The jungle thinned as they approached the ruins. The air grew dry, the humidity fading into an eerie stillness. Blackened stone towers jutted from the earth like broken fangs, their surfaces scorched and cracked. The ground beneath their feet was brittle, covered in layers of gray ash that puffed into the air with every step.
Jaxon knelt, running his fingers through the soot. "This place was burned to nothing."
Elias stepped ahead, flipping a card between his fingers. His amber eyes scanned the ruins, searching for movement. "But by what?"
No one answered. The city—Cinderspire, the old capital—was dead.
They passed through a massive, half-collapsed gate, its once-grand metal doors melted into warped, skeletal frames. Beyond it, the ruins stretched endlessly. Charred buildings stood like tombstones, and the remnants of a once-great civilization lay buried beneath the remains of its own destruction.
Reed hesitated. "There's no decay. No overgrowth. As if nothing wants to reclaim this place."
Kade's silver eyes glowed faintly beneath his hood. "Because something still owns it."
A sound echoed through the ruins. A faint, clicking noise—sharp and unnatural. It was distant, but it sent a chill down all of their spines.
Jaxon's symbiote pulsed, sensing something unnatural. "We're not alone."
Elias flipped a card. "Time to see what killed a capital."
They moved deeper into the ruins, stepping carefully between fallen statues and shattered bridges. The further they went, the worse the damage became. The ground was webbed with thick, obsidian strands— not vines, but hardened, burnt silk. It clung to the ruins, fusing into the stone as if it had melted there.
Then they found the corpses.
Scattered through the ruins lay charred skeletons, human and beast alike. Some were fused into the ground, others curled in what could only have been agony. Their weapons lay beside them, rusted and melted. Reed clenched his fists. "They didn't just burn… they were consumed."
A gust of wind blew through the ruins, stirring the ash. The clicking sound returned—louder. Closer.
Then the ground beneath them shook.
From the shadows of a collapsed cathedral, something crawled out.
A spider the size of a warhorse, its body covered in molten-black chitin, its many eyes glowing like embers. Smoke curled from its limbs as it scuttled forward, its fangs dripping with liquid fire.
Jaxon took a step back. "Okay. That explains the whole 'city burning to the ground' thing."
The clicking grew deafening. More emerged. From ruined towers, from sunken tunnels, from beneath the rubble. A dozen at first. Then more. An army of Fire Spiders, their burning bodies the last remnants of whatever horror had consumed this place.
Kade's chains uncoiled, spectral energy crackling around them. "We're not fighting an army."
Elias held up the map. The glow around Cinderspire was flickering wildly, as if warning them. "We need to run."
The first spider lunged. Jaxon's symbiote lashed out, catching its fangs mid-strike, but the heat was unbearable. It shrieked, thrashing violently. Elias flung a card—a massive gale of wind erupted, blasting the spiders backward.
But more kept coming.
Kade swung his chains, snatching a crumbling pillar and yanking it down, blocking the street behind them. "Go! Now!"
They sprinted through the ruins, dodging burning silk and collapsing buildings. The spiders poured after them, an unstoppable tide of clicking legs and molten fury.
Reed turned, his eyes darkening. He slammed his hand against the ground, sending a pulse of energy through the ash. In an instant, a thick wall of hardened bone and rock erupted behind them, sealing the path.
They didn't stop running until the clicking faded into the distance.
Breathing heavily, they reached the outskirts of the ruins. The city of Cinderspire loomed behind them, smoldering even in its death.
Jaxon exhaled. "I think we found out why the capital was abandoned."
Elias glanced back, his expression grim. "And why no one ever rebuilt it."
Kade turned to the map. A new path had appeared, leading them away from the ruins and toward their next destination.
They weren't done yet. The kingdom still awaited them.
And whatever lay ahead had to be better than the ghosts of Cinderspire.