Chapter 4: The Gate

..."Every locked door was once opened by someone who wasn't afraid to touch it."...

The silver light swallowed the entire square.

For one blinding moment, no one could see.

No one could breathe.

The rain vanished before it touched the ground, turning into tiny sparks that floated through the air like shattered stars.

Nyra instinctively shielded her eyes.

When the light finally faded...

Silence remained.

The Hunters stood frozen.

Their spears, once raised with absolute confidence, slowly lowered toward the ground.

Not because they had been ordered to.

Because they were afraid.

The Huntress took one cautious step backward.

Her calm expression had disappeared.

"No..." she whispered.

"It can't be..."

Lucien kept his eyes fixed on the glowing symbols spreading beneath the streets.

"The Gate..."

His voice was almost inaudible.

"I thought it had been destroyed."

Cracks spread across the ancient stone road.

They glowed with the same silver light that had flashed across Nyra's wrist.

The ground trembled.

A deep rumble echoed beneath the city.

Citizens screamed inside their homes.

Windows burst open.

The great Clock Tower rang again.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then...

Its bells fell silent forever.

Nyra stared at the glowing cracks beneath her feet.

Something about them felt...

Familiar.

She had never seen those symbols before.

Yet she knew exactly where they led.

Images flashed through her mind.

A little girl running through endless white halls.

A hand reaching toward her.

A woman's voice.

..."Never let them find the Gate..."...

The vision disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Nyra staggered backward, pressing a hand against her forehead.

Lucien caught her before she fell.

"What did you see?"

She slowly looked at him.

"I..."

She hesitated.

"I don't know."

Lucien studied her face.

"You do."

"I said I don't."

For the first time, frustration crept into her voice.

"I've never seen those places before."

"Then why did you know where to look?"

Nyra couldn't answer.

Because he was right.

The moment the symbols appeared...

She had known.

Not guessed.

Known.

A sharp whistle cut through the air.

The Huntress raised her spear.

"Do not let them escape!"

The Hunters immediately recovered from their shock.

Within seconds they surrounded Nyra and Lucien once again.

Only this time...

Their eyes never left Nyra.

They weren't looking at a criminal anymore.

They were looking at a legend.

"The prophecy was true," one Hunter whispered.

"The Empty One opened the Gate."

Another tightened his grip on his spear.

"If she enters..."

"The world changes."

The Huntress raised her hand.

"Capture her alive."

"If anyone stands in your way..."

She turned her cold gaze toward Lucien.

"...kill him."

Dozens of Hunters charged at once.

Steel flashed beneath the crimson moon.

Lucien stepped in front of Nyra.

"Stay behind me."

Nyra frowned.

"I can fight."

"I know."

"Then move."

Without waiting for permission, she darted past him.

A Hunter lunged.

Nyra sidestepped at the last second, grabbed the shaft of his spear, and twisted it from his hands.

The weapon spun through the air.

Another Hunter tried to strike her from behind.

She ducked.

The stolen spear flew from her hand—

—and embedded itself into a stone pillar inches from the attacker's face..

The Hunter froze.

Not because he had been defeated.

Because Nyra hadn't been aiming at him.

She had aimed at the chain hanging above the square.

The chain snapped.

A massive iron bell crashed from the rooftop.

The Hunters scattered to avoid it.

Lucien glanced at her with surprise

.

"You planned that?"

Nyra allowed herself the smallest smile.

"I told you..."

"I don't fight fair."

Before Lucien could reply—

The ground split open with a deafening roar.

A circle of ancient stone slowly rose from beneath the city.

At its center...

A staircase descended into darkness.

Cold air rushed upward.

It carried the scent of old stone...

And something else.

Something ancient.

Something alive.

Nyra's heartbeat quickened.

She had never seen this place before.

Yet one thought echoed inside her mind with terrifying certainty.

...Go down....

Not because someone told her to.

Because it felt...

Like home.

The staircase disappeared into complete darkness.

No torches.

No sound.

Only the faint silver glow flowing from the ancient symbols carved into the stone walls.

Nyra stood at the edge, unable to look away.

It felt as though the darkness was calling her by name.

Not with words...

But with memories she didn't remember having.

"Don't."

Lucien's voice broke the silence.

She glanced at him.

"What?"

"Whatever you're hearing..."

"Don't listen to it."

Nyra frowned.

"Hearing?"

Lucien studied her expression carefully.

"You really can't hear it."

"Hear what?"

Instead of answering, he drew a short silver dagger from inside his coat and held it in front of him.

"The Gate has a way of speaking to people."

"It shows them exactly what they want to see."

"And then?"

"And then they never return."

A cold chill ran down Nyra's spine.

Before she could respond—

A deafening crack echoed through the chamber.

The staircase trembled.

The Hunters had reached the entrance.

"There!" the Huntress shouted from above.

"They're going inside!"

Within seconds, armored footsteps thundered down the stairs.

Lucien grabbed Nyra's wrist.

"We're out of time."

Together, they descended.

The air grew colder with every step.

The walls changed.

Ancient murals covered the stone, each one worn by centuries of dust.

Nyra slowed.

One mural caught her attention.

It showed a young woman standing beneath a crimson moon.

Her left wrist...

Was blank.

Nyra's heart skipped a beat.

She stepped closer and brushed the dust away with trembling fingers.

The woman's face was damaged, but one thing remained perfectly clear.

The eyes.

Ice-blue.

Exactly like hers.

"No..." Nyra whispered.

Lucien immediately pulled her back.

"Don't touch the walls."

"Who is she?"

"I don't know."

"You're lying."

Lucien didn't deny it.

Behind them, the Huntress stopped in front of the mural.

For the first time, confidence disappeared from her face.

"It exists..." she breathed.

"The First Empty One..."

Every Hunter lowered their head.

None of them dared look at the mural again.

Nyra noticed.

"You know who she is."

The Huntress ignored the question.

Instead, she raised her spear.

"Destroy the passage."

The Hunters struck the stone pillars at once.

The tunnel shook violently.

Chunks of rock crashed onto the staircase.

Lucien cursed under his breath.

"They're collapsing it!"

"If we stay here, we're buried alive."

Without waiting, Nyra sprinted deeper into the tunnel.

Lucien followed.

Behind them, the staircase disappeared beneath falling stone.

A cloud of dust swallowed the entrance.

Silence.

Then...

A low heartbeat echoed through the darkness.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Nyra stopped.

"Did you hear that?"

Lucien nodded slowly.

His normally calm eyes showed something Nyra had never seen before.

Fear.

"The Gate..."

"It's awake."

The heartbeat grew louder.

The silver symbols across the walls began glowing brighter, one after another, stretching endlessly into the darkness ahead.

Then a child's laughter echoed through the tunnel.

Soft.

Gentle.

Impossible.

Nyra looked around.

"Who's there?"

No answer.

Only laughter.

Then, clear as day, a little girl's voice whispered from somewhere beyond the light—

«"You came back."»

Nyra's breath caught.

"I've... never been here."

The voice answered almost immediately.

«"That's what they wanted you to believe."»

A brilliant silver light erupted at the end of the passage.

Lucien stepped in front of Nyra, raising his dagger.

"Stay behind me."

But Nyra couldn't move.

Because in the center of that light...

She could see the silhouette of a little girl.

And the girl's left wrist...

Was completely blank.

To be continued.......

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