Echoes of the Forgotten Flame

The stairway sealed behind them like a tomb.

Stone grinding on stone. No way back. Just darkness, the kind that didn't feel empty—it felt aware.

The chamber stretched long and narrow. Quiet. Then—fwump—torches along the walls lit themselves, one by one, in a sequence like dominoes falling.

Krane ran a hand along the stone wall. "Warm," he muttered. "These halls remember blood."

Nobody answered that.

Lucien's eyes were locked ahead. The relic slung on her back was vibrating. Not humming—calling. Like it already knew where they were headed.

Jonas tried to ease the tension. "Man… if we get cursed again, I'm taking up knitting."

Mira didn't even glance at him. "Shut up and walk."

They kept moving. Quiet. Every step echoed—too loud, like the walls wanted to remember everything. The air changed again. Thick. Buzzing. Like something old was watching.

Then—BOOM.

All the torches died out at once.

Dark.

Cold.

And then… a blue flame. Just one. Floating ahead, hovering in the middle of the corridor.

Lucien's voice was tight. "We following ghost fire now?"

Elias stepped beside her, calm as ever. "It hasn't killed us yet."

That's when the floor cracked open. Not the whole thing—just two sharp seams splitting the ground, like jaws opening.

They didn't even have time to react.

The floor beneath them shifted—hard—and the hallway snapped apart into two paths.

Mira and Dave and Elias went left.

Jonas, Krane, and Lucien right.

Lucien barely had time to scream Mira's name before the stone slammed back into place.

Silence.

Darkness.

Then—click—a dim light rose in both halls. Different torches. Different glow. No way to track where the others went.

Each group stood alone now, in a hall that didn't care about reunion.

Lucien gritted her teeth. "Great. A split path. That never ends bad in stories…"

The walls shifted.

Symbols glowed.

And ahead, both teams saw it—different doors, different puzzles, different dangers.

They weren't just walking anymore.

They were being tested.