A stone tablet, etched with symbols unlike anything Jude had ever seen.
He stepped forward cautiously, brushing away the dust. The carvings pulsed faintly, remnants of an ancient energy still clinging to them. At the center of the tablet was an engraving of the archway, and within it, two figures.
One clad in silver and black.
The other, draped in light.
Jude's fingers traced the symbols carefully. "This is the key."
Lyara crossed her arms. "Then we find it. Before the gate opens again."
The hooded figure slowly stepped back, the shadows beginning to consume it once more. Its voice was the last thing to fade.
"Remember this, what is lost can be found. But what is found… may not wish to remain lost."
And then it was gone.
Jude and Lyara stood in the ruins, the silence pressing around them once more. But this time, it was different.
This time, they had a path forward.
And whatever waited at the end of it, they would be ready.
