At last, all the flitting specters fell silent. Karrion lifted his head; his soot‑streaked, sweat‑drenched face was graver than Raine had ever seen. "It has to be here," he rumbled, voice like two millstones grinding, hoarse and low.
He pointed to the slowly spinning void before them. That darkness was like congealed ink swallowing every stray glimmer of light—air seemed to collapse into it. A viscous black stream oozed through a hollow beneath their feet, vanishing at the whirlpool's lip. "Every clue we've gathered, every trace of energy flow, converges on this," Karrion continued, sweeping his gaze from Raine to the still‑unconscious Thalia. "This—this is likely the 'gate' to Duskstar."
Raine's heart sank at the word "gate." It was the passage he'd hoped would lead to his lost sister. Yet here lay no promise, only suffocating despair. The energy thrumming from that vortex was icy, malevolent—pure will to drag all life into nothingness. Merely standing close, Raine felt his Starblood howl, each heartbeat wreathed in bitter chill.
"But these runes…" Karrion frowned, tapping at the faded sigils around the edge of the void. Raine leaned in: faint lines writhing like living veins, far more intricate than the dwarven runes they'd seen at the old outpost. Their power was ancient and relentless, like a crumbling dam barely holding back the abyssal tide within. "They repel everything that approaches," Karrion said. "And any attempt to push through… it'd be like diving into a furnace." He shook his head. "We'd be sundered to scraps."
Raine's eyes turned to Thalia. She lay draped over his cloak, skin ashen as snow, chest barely rising. That faint pulse of starlight under her ribs fluttered like a dying ember under the surrounding taint. Raine could feel that vile energy striking her most fiercely.
"What do we do?" Raine's throat felt parched. He stared at the chasm, desperation clawing at him. His sister waited behind that veil of shadow; he had to go in.
Karrion stroked his braided beard, pacing a few ponderous steps. "There may be a way," he admitted, eyes flicking between Raine and the abyss. "My forgecraft… might be called upon."
He halted, fixing Raine with a steady glance. "Those ward‑runes—they're forged in starlight logic. They guard against the Blight, but also against all outside power." He tapped his chest with his gauntleted fist. "But if we could trick them with… a kindred force—perhaps we'd find a seam."
Karrion's gaze sharpened. "Your blood, Starborn—yours is the key."
Raine felt his pulse thunder. Karrion began outlining his plan: craft a temporary "breach‑hammer," a runic war‑forge built around Raine's Starblood as its core catalyst, strong enough to fracture the ward‑runes long enough to slip through.
But the cost would be immense. Karrion needed time—and rare, corrupted minerals found only in these hollows—to complete the forgework. And Raine's sacrifice: the blood and starlight drawn from his veins would be far greater than during the forging of the Star‑flame Blade. It might kill him.
Raine fell silent, caught between dread and resolve. He looked at Thalia's pale, pained form. She, too, had paid dearly already; her secret power crackled weakly beneath her ribs. He dared not imagine exposing her to the core's wrath.
Could he condemn Thalia to death for his quest? Could he bear the agony again? Yet every moment's delay threatened his sister's fate—and perhaps doom them all if the vortex called for another century.
Raine's head spun beneath the weight of his choice: press on at mortal cost, or retreat, risking losing Lilyria forever.
As their standoff stretched, the murmur from the darkness swelled abruptly—no longer a distant hum, but a keen, repulsive chord that struck Raine's mind like ice‑tipped knives.
A voice—cold, hollow, irresistibly seductive—echoed in his skull:
"Enter…"
Raine froze. He recognized that tone—Marcos's voice, twisted by Void‑taint!
"Starborn heir…" the whisper rasped, metallic and slow. "Your vigil is pointless…"
Raine's pupils shrank. Marcos—he was there, behind the veil of black! He knew their presence. He was even… inviting them in!
"Step inside…" the voice twisted, gooey with malice. "Your sister awaits… Your destiny calls…"
A dread icy spiral gripped Raine's spine. His blood turned to ice. Marcos! He'd lured them here, into the very maelstrom that stood between Raine and his sister!
"Your blood…" Marcos hissed with gleeful venom. "Longs for home… It shall be the key to a new dawn…"
Raine's soul recoiled. Sweat drenched his back. The voice was a trap—or a cruel truth. Whom could he trust?
The abyss before him yawned like a ravenous maw, eager for sacrifice. And Marcos's voice tolled in Raine's mind, a death‑knell counting off each heartbeat.
Time was running out.