The silence that followed Aria’s command was absolute.

Moonlight filtered through the cavern’s jagged mouth, catching on the ancient glyphs etched into the stone like veins of glowing silver. The moment she spoke the last syllable of the invocation, the chamber trembled, the air shifting with an ancient power buried deep beneath their world.

Aria stood at the edge of the seal—an obsidian ring encasing a cracked moonstone pedestal. Her crown pulsed, its runes flickering wildly like ...