Chapter 4 – Beneath the Mountain

Kael had never worn anything like the ECO mining suit.

It was sleek yet heavy, infused with mana-conductive threads and lined with glowing blue runes. The gloves alone pulsed with a slow heartbeat, constantly adjusting to detect magical radiation in the air. His pickaxe wasn't just steel—it was embedded with core gems that could shatter crystallized ore without activating its unstable properties.

"You break a crystal wrong, it'll explode like a mana grenade," Draven said while checking Kael's straps. "These suits'll keep you alive. Barely."

Kael nodded stiffly, his nerves starting to rise.

They were standing in a preparation dome carved into the side of Wu Ling's mountain—one of ECO's deep-mine bases. The dome ceiling arched high above, glowing faintly with embedded mana crystals that mimicked sunlight. Around them, dozens of miners were equipping their gear, checking their magical backpacks, and prepping for the descent.

Chrysalis stood nearby, typing something into a floating console. Her purple hair was tied into a tighter bun today, and her robe was layered with a new set of spell patches. She looked more like a scholar preparing for an expedition than anyone related to mining.

Draven pointed to a large sealed tunnel ahead—its entrance glowing green with active rune locks.

"Kael, you'll be on Unit Two with me. We're heading down Tunnel Route C. It's one of the older shafts, hasn't been active in years."

Kael blinked. "Why re-open an old one?"

Draven's expression darkened. "Ore readings spiked down there. Real strong. Higher than any of the newer paths."

"Too strong," Chrysalis muttered under her breath. "But no one listens to the magician."

Draven shot her a sideways look. "We listen. We just don't always agree."

Kael followed as the team began moving toward the tunnel entrance. A dozen armored workers stepped onto the platform with him. Two security drones hovered overhead. The elevator plate beneath them buzzed softly, then began to lower.

The deeper they went, the quieter the world became.

Thirty minutes down, the shaft opened into a large chamber—dark, humid, and buzzing faintly with magical interference. Blue and violet veins of ore snaked through the rock, pulsing like blood vessels beneath the stone. Some looked fresh. Others… looked like they were growing.

"Welcome to Wu Ling's belly," Draven said, stepping forward. "Keep your masks on. And don't touch anything glowing red."

Kael's boots crunched over brittle stone and ancient carvings. Some of the rocks were marked—not by mining drills, but by old symbols.

He paused, squinting at one.

"Chrysalis," he called through the comm channel, "there's something etched into the wall here."

Chrysalis's voice came through crackly but clear. "Describe it."

"It's a… circle inside a triangle, with a star cut through the center."

The channel went silent for a second.

"That's not a mining mark," she replied. "That's a seal symbol. Don't touch it."

Kael stepped back instinctively.

Draven walked over and stared at the marking. "Huh. Never seen this here before."

"Because that tunnel was sealed for a reason," Chrysalis said sharply. "It's not just dangerous ore. That section of the mine cuts through Pre-Divide ruins."

"Pre-Divide?" Kael asked.

Draven answered. "Time before the world broke apart. Before the global mana storm rewrote reality."

Kael's mind swirled. He'd learned about that event in school—vaguely. It was treated like a half-myth, half-history lecture. Something about a massive surge of corrupted mana that ended the old world 500 years ago… the same year the emperor vanished.

The same year the legend of the Lone Magician Soul began.

He shook the thought.

They resumed digging deeper.

Kael kept pace, chiseling through ore-veins with careful, timed strikes. His gloves buzzed faintly each time they neared a crystal. Once, a shard flared too brightly, and a worker quickly threw down a suppression rune to neutralize it.

"This stuff's unstable today," one miner muttered.

"It's never this loud," said another.

Kael glanced at a nearby wall—and froze.

Something was embedded inside it.

Not a crystal.

Not a rock.

But something metallic.

He tapped Draven's shoulder. "There's… something inside the wall."

Draven motioned for everyone to stop. Chrysalis, who had descended a few levels above with her tablet, rushed down as soon as she heard.

Kael stepped back as Draven used a precision tool to scrape around the object—careful not to break it.

The outline of a box-shaped container became visible. Covered in rust. Etched with ancient script. It wasn't from ECO. It wasn't modern.

"It's a mana-sealed vault," Chrysalis whispered.

Draven raised an eyebrow. "Like a safe?"

"Like a prison," she said grimly.

Kael leaned in. "Should we open it?"

"No," Chrysalis said sharply. "We analyze it first. Scan it for any residual curse magic. You never—"

The vault pulsed.

Faintly. Just once.A dull, blue light pushed from within.

Then… a low hum.

Kael felt his vision blur.

And suddenly—he wasn't in the mine anymore.

He stood in a vast black space, suspended in nothing.

A silhouette of a man stood before him—his body cloaked in tattered robes, eyes burning red like cinders.

"You are… not ready."

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere.

"You walk a path that once belonged to another. Turn back, or be consumed."

Kael tried to speak, but no words came out.

Then the figure raised its hand—and everything shattered into light.

Kael awoke on the ground.

His teammates were around him, trying to revive him. Chrysalis knelt beside him, her glasses crooked and hair disheveled.

"Damn it, Kael. Say something," she said.

He gasped for breath. "What... happened?"

"You passed out cold," Draven said. "One second you were fine, the next you dropped like a brick."

Kael sat up slowly, rubbing his temple.

"There was a voice… a man. He said I wasn't ready."

Chrysalis and Draven exchanged a look.

"You had a magical feedback surge," Chrysalis said. "That's not normal. That only happens when—"

"When someone interacts with a cursed object," Draven finished grimly.

They both looked back at the vault.

It was quiet again.

No light. No hum. No signs of life.

Kael looked down at his hands.They were shaking.

That night, Kael lay awake in his temporary bunk in the base quarters beneath Wu Ling. The humming of mana vents, the distant clatter of machinery, and the soft beep of drones filled the air—but his mind was somewhere else.

The voice he heard.

The vision.

The seal on the wall.

The book he'd heard about in the legend his mother used to tell him.

The Lone Magician Soul.

He reached into his bag and pulled out a notebook. Scribbled something quickly. Then stared at the blank page.

He wrote:

"I saw strange symbols… in a vision. They weren't just markings.

They were… watching me."

Across the mining facility, Chrysalis sat at her desk, tapping furiously on a rune keyboard.

She pulled up the scan of the vault.

In the center of the scan was a symbol.

A triangle inside a circle.

The exact same one Kael described.

Her golden eyes narrowed.

she whispered.

"This is a curse awakening."