darkness inside me stirred restlessly, pulling at the edges of my thoughts. The Veil felt closer here, almost tangible, as though it were pressing against the thin membrane that separated it from this world.

It was then that we found it. Or rather, it found us.

At first, I thought my eyes were deceiving me. A faint glow shimmered in the distance, barely noticeable against the ashen sky. But as we drew closer, it became undeniable. A pulsating light, not bright, but insistent, like the flickering of a dying star.

"This… this is it," I whispered under my breath, more to myself than to Eris. My heart began to race, but it wasn't with excitement—it was the same hollow fear I'd felt whenever I came too close to my own power.

The entrance to the Nexus was a narrow slit between two towering rock faces. The light emanated from within, casting long, unsettling shadows over the ground. As we drew closer, I felt the temperature drop, the air growing cooler with each step. The sound of the wind, the distant rumblings of the volcano, faded into a strange, almost suffocating silence.

I reached out instinctively, my fingers grazing the jagged edges of the stone. It was warm to the touch, almost alive, like it was breathing beneath my fingertips.

"What is it?" Eris asked, her voice tight with apprehension.

"I don't know," I said, my voice betraying the uncertainty I felt in the pit of my stomach. "But we've come this far. We can't turn back now."

We stepped through the narrow opening and into a cavern that seemed to stretch far beyond the confines of the Ashlands. The walls, lined with glowing, pulsating veins of light, twisted and coiled like the inside of some massive creature. The air inside was thick, heavier than the air outside, and it pressed against my chest, as though the very atmosphere was trying to suffocate me.

I tried to steady my breath, but the hum of the cavern seemed to crawl under my skin, reverberating in my bones. My heart beat in time with the pulse of the light, faster and faster, until it felt like it might explode.

"This is… wrong," Eris murmured, her voice a tremor.

I couldn't disagree. The deeper we ventured, the more I felt the weight of the Nexus pressing down on me, like it was a wound, slowly and painfully reopening. The further we walked, the harder it became to ignore the familiar pull of the darkness inside me. It was an insidious thing, this power—it clawed at the edges of my mind, whispering things I didn't want to hear.

I could feel it, the Nexus, and I could feel it shifting—shifting in a way that made me feel small. Vulnerable.

"It's not what I thought," I muttered, my voice shaking as I reached out to steady myself against the wall. The glow from the walls was no longer comforting—it felt hungry, like it wanted to pull me in and consume me. I stepped back, my heart pounding in my chest.

Eris's eyes met mine, her brows furrowed in concern. "Kaia, what's happening? What is this place?"

"I—" I swallowed, trying to steady my breath, but the words wouldn't come. "It's not the Nexus," I said slowly, the realization settling in like a cold weight. "Not what I thought."

For a moment, I thought I saw something shift in the light ahead, a flicker in the distance. But when I looked again, it was gone.

I didn't know what we had found. But I could feel the pull of it. The power. It wasn't what I expected—it was darker. Older. Wrong.