After being attacked previously, the three of us decided that travelling with hushed voices and minimal conversation was best to limit drawing any more shadowed creatures to our location. Though, with leaves rustling underneath us and twigs snapping from our steps, I doubted that would do much.

Despite the forest growing darker again as we walked deeper into the trees, our destination was still easy to see as it towered over us. The peak of the mountain was visible, the snow-covered top stark against the dark leaves no matter where you looked.

Every so often, I stretched my fingers and clenched my hand into a fist, the throbbing pain distracting me from the fact that there could be shadow creatures lurking all around us. I could put up with it though, for the sake of the war and the Lyre, I had to.

A spark of blue floating above us caught my attention, drawing my gaze upwards. It wasn't an eye hiding in the darkness, thankfully, as it slowly settled on the ground like a snowflake. Where did it come from? Had we gotten lost and somehow ended up back at the tower?

"There are more sparks," Larc whispered, reaching out his hand to try and catch another that drifted down, but it disappeared before it touched his skin.

"I think there might be another clearing up ahead." Haera increased her pace. One of her hands had been attached to the hilt of a weapon the whole time, ready to attack at the first sign of a shadow with piercing blue eyes.

Within another few minutes of walking and the sparks increasing in density, we entered another clearing in the forest. This time instead of a tall, crumbling tower to greet us, only a few pillars were jutting up into the sky. Leaves and vines wrapped around the stacked stone blocks, hiding the cracks and chunks that had fallen from them since they had been here. Despite the sparks, there was no sign of a barrier or anything we could use to protect ourselves from the shadow creatures.

There wasn't any tug in my power that pulled me in a certain direction, however, a calm settled over me. This place felt familiar.

"This was not what I was expecting." My sister frowned.

As Haera scanned our surroundings, I ventured closer to the pillars to see if there was anything of use. Larc followed me to search too. The first few held nothing in the stone when I pulled the vines away, but when I reached the third, I discovered a drawing of sorts.

Four stick figures had been carved into the stone with a childish sun and clouds above them. The first person had flowing hair behind her consisting of two lines and hands in front of them that appeared to be glowing. A mermaid tail made the next figure seem to be incredibly out of place, but it was unmistakably a drawing of a merfolk. The third person had wings like a Dragon-born and an angry expression with a deep frown and furrowed brow. Finally, the last appeared to be a child who was much shorter than the other three. Perhaps they could have been the artist?

"I don't know what this is supposed to be," I said, turning to Larc to see if he had any opinions from where he looked over my shoulder. The pillars he had checked held nothing on them either.

Who were they supposed to be?

"I'm not sure," he confessed. His fingers reached out to trace the wings of the Dragon-born figure and pulled away again when Haera's voice echoed out from the other end of the clearing.

"This one here has some symbols on it that I think form words, but I can't tell what they are," she called, motioning us over.

When we arrived, Larc pushed the extra foliage away and sighed. "I can confirm that it's not the tongue of the Dragon-borns." With that information, there was no way to decipher the message that was left behind from Goddess knew how many years ago.

"Is this all that's here? There feels like there must be more to it." Haera cut away the rest of the vines covering the pillar with her dagger in case there was something we were missing, but there was nothing but more symbols.

"What did this place even used to be?" I wondered aloud. From the formation the pillars were placed in and the debris of stone and glass left behind on the ground, it looked like there could have been arches between the stone columns. Either this place had been sitting around for a long time, or something strong must have destroyed them before leaving the place behind.

"Do you feel any pull to the Goddess?" Larc questioned, tearing his eyes away from the carvings.

I shook my head. "There's nothing. It might not even be related to her at all." Then why were the blue sparks here? Something still felt strange, like there was a secret still waiting to be discovered. I was determined to find out what it could be.

We headed back to the other pillars to search them again and check if there was anything on them that we might have missed before. I walked back to the drawing of the stick figures and wracked my mind for a clue as to who they might be, Haera stayed by the symbols to puzzle over their meaning, and Larc circled the other side of the clearing. Not long after he reached the edge, he lifted up a wooden crate and cracked it open.

"What's inside?" I asked as I joined his side, eager to see his discovery.

"Is it anything useful?" Haera moved to another pillar when she finally gave up attempting to decipher the words.

The Dragon-born pulled out pieces of parchment with a neat string wrapped around them, sealed with a bow. Though, after years of sitting out in the sun and rain, most were stuck together and then others' ink had been smudged beyond readability.

"Unfortunately not."

"Maybe we should keep moving then. If we stay in one place without any sort of protection for too long, a shadow creature might track us down." My sister returned her blade to her belt and began to turn back towards the mountain.

"One moment! I want to search a little longer." There had to be something here, I refused to believe otherwise.

"Are you sure you don't feel anything from the Goddess?" Larc raised a brow.

"There's no pull at all. I just think that this can't be out here for no reason." Maybe I was simply looking in the wrong places. Larc had found the crate on the outskirts of the clearing, so perhaps I needed to move away from the pillars.

"How does your magic work?" He brushed more foliage away from the pillars to reveal nothing but empty stone. "We've seen things created from the power you wield. Are you able to make them too?"

"I don't think so," I replied with a frown. Larc made a good point. With everything we had found so far on our journey to find the Lyre, it had never crossed my mind that we didn't know where all of this magic was coming from. "From what I know, me and the other Goddess-blessed people of Aerla have only been able to heal. It's the Goddess's will to protect people, to let no harm come to anyone no matter who they are. Whoever made the barriers and blue sparks we saw has to be much more powerful and... different."

Could the Goddess herself have made them?

"Have you tried using it for anything other than healing?" The Dragon-born placed the wooden crate back where he found it now that it was useless to us.

"I haven't. Goddess-blessed people were already a known thing when I caught her eye and everyone has only been able to heal, so I've never thought about it." Could I have the power to do more? My magic was still adapting and growing with every wound I healed. Every complicated injury was a learning experience. What if I could teach it to do other things too?

Haera walked around the back of the pillars, keeping one ear on our conversation and the other on the forest surrounding us. While she walked, something creaked underneath her feet — the sound of old wood straining under new weight.

"What was-" Larc began but another louder crack cut him off.

Haera only had the chance to look up at us before the ground caved in below her, dragging her down with clawed hands. Her yells were muffled by the dirt that piled on top of her

"Haera!" I cried, rushing over to where she had disappeared. Being careful not to fall down the hole that had been created, I peered over the edge. The clouds of dust that covered the scene like a thick fog eventually dissipated to reveal my sister lying on the ground.

"Speak to me! Are you hurt!" I shouted into the hole. The shadow creature we were trying to avoid was a distant worry in my mind. Why would I care about being quiet when Haera still wasn't responding?

"I'm alright." She sat up slowly, wincing and rubbing her back. Power surged at my fingertips — a desperate plea for me to heal her pain — but there was no way for me to get to her without falling too.

The ground had opened up into what looked like a series of different passageways. Darkness surrounded my sister, pushed back by the sunlight that streamed in. It looked like it hadn't seen light for centuries.

Haera stood, looking around her and up and where she had fallen from. "It doesn't look like there's any way back out, though."

Larc joined my side, widening his stance as he looked into the passages. "Is there anything you can use down there to make yourself higher? We can try and pull you out."

"It doesn't look like it. I'll have a look around quickly and see what I can find." She glanced down the hallways around her and stepped towards one of them as the ground creaked again.

I felt Larc's hands around me, attempting to pull me away from the sound, but it was too late. More of the ground gave way underneath us, pulling us down into the dark depths.