Page 132 of The Eye of the Fifth
A familiar power was in the air around them, but she couldn’t place it. Perhaps it was Roheia’s spirit guiding her. Finding her voice but keeping it subdued, Kyra said, ‘The Eye is a black stone, but I doubt it will be out on display. It might be in a box, or in a small vault of its own.’
‘That’s ambiguous,’ Kawai sighed.
‘You wanted to help,’ she said through gritted teeth, unable to curb her irritation. ‘So, help.’
He didn’t reply, but she was glad of that as they each peeled off in different directions, combing the walls for any sign of another opening, for any box, or even afeelingof something more sinister.
Of something alive, coiled and imprisoned in this place of rest.
As Kyra closed in on the four pillars, emotion rose up expeditiously within her. She had never been particularly pious, but her eyes stung as she stared up at Roheia’s strong face. The face of the being who had trusted her with all the power of the Earth.
She was glad Kawai was not by her side at that moment.
Had she been alone, she might have spoken to the Earth Mother aloud. She might have asked herwhyit was her who had been chosen, when so many others could have been more suited. Better, so much better, than she was proving to be.
Shame gripped her then, unyielding and cruel. That she could not be the Earth Warden Roheia had expected her to be.
A mark on the ground between Roheia and Gallena’s pillars snatched her attention, a rune that did not match the other four, exuding awrongnessthat she couldn’t begin to explain. It was perfectly round with its insides carved out and void of anything in its centre.
Void…
The rune of the fifth element.
‘Kawai,’ Kyra said quietly, heart leaping as she crouched to survey it closer. ‘I think I’ve found it.’
He was by her side in an instant, tracing his hand across what Kyra originally thought was the outline of a stone slab. But it looked to be another door, like the one at the tomb’s entrance.
Kawai said, ‘Can you feel anything?’
Silently, Kyra shook her head. The only power she could feel was that of the Mothers, and she wasn’t even sure if itwasTheir power, or her own wonderment of Them.
‘Do you think this door will work the same as the other one?’ Kawai asked.
‘Only one way to find out,’ she murmured, slicing her dagger across her palm one more time, and smearing the oozing red blood on the rune of the Void.
It didn’t glow like the Earth rune had, but the slab of stone posing as a door shifted and pulled back, revealing steps that no doubt led to another chamber.
Still Kyra felt nothing. No surge of ominous magic. Just that same familiar power from before, as though it were lingering in the tomb with nowhere else to go.
Gingerly, she began down the steps, Kawai just behind her.
This was it. The Eye of the Fifth was about to be in her possession.
It was a short staircase, and soon she was facing a night black altar on top of a dais. Atop it were a hundred short, black blades, fused and fashioned into a triangular box that flamed to life as she drew nearer.
But Kyra didn’t need to find a way to open that box.
Because someone else already had.
Empty.
Utterly empty. The ancient blades had been pried apart and twisted, manipulated to the will of the thief who had stolen the contents inside.
Kyra could do nothing but stare at the vacant box, hopelessness settling on her soul.
If the Eye was not here, thenwhere?
Andwhoin this damned world would have had the power to break into this place? None but those blessed by one of the Four could break that seal on the tomb’s door, none but a Warden with elemental magic-
