They found the ruins just before sunset.
At first, it was just a scattering of broken stones, half-swallowed by vines. Then the carvings appeared—old, worn markings half-buried in moss and dirt. Kaelen stepped carefully between them, brushing his fingers along the edge of a fallen column.
"This place is ancient," he murmured.
Selene knelt beside one of the stones. "Too old for records. Probably from before the Tower."
Kaelen looked around. "What was it?"
"A shrine. Maybe a sigil node. Could be both."
"Should we be here?"
She gave him a dry look. "We're fugitives with a cursed glyph and no destination. This might be the safest place we've been."
Kaelen wasn't so sure.
The air was wrong.
Too still. Too quiet.
Even the birds had stopped singing.
They made camp near a stone archway covered in ivy. Kaelen gathered dry wood while Selene traced a protective ward around the clearing.
"Do you always do that?" Kaelen asked.
"Only when I want to live through the night."
"Reassuring."
She smiled faintly. "There's something under this place. I can feel it."
Kaelen paused. "Like what?"
She didn't answer.
Just finished the glyph and stood.
They ate in silence, the fire crackling between them. The sky turned from gold to indigo, stars blinking through the canopy.
Kaelen stared at the flames, still trying to make sense of everything—of the mark, the dreams, Selene.
"You said you felt something," he said. "Under this place."
She nodded. "It's like the ground remembers. There's energy here. Mana. Ancient. Unsettled."
"Does that happen often?"
"Only in places the Tower forgot to cleanse."
That word again—Tower.
It seemed to loom over everything now. A shadow over the world.
Kaelen wrapped his arms around his knees. "They really would kill me, wouldn't they? Just for having this mark."
"Yes."
He looked up. "No hesitation?"
"No point lying," she said. "They're afraid of what they don't control."
A wind passed through the clearing.
The fire flickered.
Then… the ground trembled.
Just once.
Subtle.
But enough.
Kaelen and Selene shot to their feet.
She whispered, "Something's waking."
The earth cracked in a slow spiral, dust rising in curling tendrils. From the shadows beyond the shrine stones, a shape pulled itself up from beneath the earth—roots snapping, stone grinding.
A golem.
No, not quite.
Its body was twisted—part stone, part rotted wood. Its face was a broken statue's mask, and its eyes glowed a dull, unnatural gold.
"What is that?" Kaelen breathed.
Selene drew her dagger. "A guardian."
"Of what?"
"We're about to find out."
The guardian lunged with shocking speed.
Kaelen dove left, rolling across the moss. A stone fist smashed into the ground where he'd stood. Cracks split the dirt.
Selene was already moving, sigils flaring around her hand.
"Kaelen!" she shouted. "Get behind it—draw its attention!"
He didn't argue.
Heart hammering, he picked up a fallen branch, lit it from the fire, and flung it toward the creature's side. Flames licked across its shoulder. It turned toward him with a hollow growl.
"Come on," Kaelen muttered, backing away. "Come and get me."
The guardian took the bait.
Selene's sigils pulsed—sharp lines of violet light. She whispered a word Kaelen didn't recognize, and a bolt of force cracked through the air.
It hit the creature square in the chest.
The guardian staggered, vines smoking.
"Again!" Kaelen shouted.
Selene grimaced. "I need time!"
Kaelen circled to its blind side, slashing with his dagger. Sparks flew, but the blade snapped at the hilt.
The guardian swung.
Kaelen jumped back just in time—but a jagged vine caught his arm.
He cried out as the thorns dug deep.
Blood hit the ground.
The glyph on his arm flared.
The world blinked.
For one moment—just a breath—time seemed to freeze.
Symbols burst in front of Kaelen's eyes, white-hot and spinning. His body moved before he could think, hands tracing one of the patterns instinctively.
A shockwave rippled from his palm, slamming into the guardian with a force that cracked its mask.
The creature stumbled.
Selene stared at him, eyes wide.
"What did you—"
"I don't know!"
Kaelen dropped to his knees, panting. His arm burned. The glyph's light dimmed again.
Selene didn't waste the opening.
She raised her hand, whispered another spell, and a spear of flame slammed into the guardian's core.
It fell—slowly, like a dying tree—and shattered.
Stone. Bark. Ash.
Silence.
Kaelen gasped for air, staring at the pieces.
His hands were shaking.
Selene knelt beside him and touched his arm.
"You okay?"
He nodded numbly. "What was that? What did I just do?"
She pulled his sleeve up—and froze.
The glyph had changed again.
A new line had appeared, branching from the center. It glowed with a faint silver pulse, soft but steady.
"You used Veritas," she whispered. "Instinctively. That's not normal."
"Nothing about this is."
She looked at him carefully. "You didn't cast a spell. You remembered one."
He blinked. "What?"
"Veritas magic isn't like other glyphs. It's tied to memory. Legacy. The past. Your mark is… waking up. Teaching itself."
"Or teaching me."
Selene hesitated. "Exactly."
They sat in silence by the fire after that.
Kaelen's arm was bandaged. The guardian's remains lay scattered at the shrine's edge.
The night felt colder than before.
"I was useless," Kaelen muttered.
Selene glanced at him. "You weren't."
"I got lucky."
"You lived. And you protected me."
He looked over at her, surprised.
"I had it distracted," he said.
"And still," she said softly, "you stepped in. That matters."
Their eyes met.
For a long moment, nothing was said.
But the distance between them felt… smaller.
Like something had shifted.
Not just in the fight—but in them.
Before turning in for the night, Selene passed him a small scroll wrapped in oilskin.
"What's this?" Kaelen asked.
"Notes from the shrine. Something's under here. Something sealed. We're not ready to find it, but… it's tied to your mark. I can feel it."
Kaelen turned the scroll over in his hands.
Then nodded. "We'll come back someday."
She smiled. "Maybe. If we're still alive."
Kaelen managed a tired grin. "Comforting as ever."
That night, his dreams were clearer.
The Tower loomed again, silent and waiting.
But this time, the silver-eyed woman stood at the entrance.
She turned when he approached.
And for the first time, she spoke.
"Keep walking, Kaelen. You haven't burned yet."
End of Chapter 4