Chapter 7: The Descent

Chapter 7

Eli and Kael stood at the top of the spiraling staircase, the air around them growing colder with every passing moment. The dim glow from the chamber above barely lit the first few steps, leaving the depths shrouded in impenetrable darkness. The figure with the green-fire eyes had vanished, but its warning lingered. *The path ahead grows darker still.*

Eli took a steadying breath. He glanced down at the wand in his hand, its faint pulse reassuring yet unsettling. It seemed to hum with anticipation, as though it too was preparing for what lay below. Kael, ever the picture of casual confidence, gave a mock bow. 

“After you, mate,” Kael said, though his voice carried an edge of caution.

Eli hesitated before stepping onto the first stone stair. The sound of his footsteps echoed unnaturally, as if the walls around them were amplifying the sound. Kael followed, his boots barely making a sound. 

As they descended, the temperature dropped further, and the air became heavier, almost suffocating. The spiral staircase seemed endless, and Eli’s sense of time began to warp. Minutes felt like hours as the two boys ventured deeper into the earth. The darkness pressed in around them, and soon even the faint light from above was completely gone.

“Why do I feel like this is the sort of place we don’t come back from?” Kael muttered, breaking the tense silence.

Eli didn’t answer. He was too focused on the growing pressure in his chest, a weight that seemed to intensify with every step. The wand began to pulse more insistently, its glow faintly illuminating the stairs ahead.

Finally, the staircase ended, opening into a vast underground chamber. The walls were lined with jagged crystals that glowed faintly, casting a ghostly light over the scene. At the center of the room was a massive circular platform, its surface etched with glowing runes that radiated an eerie blue light. 

Above the platform floated a strange object—a shard of gleaming obsidian, suspended in midair. The shard pulsed rhythmically, emitting a deep, resonant hum that seemed to vibrate through Eli’s very bones.

“This doesn’t look ominous at all,” Kael said dryly, his eyes fixed on the shard.

As they stepped closer to the platform, a voice boomed through the chamber, deep and resonant. “The Second Trial begins now.”

The runes on the platform flared to life, and the chamber trembled. The ground beneath them seemed to shift, and from the shadows emerged figures—dark, indistinct shapes that moved like living smoke. Their eyes glowed with the same green fire as the figure from the chamber above.

“Shadows,” Kael muttered, his hand moving to the dagger at his belt. “I hate shadows.”

The figures circled them, their movements fluid and predatory. Eli raised the wand, its glow intensifying as it responded to the threat. The shadows hissed and darted closer, their forms flickering and shifting like smoke caught in a breeze.

“The shard must be claimed,” the voice boomed again. “But to do so, you must face your greatest fear.”

Eli’s heart sank. The words echoed in his mind, and the room seemed to distort around him. The shadows began to take shape, their forms twisting and solidifying into something terrifyingly familiar. His breath caught in his throat as he saw them—figures from his past, distorted versions of people he had known and lost.

Kael stepped in front of Eli, his dagger flashing as he fended off one of the shadows. “Snap out of it, mate! Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not real!”

Eli gritted his teeth, forcing himself to focus. The wand pulsed violently, and he felt a surge of energy coursing through him. He raised it high, shouting words that came unbidden to his mind. 

“Lumen fortis!”

A blinding light erupted from the wand, flooding the chamber and driving back the shadows. They hissed and writhed before dissipating into the air like smoke caught in a gale.

The trembling ceased, and the voice spoke again, softer this time. “You have overcome the Second Trial. The shard is yours to claim.”

Eli approached the platform, his legs trembling. The obsidian shard hovered before him, its surface smooth and cold. As he reached out to touch it, the shard dissolved into a fine black mist that wrapped around his wrist, forming a faint mark—a symbol that matched the runes on the platform.

Kael whistled low. “Well, that’s not creepy at all.”

The chamber shifted again, and a new passageway opened in the wall ahead. Eli turned to Kael, his voice steadier than he expected. “Let’s keep moving.”

“Lead the way, chosen one,” Kael said, though the humor in his tone had faded.

Eli clenched his jaw and stepped into the passageway, the mark on his wrist tingling faintly. He didn’t know what lay ahead, but one thing was certain: the trials were far from over.