The forest breathed like a living thing.
Dark trees with blackened trunks and silver leaves towered above the path, branches intertwining to blot out the sun. The air was thick with magic — old, bitter, and whispering.
> "This is it?" Seren asked, eyeing the looming trees.
> "A cursed forest where names go to die," Nyara said, stepping past her. "Yes. This is it."
Kael was quiet, eyes scanning the shadows. The forest tugged at him in a way he didn't like. Like something in it remembered him.
> "Don't speak your name inside," he warned. "Not even to each other."
> "Why?" Seren asked.
> "Because if the forest hears it, it can steal it."
> "And without your name," Nyara added, "you're nothing."
Seren shivered. She looked once more at the twisted gate of stone roots marking the entrance and stepped through.
The forest swallowed her whole.
Inside, the silence was unbearable.
There were no birds. No wind. Only the crunch of leaves beneath their feet and the soft crackle of dying light filtering through the canopy.
Time didn't seem to move right. Each step felt like an hour. Each glance behind showed less of the path they came from.
Kael took the lead.
Nyara walked behind.
Seren stayed in the middle, her fingers brushing the hilt of her dagger, flame quietly simmering beneath her skin.
> "What exactly are we looking for?" she asked.
> "A vault," Kael said. "Hidden beneath the heart-tree. Guarded by a memory."
> "What kind of memory?"
> "The kind that kills."
They reached a clearing after hours of walking — a wide circle where no trees grew.
In the center stood a single dead tree, its bark as pale as bone, its roots reaching like fingers into the ground.
> "That's it," Nyara whispered. "The heart-tree."
Seren stepped forward.
And the world changed.
Suddenly, she was alone.
The forest had vanished. Kael, Nyara — gone.
She stood in a ruined village, ash drifting from the sky. The air smelled of smoke and blood.
She recognized this place.
It was her village.
> "No…"
She turned — and saw herself. Younger. Thirteen. Standing beside her mother. The fire was coming. Soldiers with silver armor — the ones with the crown of thorns on their banners — were setting the houses ablaze.
She watched her younger self scream as her mother was dragged away.
She remembered this.
But it was wrong.
The mother turned toward her — not the girl, her, Seren — and spoke her name.
> "Seren…"
It echoed like a spell.
The forest heard it.
Pain lanced through her body like fire. The flame inside her sparked wildly, out of control.
She dropped to her knees.
> "No — no! Not here—"
The illusion shattered.
Kael grabbed her just before she fell into the heart-tree's roots.
> "You saw it too?" he asked.
> "My past," she gasped. "It made me watch it."
> "That's what this place does."
Nyara stood by the tree, sword drawn.
> "The vault's beneath it. But there's a guardian."
As if summoned, the ground trembled.
Roots split apart, revealing a spiral staircase carved into the earth. From its depths, a figure rose — cloaked in shadows, face wrapped in black cloth, hands burning with blue fire.
> "Who seeks the key?" it asked in a voice that was all voices.
Kael stepped forward.
> "We do."
> "Then name your truth. Or be unmade."
Trial of Truth
The guardian pointed to Seren.
> "You first. What do you fear most?"
Seren's heart pounded. The mark on her shoulder burned.
> "Losing control," she said. "Becoming like the queen who burned the world."
Silence.
Then the fire in the guardian's hand flared — and dimmed.
> "Truth."
It turned to Kael.
> "What do you love most?"
Kael hesitated.
Then looked at Seren.
> "Her," he said.
Seren's breath caught.
The fire pulsed.
> "Truth."
It turned to Nyara.
> "What will you sacrifice?"
Nyara's voice was steel.
> "Anything."
The fire dimmed.
> "Half-truth," the guardian said. "But enough."
The shadow stepped aside.
> "Then take the key. And bear its curse."
The First Key
Beneath the tree was a stone pedestal.
Upon it: a shard of obsidian shaped like a fang, glowing with red runes.
Kael picked it up. A surge of black smoke pulsed outward — but Seren stepped forward and touched his hand.
Her flame burned it away.
They stood there, together, holding the key.
The first piece of the Thorned Crown.
Nyara exhaled. "One down."
> "Two to go," Seren said.
But deep in the forest, something stirred.
A shadow with golden eyes.
Watching.
Waiting.
And whispering her name.